Definitely not the best professor I've had. On the very first day of class with her, she gave us an introductory presentation explaining what we should expect for the class, what we would learn, etc...Then, she gave a whole speech about why we should not email her, and, if we do have any urging questions, to email X, Y, and Z because she does not want to receive emails from anyone. I've never had a professor not want to engage with their students through email, so that didn't sit right with me, especially given the fact that this class was taught during Covid so an email is one of the only ways you can contact a professor outside of class. If you find emails from students to be annoying or a burden, then maybe you're in the wrong profession.
As some other people have said in the reviews, her lectures are not very engaging. She won't shy away from talking about her own research during class, and she will throw in a theoretical question about it on the final. Her questions on the final exam were definitely too ambiguous. I know some professors have purposely made their tests harder during Covid since everything is online, but the questions absolutely could have been written better while still being challenging. What was most off-putting about her was her response to the frustration many students expressed because of the final exam questions. I believe one of her multiple-choice questions had two correct answers but only one of them was counted for credit. After many students contacted her about it, she finally gave in and awarded credit for those who selected either answer and then stubbornly claimed that her answer choice for that question was still the only right answer despite the fact that a research article she assigned to our discussion sections said otherwise. It was very obvious that she made a mistake but was not willing to admit that she was wrong. She then grew increasingly annoyed with the response from students and refused to answer anyone else's questions about the final, finalized our grades, and called it a day. Actually, she didn't respond to anyone for a good week after the final. She took the liberty of having an earlier spring break. Then, she came back saying she would not respond to students because of the large influx of emails she received about the final and that was that.

So far in my time at UCLA, I have learned there are two kinds of professors--those that actually care about their students and others who don't necessarily care about the teaching aspect but took the job for the great career opportunity and to perform their beloved research. I'm more pissed that this is not the first time I've encountered a professor like this at UCLA and that I worked very hard to get into such a respectful school only to be met with professors that are this wack. Do better.

I know some people felt that the final exam was unfair and was tested on "small details" but I felt that it really wasn't the case. The tested material was on general ideas found in videos and readings- I know this because I literally skimmed most readings and I got a A on the exam. I felt that the tested material was fair because many times in her lectures she would stress that certain portions would be included on the exam multiple times. For example, she says to pay attention to numbers in a lecture and then those numbers are tested on the exam.

Objectively, this class is an easier version of LS7A and LS7B. The questions are a little confusing on wording but if you take your time and pace yourself you will be fine. I think too many people come into this class thinking that it will be an easy grade booster class, but you should take it seriously if you want to do well. Take it if you are truly interested in the material, and you will do much better than if you are passively listening.

Lipman teaches the ecology portion. Lipman is generally a good lecturer, but the way this class is structured is really stupid, and her policies are crazy. Discussion is pointless, with a student-led presentation about articles that generally have little connection to the actual course material, so there's no point in reading them besides you have to for the grade. I think our time could have been used better but I guess that's how it is. Lipman gave the final, I did kinda bad on the midterm but pretty well on the final. I can see why people think her questions are ambiguous and very specific, but all of the material was covered, so while it wasn't new, she was super nitpicky, which was very annoying. She also was not responsive, she has a "no email policy" (wtf, you're a professor in a remote environment, email is our only form of communication, how are you going to have a no email policy) and was passive-aggressive when the ambiguous questions were brought to her attention. I would not take this class with her, and if you have no other choice, then be prepared to pay close attention to all the material, and work on understanding scientific literature.

The animal behavior portion with Gorlitsky can be pretty interesting but challenging. Lipman's ecology section is definitely very important stuff especially with climate change, but personally I don't find it all that interesting.
Tests were kind of hard and I had to study far in advance.

If you don't have to take this class I would recommend finding easier ones, but if you do take it definitely take EEB 100L for a lab requirement because it's pretty easy compared to other EEB labs. That's the main pro of this class unless you want to go into similar research.

Not an easy class, but doable if you stay on top of the material and know going into it that it is going to be a little bit more difficult than some EEB classes you take. Make sure to do the EC field trip because it can make a big difference at the end of the class! Going to office hours before the exams really helps and both Gorlitsky and Lipman are very nice and willing to answer any questions you may have.

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