Important

Topics & readings are subject to change based on student interests and current events; changes will be announced via Canvas. Please read or watch all assigned material before class.

Week 1

Thursday: Course Introduction

  • No readings for the first day of class.

Week 2

Tuesday: Historical Narratives

Goal: To introduce and discuss how historical narratives by the first Europeans to visit the tropics have shaped contemporary perceptions of tropical rain forests and the colonial roots of tropical biology

  1. Excerpts from Historical Narratives (read online, 6 pages)

Thursday: Historical Narratives (cont.)

  • No additional readings.

Week 3

Tuesday: Rain Forest Imagery in Art & Literature

Goal: To see how the different depictions of the tropics and tropical biodiversity from early European explorers are reflected in art and literature.

  1. Excerpts from Literature/Poetry (link, 5 pages)

  2. Images of artwork (link,5 pages)

Thursday: The Rain Forest in Pop Culture

Goal: To compare the use and presentation of rain forest images by the private sector and in different forms of popular culture, including the film and music industries, and to evaluate how these depictions influence perceptions of tropical countries & people.

  1. Jolly, Priscilla. (2021). ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’: Monster movies evoke adventure but also ‘dangers’ of tropics. The Conversation. (link; 4 pages)

Week 4

Tuesday: What is a Rain Forest?

Goal: To learn the different ways biologists define the “tropics” and how the structure and dynamics of tropical rain forests differ from those of forests in other parts of the world.

  1. Why Does Earth Have Deserts? (link to video; 2 min)

  2. BBC Planet Earth: Jungles. (2006). link to video; requires login with Gatorlink, 51 min).

Thursday: Where is a Rain Forest?

Goal: To understand the geological history of tropical rain forests, how climate, fire, and geological history drive the tipping point between forests and savannas, and how this biogeographic, geological, and climatic history shaped the evolution of tropical plants and animals.

  • No readings for today’s class

Week 5

Tuesday: Patterns of Biodiversity

Goal: To observe and catalog the diversity of plant and animal life forms that can be found in rain forests, to quantify the local patterns of species richness and abundance in a tropical forest, and compare these patterns with those in the temperate zone.

  1. CBS News. (2023). Inside the Smithsonian’s tropical forest lab. (watch online, 5:35 min.)

  2. Butler, Rhett. (2015). How many tree species are found in the world’s rainforests? Mongabay (read online, 5 min.)

Thursday: Patterns of Biodiversity, continued

Goal: To understand global patterns of species richness and how these vary from the tropics to the temperate zone.

  1. Matthew Earl Boone and Mathieu Basille. Using iNaturalist to contribute your nature observations to science. UF EDIS Document WEC413 (read online, 4 pages) and then familiarize yourself with iNaturalist at https://www.inaturalist.org/

Week 6

Tuesday: The Origins of Tropical Biodiversity

Goal: To review hypothesized mechanisms for the origins of tropical diversity and the role of interspecific interactions in the (co)evolution and diversification of tropical biodiversity

  • No readings for today’s class

Thursday: The maintenance of tropical biodiversity

Goal: To review the biotic and abiotic mechanisms in tropical rain forests that permit the coexistence of so many species

  • No readings for today’s class

Week 7

Tuesday: Humans in Rain Forests

Goal: To understand the history of human occupation of rain forests including the contemporary demographic transition from rural to urban occupation; to review the different ways in which humans have historically modified rain forests and how this has shaped current rain forest biodiversity.

  1. Allington, Kristine, Michael Amundson, Linithd Aparicio, Caitlin Saks (Producers), and G. Townsley (Director). (2023). Ancient Builders of the Amazon. Public Broadcasting Service. (watch online, 53 min.)

  2. Hunt, Chris and Premathilake, Rathnasiri. (2018). Prehistoric people started to spread domesticated bananas across the world 6,000 years ago. The Conversation. (read online, 3 pages).

Thursday: Humans in Rain Forests, continued

  • No readings for today’s class

Week 8

Tuesday: Paradox of Luxuriance

Goal: To understand how such a productive biome can be built on such low-quality soils, and explore the implications of this “Paradox of Luxuriance”.

  1. Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown: Congo (S1E8) (watch online free on XUMO PLAY or PLEX, 50 min).

  2. Brooks, David. (2010). The Messiah Complex. The New York Times. (read online, 1 page)

Thursday: Jungle Film Festival

  • No readings for today’s class

Week 9

Tuesday: How much tropical rain forest is there?

Goal: To learn how forest cover is defined and estimated and how it varies globally.

  1. Louis Lucero. (2013). New Interactive Tool Helps Track Earth’s Forests. New York Times. (read online, 10 min read).

Thursday: How much tropical rain forest have we lost?

Goal: To use forest cover data to estimate rates of tropical forest loss over time.

  1. Serkez, Yaryna. (2020). Every Place Under Threat. New York Times. (read online, 10 min read).

Week 10

Tuesday: Drivers & Ecological Consequences of Deforestation

Goal: Learn (a) how deforestation and other human activities alter the structure & functioning of rain forests, and (b) compare how these drivers differ between the African, American, and Asian tropics.

  1. Devouring the Rain Forest. Washington Post. (read online, 20 min read).

  2. Searcey, Dionne with photographs by Ashley Gilbertson. (2022). Raft by Raft, a Rainforest Loses Its Trees New York Times. (read online, 10 min read).

  3. Andreoni, Manuela, Blacki Migliozzi, Pablo Robles and Denise Lu with photographs by Victor Moriyama. (2022). The Illegal Airstrips Bringing Toxic Mining to Brazil’s Indigenous Land. New York Times. (read online, 15 min read).

Thursday: Drivers & Ecological Consequences of Deforestation, continued

Goal: Continue learning (a) how deforestation and other human activities alter the structure & functioning of rain forests, and (b) compare how these drivers differ between the African, American, and Asian tropics.

  1. Mason, Margie & McDowell, Robin. (2020). Palm oil labor abuses linked to world’s top brands, banks. Associated Press. (read online, 10 min read).

  2. Lustgarten, Abrahm. (2018). Palm Oil Was Supposed to Help Save the Planet. Instead It Unleashed a Catastrophe. New York Times. (read online, 20 min.)

Week 11

Tuesday: Tropical Forests & Global Climate

Goal: Climate change and Tropical Forests To understand the relationship between tropical forests, deforestation, and the global climate cycle.

  1. BBC News: Amazon rainforest: ‘Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever’ - interview with Erika Berenguer. (link to video, 3 min).

  2. Pearce, Fred. (2018). Rivers in the Sky: How Deforestation Is Affecting Global Water Cycles. Yale360. (read online, 10 min read).

Thursday: Tropical Forests & Climate Change

  1. Henry Knight Lozano (2023) California and Florida grew quickly on the promise of perfect climates in the 1900s – today, they lead the country in climate change risks. The Conversation. Link

  2. learn about the EN-ROADS simulator we will be using in class at this (link to website, 15 min read). You can even start experimenting with it here: (link to site).

Week 12

Tuesday: International Conservation Frameworks

Goal: To learn about the major local, national, and multi-national approaches to reducing deforestation by comparing their efficacy and socioeconomic impacts. REDD and Payment for Ecosystem Services.

  1. Dasgupta, Shreya. 2017 Does forest certification really work? Mongabay (read online 15 min.)

  2. Gaworecki, Mike. (2017). Cash for conservation: Do payments for ecosystem services work? Mongabay (read online 15 min.)

  3. Gaworecki, Mike. (2021). How effective is the EU’s marquee policy to reduce the illegal timber trade? Mongabay (read online 15 min.)

Thursday: Trade in tropical commodities & DURIAN FEST

Goal: To learn about the global market in tropical fruit crops and the economic impact of tropical fruit production in Florida.

  1. Ryan, John Charles. (2018). Why the stinky durian really is the ‘king of all fruits’/ The Conversation. (read online, 10 min).

  2. Weintraub, Karen. (2019). They’re Smelly and Spiky, and They Need Bats to Pollinate Them. New York Times. (read online, 5 min read).

  3. Wharton, Rachel. (2020). How the Tip of Florida Became a Tropical-Fruit Paradise. Atlas Obscura. (read online, 5 min read).

  4. NPR’s Throughline Podcast (2022). There Will Be Bananas. [listen online, 56 min].

Week 13

Tuesday: Consumer choices & rain forest conservation

Goal: To understand how global production and chains and consumer demand in Europe and North America influence patterns of deforestation in tropical countries.

  1. Lawal,Shola. (2020). Our Endless Appetite For Chocolate Has Bitter Environmental Consequences. Huffington Post. (read online, 10 min read).

  2. Mufson, Steven and Georges, Salwan. (2019). The trouble with chocolate. Washington Post (read online to see the amazing maps, pictures, and data visualizations).

  3. Williams, Wyatt. (2021). How Your Cup of Coffee Is Clearing the Jungle. New York Times. (read online, or listen to the audio version with the link at top of the article).

  4. Carodenuto, Sophia. (2021). Chocolate fix: How the cocoa industry could end deforestation in West Africa. The Conversation. (read online, 10 min read).

  5. Mary Gagen. 2024. The world’s business and finance sectors can do much more to reverse deforestation – here’s the data to prove it. The Conversation. (read online, 10 min).

Thursday: Community based conservation

Goal: To learn about how local communities are engaged in rain forest conservation and sustainable development efforts in the tropics and beyond.

  1. Katrina Kosec et al. (2025) Forest loss in Malawi: how having women at the table affected debates and decisions about solutions. The Conversation. (read online, 10 min read).

  2. BBC World Service (2020). Don’t underestimate what one person can do on their own: The man who grew his own rainforest. (link to video, 5 min long).

  3. Dasgupta, Shreya. (2017). Does community-based forest management work in the tropics? Mongabay (read online, 15 min read).

  4. Maclean, Ruth with additional reporting by Caleb Kabanda and photography by Nanna Heitmann. (2022). What do the protectors of Congo’s peatlands get in return?” New York Times. (read online, 10 min read).

Week 14

  • No readings (Thanksgiving Holiday)

Week 15

Tuesday: Protected areas

Goal: To learn about different global categories of protected areas, the importance of protected areas in the tropics for conserving forest, and how the threats to protected areas vary regionally and globally.

  1. Kimbrough, L. (2021). How settlers, scientists, and a women-led industry saved Brazil’s rarest primate”. Mongabay (read online, 10 min read).

  2. Dasgupta, Shreya (with research by Annika Schlemm & Zuzana Burivalova). (2017). Do protected areas work in the tropics?” Mongabay. (read online, 25 min read).

  3. Matti Barthel et al. (2025) DRC’s plan for the world’s largest tropical forest reserve would be good for the planet: can it succeed? The Conversation. (read online, 10 min read).

Thursday: Forest restoration & Regeneration

Goal: To learn the difference between passive regeneration and active restoration and assess evidence for whether they can be used to reverse the effects of deforestation.

  1. Gaworecki, Mike. (2021). Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says? Mongabay (read online 15 min.)

  2. Medici, Patricia. (2015). The coolest animal you know nothing about…and how we can save it. TED Fellows Talk. (link to video, 11:20 min long).

  3. Robin Chazdon et al. (2021). Tropical forests can recover surprisingly quickly on deforested lands – and letting them regrow naturally is an effective and low‑cost way to slow climate change. The Conversation. (read online, 10 min.).

Week 16

Tuesday: Tropical rain forests & Global Health

Goal: To learn about the relationship between deforestation and the emergence and spread of tropical diseases like Zika and Malaria from the tropics to other regions of the globe.

  1. Vittor, Amy, Gabriel Zorello Laporta, and Maria Anice Mureb Sallum. (2020). How deforestation helps deadly viruses jump from animals to humans. The Conversation. (read online, 15 min read).

  2. UF EPI. (2024) Florida’s mosquitoes can make you sick: Here’s how to protect yourself. read online, 10 min. read)

  3. Kuchipudi, Suresh V. (2020). Why so many epidemics originate in Asia and Africa – and why we can expect more. The Conversation. (read online, 10 min).