Honors Plant Ecology (PCB 3930H)
Course Information
- Time: Tuesdays (9:00-10:50) & Thursdays (9:00-11:50)
- Room: Bio 206
- Instructor: Pedro Quintana-Ascencio
- TA: Haoyu Li
- Collaborators: Carlos Ivan Espinosa and Federico Lopez Borghesi
Description
This course concentrates on the interactions between plants and their environments over different scales. We will review plant patterns and function in nature. We will evaluate the rich theoretical basis of plant ecology and benefit from regional natural history knowledge. This course has a large field component and students will participate in vegetation sampling, field observations and field and greenhouse experiments. Students are expected to develop short individual research projects on plant-animal interactions and biomes.
Readings
| Session | Topic | Readings |
| I | Introduction to Plant Ecology | Textbook – Chapter 1 |
| II | Photosynthesis, Light Environment, and Energy balance | Chapter 2 |
| III | Soils, Minerals and Water Balance | Chapters 3 AND 4 |
| IV | Population structure, growth, and decline | Chapter 5 |
| IV Extra | Material for Demography Lab | Demography presentation |
| EXAM | Exam 1 | |
| V | Plant Reproduction and Dispersal | Chapter 7 |
| VI | Community Properties | Chapter 9 |
| VII | Interactions | Chapter 10 |
| VII Thursday |
Interactions 2 | Chapter 11 |
| VIII | Disturbances | Chapter 12 |
| IX | Biodiversity, Invasions and Rarity | Chapter 13 |
| X | Climate and Physiognomy | Chapter 17
***No journal readings this week **** |
| XI | Biomes | Chapter 18
***No journals readings this week **** |
| XII | Global change | Travis et al. 2013 |
| EXAM |
|