Plant Ecology EEB 433 Spring 2013 T/H 12:40-1:55 Instructors: Dr. Jennifer Schweitzer Jen.Schweitzer@utk.edu Office Hrs: T/H 2-4 Michael Van Nuland mvannula@utk.edu Office Hrs: By appt. Course Objectives: Knowledge and working toolkit of the fundamental concepts/techniques in plant ecology. By the end of the course students will have a working knowledge of the major historical concepts, current research being done and a toolbox of lab and field techniques in plant ecology. Specific skills that will be developed include how to read, understand and write ecological literature, experimental design, field/lab sampling techniques, lab analyses of plants and plant processes, statistics/data analysis, and written presentations.

Assessment: Quizzes/assignments 120 3 Group Projects (50 pts each) 150 Midterm Exam 100 Final Paper/Project (25 presentation/75 written product) 100 470 total points

Quizzes/assingments will be near weekly (online and in class). They will be based on the readings and problem-sets and are designed to ensure core concepts have been understood and practiced.

Group projects are experiments designed by groups of 3-4 students on ecological topics. Groups will design an experiment, implement it, analyze the data and write up a research paper in scientific format (models on Bb). The 3rd project will be based on an overnight field trip and field project (more on that later).

Midterm Exam will be a take-home, to be completed individually.

Final Paper/Project is to be any creative endeavor on any topic in Plant Ecology. This can be a review/meta-analysis paper, an experiment or field study of your choice including a write-up of the project done individually (similar to group projects but undertaken by an individual), a blog on plant ecology, a documentary or anything else you can come up with (instructors permission required). 75 of the points are the project and 25 will be based on a 12 min presentation of the project.

 

Classroom communication: Check the Blackboard site (Online@UT) and your email frequently. All of the readings, handouts and out-of-class assignments will be available on the site, as well as answers to follow-up questions and unclear concepts.

Textbook/Readings: ‘The Ecology of Plants’ by Gurevitch, Scheiner & Fox (GSF). The lectures will make much more sense if you do the reading before coming to class. Additional weekly readings from the ecological literature will be made available on Blackboard, and are required reading R1-R12. Schedule: Date (week of)

Topic Readings Approx. due dates§

10 Jan No class GSF ch. 1 15 Jan Climate & physiognomy/Biomes GSF chs. 17-18 22 Jan Photosynthesis & Light GSF ch. 2 - R1 29 Jan Water relations GSF ch. 3 – R2 5 Feb Soils GSF ch. 4 pgs.71-90 – R3 12 Feb Climate Change GSF ch. 21 pgs. 485-504 -

R4 P1

19 Feb Evolutionary processes GSF ch. 6 – R5 26 Feb Reproduction GSF ch. 7 – R6 5 March Roots R7-8 12 March Communities/diversity GSF chs. 9, 13, 19 P2 19 March Belowground

interactions/competition GSF chs. 4 pgs. 92-97, GSF ch. 10 – R9

mid-term

26 March Spring Break 2 April Plant-animal interactions GSF ch. 11 – R10 Field trip 9 April Disturbance/succession GSF ch. 12 – R11 16 April Ecosystem processes GSF sh. 14 – R12 P3 23 April Student Presentations of FP 6 May Final Projects due FP §Due dates may change depending on circumstances and timing Any student who feels that she or he may need accommodations for any sort of physical or learning disability, please speak with instructors to make arrangements.