Diversity and cooperation are key values of the department. Members of the faculty are involved in research spanning a broad range of disciplines, including vegetation ecology; terrestrial and aquatic ecology; population biology; fish and wildlife management; animal behavior; evolution; community ecology; statistical ecology; and landscape ecology.

The Ecology Department has one of the highest enrollments of undergraduates and the highest graduate student enrollment/FTE of any department in the College of Letters and Science, with approximately 260 undergraduate majors in four options, and 70 graduate students (currently 44 M.S., 26 Ph.D.). 

The 13 tenure-track faculty members, two Federal cooperators, and two adjuncts in our department teach more than 2100  enrolled students during spring, summer and fall semesters, for a total of well over 5000 SCH.  Ecology teaches the largest enrollment biology course on campus (BIOL 101IN), and teaches three CORE 2.0 classes in total.  

Our faculty advises an average of five graduate students per tenure track faculty member,  comprising over 15% of all graduate students in the College of Letters and Science, and over 10% of all PhD's on campus.  Our teaching and research programs address issues that are central to the purpose of a land-grant institution, particularly to Montana.  A large portion of the over $2.3 million expended by our department on research each year is obtained outside of Montana from over 50 agencies and spent in Montana, often in remote locations.  Thus, our highly active program provides direct economic benefits to many rural Montana communities.  The faculty and location of the Ecology Department make us highly competitive with peer institutions to meet the challenges of scientific inquiry and natural resource management in the 21st century.  Consequently, the department has developed a strong national reputation for linking fundamental ecology with wildlife conservation and management.