Several members of the program are also part of a larger Marine Sciences community scattered throughout the university. The department also oversees a University of Chicago-owned tract of forest with aquatic habitats just south of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. At the graduate level, students may select from a number of formal courses, as well as engaging in more spontaneous reading classes with selected faculty members. Opportunities also exist to take courses in tropical ecology through the department's membership in the Organization for Tropical Studies . At the undergraduate level, students can select from the following formal courses listed below.
Opportunities also exist to gain research experience in the laboratories of ecology program faculty.