This course explores the enormous and fascinating diversity that exists in the natural world. It demonstrates how similarities and differences between living organisms can be explained in terms of evolutionary relationships and the demands of different environments and lifestyles. Students will discover how we classify and name organisms and how to collect, preserve, identify and display biological specimens. The field course will introduce students to the characteristic plants and animals of coastal and mountain habitats and will show how the distribution of these organisms reflects physical, chemical and biological conditions in the environment. Students will gain practical experience in the use and construction of identification keys and will prepare their own specimen collections. We will also briefly examine the ways in which species and habitats can be protected from human activities.