College introductory biology educators have an opportunity to increase ecological literacy. This research used a pre-/postsurvey design to ask the following questions: (a) What level of ecological literacy do underclass science majors have? (b) What demographic factors are related to ecological literacy? and (c) Does taking introductory organismal biology increase ecological literacy? We found that first-year science majors had relatively high attitudes and perceptions of the environment that were related to motivation, confidence, and future career goals but lower ecological knowledge that was not related to any demographic factors studied. Students exhibited very little increase in ecological literacy after completing an introductory organismal biology class. Therefore, we urge introductory biology instructors to assess whether they are increasing student ecological literacy and provide recommendations for doing so. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)