Variant of the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) Canada 2021 Version 1.0 for Alternative primary groupings

06 - Physical and life sciences and technologies

26. - Biological and biomedical sciences

This series comprises instructional programs that focus on the biological sciences and the non-clinical biomedical sciences, and that prepare individuals for research and professional careers as biologists and biomedical scientists.

26.13 - Ecology, evolution, systematics and population biology

This subseries comprises instructional program classes 26.1301 to 26.1399.

26.1301 - Ecology

This instructional program class comprises any program that focuses on the scientific study of the relationships and interactions of small-scale biological systems, such as organisms, to each other, to complex and whole systems, and to the physical and other non-biological aspects of their environments. These programs include courses in biogeochemistry; landscape and/or marine/aquatic dynamics; decomposition; global and regional elemental budgets; biotic and abiotic regulation of nutrient cycles; ecophysiology; ecosystem resilience, disturbance, and succession; community and habitat dynamics; organismal interactions (co-evolution, competition, predation); paleoecology, and evolutionary ecology.

  • Illustrative example(s)

    • animal ecology
    • ecology
    • ecosystem science
    • horticulture science in urban ecosystems
    • plant ecology
    • urban ecosystems
    • wildlife ecology

    All examples

  • Exclusion(s)

    • ecology and evolutionary biology(26.1310)
    • environmental biology(26.1305)
    • environmental science(03.0104)
    • environmental studies(03.0103)
    • human ecology(19.0101)
    • natural resources conservation(03.0101)
    • plant sciences(01.1101)
    • sustainable urban horticulture(01.0610)
26.1302 - Marine biology and biological oceanography

This instructional program class comprises any program that focuses on the scientific study of the ecology and behaviour of microbes, plants, and animals inhabiting oceans, coastal waters, and saltwater wetlands and their interactions with the physical environment. These programs include courses in chemical, physical, and geological oceanography; molecular, cellular, and biochemical studies; marine microbiology; marine botany; ichthyology; mammalogy; marine population dynamics and biodiversity; reproductive biology; studies of specific species, phyla, habitats, and ecosystems; marine paleoecology and paleontology; and applications to fields such as fisheries science and biotechnology.

  • Illustrative example(s)

    • biological oceanography
    • marine biology

    All examples

  • Exclusion(s)

    • aquaculture(01.0303)
    • biological sciences(26.0101)
    • fisheries biology(26.1304)
    • fisheries science(03.0301)
    • marine sciences(30.3201)
    • physical oceanography(40.0607)
26.1303 - Evolutionary biology

This instructional program class comprises any program that focuses on the scientific study of the genetic, developmental, functional, and morphological patterns and processes, and theoretical principles; and the emergence and mutation of organisms over time. These programs include courses in molecular and morphological systematics; genetics and development; evolutionary transformation; paleobiology and paleontology; morphogenesis; mutation; locomotor, biomechanical and craniodental form and function; evolutionary theory; and systematic biology.

  • Illustrative example(s)

    • evolutionary biology

    All examples

  • Exclusion(s)

    • anthropology(45.0201)
    • biology(26.0101)
    • ecology and evolutionary biology(26.1310)
    • human biology(30.2701)
    • physical anthropology(45.0202)
26.1304 - Aquatic biology/limnology

This instructional program class comprises any program that focuses on the scientific study of the ecology and behaviour of microbes, plants, and animals inhabiting inland fresh waters such as lakes, ponds, rivers, creeks, estuaries, and wetlands. These programs include courses in geology and hydrology; aquatic ecosystems; microbiology; mycology; botany; ichthyology; mammalogy; population biology and biodiversity; studies of specific species, phyla, and habitats; and applications to fields such as natural resources conservation, fisheries science, and biotechnology.

  • Illustrative example(s)

    • aquatic biology
    • aquatic ecology
    • freshwater ecology
    • limnology

    All examples

  • Exclusion(s)

    • aquaculture(01.0303)
    • biological sciences(26.0101)
    • fisheries science(03.0301)
    • marine biology(26.1302)
26.1305 - Environmental biology

This instructional program class comprises any program that focuses on the scientific study of the origins, functions, relationships, interactions, and natural history of living populations, communities, species, and ecosystems in relation to dynamic environmental processes. These programs include courses in biodiversity, molecular genetic and genomic evolution, meso-scale ecology, computational biology and modelling, conservation biology, local and global environmental change, and restoration ecology.

  • Illustrative example(s)

    • environmental biology
    • environmental microbiology

    All examples

  • Exclusion(s)

    • biology(26.0101)
    • ecology(26.1301)
    • environmental engineering(14.1401)
    • environmental engineering technology(15.0507)
    • environmental science(03.0104)
    • natural sciences(30.1801)
26.1306 - Population biology

This instructional program class comprises any program that focuses on the scientific study of the natural history, life cycle behaviour, and ecosystem dynamics of single species and multi-species communities, and the patterns and causes of diversity within and among such populations. These programs include courses in biostatistics, population dynamics, population and quantitative genetics, RNA and DNA sequences, genomics, evolutionary ecology, natural adaptation and hybridization, geographic differentiation, life history and life cycle studies, and animal and plant demography.

  • Illustrative example(s)

    • population biology

    All examples

  • Exclusion(s)

    • biology(26.0101)
    • epidemiology(26.1309)
    • human biology(30.2701)
    • population studies(45.0501)
    • public health (MPH, DPH)(51.2201)
26.1307 - Conservation biology

This instructional program class comprises any program that focuses on the application of the biological sciences to the specific problems of biodiversity, species preservation, ecological sustainability, and habitat fragmentation in the face of advancing human social, economic, and industrial pressures. These programs include courses in ecology, environmental science, biological systems, extinction theory, human-animal and human-plant interaction, ecosystem science and management, wetland conservation, field biology, forest and wildlife biology, and natural history.

  • Illustrative example(s)

    • conservation biology

    All examples

  • Exclusion(s)

    • biology(26.0101)
    • ecology(26.1301)
    • environmental biology(26.1305)
    • environmental science(03.0104)
    • historic preservation and conservation(30.1201)
    • natural resources conservation(03.0101)
    • renewable resources(03.0199)
    • wildlife biology(26.0709)
26.1308 - Systematic biology/biological systematics

This instructional program class comprises any program that focuses on the theoretical and empirical study of the principles and processes underlying the origin and maintenance of biological taxonomic diversity; related biogeographical and evolutionary patterns; and studies of the origin, diversification, distribution, and extinction of species and lineages. These programs include courses in phylogenetic analysis, structural development and molecular evolution, classification and taxonomic theory, biological nomenclature, taxonomic assignment, evolutionary theory, biological surveys and inventories, computer modelling, and database building.

  • Illustrative example(s)

    • biological systematics
    • systematic biology

    All examples

  • Exclusion(s)

    • biological sciences(26.0101)
    • biostatistics(26.1102)
    • evolutionary biology(26.1303)
    • systems science(30.0601)
26.1309 - Epidemiology

This instructional program class comprises any program that focuses on the scientific study of disease, disability, and trauma patterns within and across populations and the development of health management mechanisms to prevent and control disease outbreaks and injurious behaviours. These programs include courses in biostatistics, biochemistry, molecular biology, immunology, disease and injury determinants, genetic disease and disability factors, behavioural studies, health services research, environmental disease and injury factors, and population studies.

  • Illustrative example(s)

    • epidemiology

    All examples

  • Exclusion(s)

    • disease registry data management(51.0721)
    • epidemiology and biostatistics(26.1311)
    • immunology(26.0507)
    • public health (MPH, DPH)(51.2201)
    • public health medicine - residency(61.2301)
    • veterinary epidemiology(01.8110)
    • virology(26.0504)
26.1310 - Ecology and evolutionary biology

This instructional program class comprises any program that focuses on the scientific study of the relationships and interactions across levels of biological organization - genes and genomes, organisms, species, and ecosystems - and how these change over time, including the origins and history of species, the processes by which biodiversity has evolved, and the ecological context in which this evolution takes place. These programs include courses in animal, plant, population, functional, evolutionary, and ecosystem ecology; ecological and evolutionary genetics; molecular evolution; population and conservation biology; animal and plant diversity; biometry; and scientific and research ethics.

  • Illustrative example(s)

    • combined ecology and evolutionary biology
    • ecology and evolutionary biology

    All examples

  • Exclusion(s)

    • ecology(26.1301)
    • evolutionary biology(26.1303)
26.1311 - Epidemiology and biostatistics

This instructional program class comprises any program with a general synthesis of epidemiology and biostatistics or a specialization which draws from epidemiology and biostatistics. These programs include courses in biostatistics, disease and injury determinants, epidemiology, health services research, pathology, spatial analysis, and statistics.

  • Illustrative example(s)

    • biostatistics and epidemiology
    • epidemiology and biostatistics

    All examples

  • Exclusion(s)

    • biostatistics(26.1102)
    • epidemiology(26.1309)
26.1399 - Ecology, evolution, systematics and population biology, other

This instructional program class comprises any program not listed above that relates to Ecology, evolution, systematics and population biology.

  • Illustrative example(s)

    • other ecology, evolution, systematics and population biology

    All examples

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