Marine faculty are located in the departments of Earth System Science and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. The marine sciences work in the Earth System Science Department emphasizes the cycling of carbon, sulfur and other biogeochemically important elements both within the ocean and between air and sea, and their relationships to changes in climate. The marine faculty of the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology focus on the physiology and ecological relationships of marine organisms.

Chair, Department of Earth System Science: Prof. Ellen R. M. Druffel, 220 Rowland Hall, UCI, Irvine, CA 92697-3100, (949) 824-2116; fax: (949) 824-3874; edruffel@uci.edu

Department Address: 220 Rowland Hall, Zot Code 3100; Information (949) 824-8794; fax: (949) 824-3874; Web Site: http://www.ess.uci.edu/

Administrative Manager: Susan Inong, (949) 824-3877; sinong@uci.edu

The goal of the Department of Earth System Science is to increase the scientific understanding of the Earth as a coupled system of atmosphere, ocean, and land. Undergraduate course offerings are designed to educate both science and non-science majors in the physical, chemical and biological principles underlying global environmental problems. The Department offers graduate programs leading to M. S. and Ph.D. degrees in Earth System Science. Graduate study emphasizes laboratory, field, and modeling studies of global change in the environment from the perspective of physical, chemical, and biological processes occurring in and linkages between the atmosphere, the ocean and terrestrial systems. Admission is only to the Ph.D. program; the Master's degree is awarded upon progress to the Ph.D.

The ESS faculty represent a broad range of interests and experience dealing with key aspects of global climate change and the functioning of the Earth as a system. Research interests focus on environmental change in the atmosphere and at the terrestrial and oceanic interfaces with the atmosphere. The faculty have interests in atmospheric chemistry, particularly in areas dealing with changes in atmospheric ozone and in greenhouse gas concentrations, in atmospheric dynamics, in oceanography and paleoceanography, and in biogeochemical processes of the tropical and boreal terrestrial systems. The ESS department faculty are active as members of a variety of boards and panels directing the global change research agenda.

Chair, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Prof. Albert F. Bennett, 5242 Biological Sciences II, (949) 824-6930; fax (949) 824-2181; abennett@uci.edu

http://ecoevo.bio.uci.edu/ Department Address: 321 Steinhaus Hall, Zot Code 2525; Information: (949) 824-6006; fax (949) 824-2181; Web Site: http://ecoevo.bio.uci.edu/

Administrative Manager: Jeanne Ingels, (949) 824-6007; jingels@uci.edu

The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in the School of Biological Sciences offers a program of study leading to the Ph.D. degree in Biological Sciences.

Research in the Department may be conducted at the molecular, biochemical, organismal, population, or community level. Emphasis is placed on development of theory and the formulation and experimental testing of hypotheses that lead to further understanding of important ecological and evolutionary issues. Experimentation is carried out under field and laboratory conditions. Primary attention is focused on ecological and evolutionary mechanisms, rather than on individual taxa or habitats.

Although the UCI campus is located in populous Southern California, a diversity of undisturbed natural settings lies close to campus, including sandy and rocky intertidal, chaparral, montane forest, alpine, and desert ecosystems. The University of California Natural Reserve System, a variety of private reserves and research stations, and state and national forest land provide ready access for field research. In addition, graduate research is frequently conducted farther afield in a variety of natural settings, both domestic and foreign. Students use the Department's sophisticated laboratory and field instruments and equipment.

The Department has 22 active faculty members. Their areas of interest overlap broadly in the fields of ecology, organismal biology, and evolutionary biology, and faculty engage in considerable communication and collaboration.