Woodward Fischer

Ge 1. Earth and Environment. 9 units (3-3-3); third term, 2025-26. An introduction to the ideas and approaches of earth and planetary sciences, including both the special challenges and viewpoints of these kinds of science as well as the ways in which basic physics, chemistry, and biology relate to them. In addition to a wide-ranging lecture-oriented component, there will be a required field trip component. The lectures and topics cover such issues as solid Earth structure and evolution, plate tectonics, oceans and atmospheres, climate change, and the relationship between geological and biological evolution. Not offered on a pass/fail basis. Satisfies the menu requirement of the Caltech core curriculum.
Instructor: Fischer

Ge 104. Introduction to Geobiology. 9 units (3-0-6); third term, 2024-25. Prerequisites: instructor's permission. Lectures about the interaction and coevolution of life and Earth surface environments. We will cover essential concepts and major outstanding questions in the field of geobiology, and introduce common approaches to solving these problems. Topics will include biological fractionation of stable isotopes; history and operation of the carbon and sulfur cycles; evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis; biomineralization; mass extinctions; analyzing biodiversity data; constructing simple mathematical models constrained by isotope mass balance; working with public databases of genetic information; phlyogenetic techniques; microbial and molecular evolution.
Instructor: Fischer

Ge 11 b. Introduction to Earth and Planetary Sciences: Earth and the Biosphere. 9 units (3-3-3); third term, 2024-25. Prerequisites: Ch 1 a. Systematic introduction to the origin and evolution of life and its impact on the oceans, atmosphere, and climate of Earth. Topics covered include ancient Earth surface environments and the rise of atmospheric oxygen. Microbial and molecular evolution, photosynthesis, genes as fossils. Banded iron stones, microbial mats, stromatolites, and global glaciation. Biological fractionation of stable isotopes. Numerical calibration of the geological timescale, the Cambrian explosion, mass extinctions, and human evolution. The course usually includes one major field trip and laboratory studies of rocks, fossils, and geological processes. Although Ge 11 abcd is designed as a sequence, any one term may be taken as a standalone course. Biologists are particularly welcome.
Instructor: Fischer

Ge 197. Special Topics in Geobiology: Oxygen. 6 units (2-0-4); first term, 2024-25. Abundant molecular oxygen is a defining feature of the biology and geochemistry at the surface of our planet, but the geological record shows us that this was not always the case. This course will combine lectures with advanced-level discussions of selected literature and project-based work focused on the modern oxygen cycle, current knowledge of the history of atmospheric oxygen, and new ideas and constraints on the evolution of aerobic metabolisms.
Instructor: Fischer

Ge 104. Introduction to Geobiology. 9 units (3-0-6); second term, 2023-24. Prerequisites: instructor's permission. Lectures about the interaction and coevolution of life and Earth surface environments. We will cover essential concepts and major outstanding questions in the field of geobiology, and introduce common approaches to solving these problems. Topics will include biological fractionation of stable isotopes; history and operation of the carbon and sulfur cycles; evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis; biomineralization; mass extinctions; analyzing biodiversity data; constructing simple mathematical models constrained by isotope mass balance; working with public databases of genetic information; phlyogenetic techniques; microbial and molecular evolution.
Instructor: Fischer

Ge 11 b. Introduction to Earth and Planetary Sciences: Earth and the Biosphere. 9 units (3-3-3); second term, 2023-24. Prerequisites: Ch 1 a. Systematic introduction to the origin and evolution of life and its impact on the oceans, atmosphere, and climate of Earth. Topics covered include ancient Earth surface environments and the rise of atmospheric oxygen. Microbial and molecular evolution, photosynthesis, genes as fossils. Banded iron stones, microbial mats, stromatolites, and global glaciation. Biological fractionation of stable isotopes. Numerical calibration of the geological timescale, the Cambrian explosion, mass extinctions, and human evolution. The course usually includes one major field trip and laboratory studies of rocks, fossils, and geological processes. Although Ge 11 abcd is designed as a sequence, any one term may be taken as a standalone course. Biologists are particularly welcome.
Instructor: Fischer

Ge/Bi/BE/CNS/ESE 147. Challenges and Opportunities in Quantitative Ecology. 6 units (6-0-0); third term, 2023-24. Ecosystems are defined by dynamical interactions between groups of organisms, the communities they constitute, and the physical and chemical conditions and processes occurring in the environment. These dynamics are complex and multiscale across both length and time. This course will explore quantitative approaches that observe, measure, model, and monitor ecosystems and the services that they provide society-and the emerging opportunities that could employ these approaches to improve and strengthen global sustainability when it comes to our own ecology. This course will feature lectures each week from different members of the Caltech faculty working on ecological problems from different angles in order to illustrate how fresh insights can emerge by drawing on diverse ways-of-knowing. Given in alternate years; not offered 2022-23.
Instructors: Fischer, Tejada