Special Topics in Conservation Biology is a senior- and graduate-level course. This course is only designed to seek principles from all parts of biology (genetics, population biology, ecology, evolution) that are essential to conserving biological diversity, but also to introduce broader societal and cultural issues that impinge on conservation efforts. The course objectives are to (1) to explore the biological principles and finding, and human dimensions that all conservation biologists should know; (2) to integrate current information from the web and key journals through class discussion and other activities; and (3) to connect the concepts and research findings to real world conservation problems in order to seek strategies to minimize the crisis.