Undergraduate Plant Science 2015-2016

Terrestrial ecosystems play a pivotal role in modulating the fluxes of energy and matter at the Earth’s surface, including the cycling of carbon, nutrients and greenhouse gases. Understanding the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems is critical for understanding environmental challenges such as global warming, biodiversity loss, sustainable development and pollution. This course develops principles of systems ecology and biogeochemistry, focusing on the fundamental role played by living things in regulating key ecosystem processes such as carbon cycling, nitrogen dynamics, trophic transfers, and land-atmosphere exchange of greenhouse gases.

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This advanced soil science course provides additional teaching of physical, chemical and biological properties of soils in the context of food security.  You will learn a variety of processes that affect soil productivity, accompanied by practical sessions that will teach relevant analytical methods.  The wide range of soil processes taught will be brought together at the end of the course to provide a working knowledge of agronomy, including the interactions between crops and specific chemical or physical properties of soils.

Lectures, workshops, excursions and computer-based sessions provide a diverse set of learning opportunities relating to plant physiology and adaptations to their environment.

A grant writing and grant review exercise on a topic of your choosing within plant physiology and interactions with the environment develops specialist knowledge and your capacity for creative, independent and critical thinking, problem identification and problem solving. Participation in a grant review panel helps you to develop confidence and oral communication skills.

In a computer-based practical you will develop an understanding of how landscape modelling informs our understanding of plant-environment interactions.

How and why are plant communities formed, sustained and lost?

The focus is on plant communities, especially interactions among species and with the non-living environment. Main themes are: populations, life histories and strategies, describing communities, community interactions, and changing communities.

Delivery is by lectures, seminars, computer labs, experimental work and field trips.

There is a strong emphasis on quantitative techniques, including ordination, sampling vegetation and the analysis of data sets.

During the course, you will develop skills in enquiry, field techniques, data exploration and team working.