Overall I really liked this class. Dr. Daversa is very knowledgeable and passionate about his lectures. You’ll learn a lot about interesting subjects in ecology and how to read scientific papers effectively. Every week there are assigned readings which he quizzes you on, which could be manageable if you spend enough time on reading them and finding the key points. Exams are fair but tricky in the way that there’s no rubric so it’s hard to know what exactly they’re looking for in your answers. Definitely take this class if you want to learn interesting stuff and have enough time to dedicate to it.

Honestly not a hard class but really boring. Attendance is mandatory for everything including discussion which honestly sucked. The only way you get an excused absence was with a doctors note which was so frustrating when I was dealing with a really bad cold and had to figure out how to get one in time. Discussions are pretty fun since you get split into groups to debate a scientific paper. Overall, very manageable class but not very engaging.

Dr. Daversa was a phenomenal professor. I wasn't super interested in ecology but Dave made this class super interesting. Attendance is pretty much mandatory (quizzes and points are given in class + need excuses to be made up), but lectures weren't too complicated neither were slides too content heavy. His exams are super fair, and so are the quizzes. As long as you do the readings and go to lecture, you'll do good. This was my fave class of the quarter!

109L was a super fun class! It is completely TA led though, so the TA you get is really important. It consists of 4 field trips, with only 1 of them providing transportation. For the other 3 it's easy to get to the spots via the bus though. The field trips are super fun and engaging, and you often don't have to stay the whole time if you get your assignment done early. Each week there is only 1 assignment that goes over the lab and you get a week to do it, I usually did them the night before and was fine. No midterms or final tests, just a final research project where you and a group do a research project and then you write a paper on it. I would totally recommend the class to anyone interested, it's super fun!

EEB 109L was a fun and easy lab class that paired well with EEB 109! This class is solely TA-driven with Dr.Daversa popping in to support the TAs once in a while in the lab and during field trips. The professor might not matter too much besides how they might slightly change the structure of the class but Dr.Daversa was very cool! Most of the class is in the field at Santa Monica Beach, Ballona Wetlands, rocky intertidal, and some other places that we would visit to collect data and answer our lab questions. This was refreshing and fun to be out in the field and experience things hands-on! If your TA is Andre, HE IS AMAZING! He is very caring and makes sure that you feel supported while giving you useful feedback! The only time-consuming part of the class is the group research project where you have to come up with some research project to conduct related to marine bio and then collect data on your own time and write a full research paper. If you have a good group and ask your TA constant questions, you should be okay! Overall really recommend this class as a lab class!