P l a n t  E c o l o g y

. . .  i n  a  c h a n g i n g  w o r l d

Biology 5460
Fall 2007



Class Meeting Schedule

10:45am-12:05pm
Tuesday and Thursday
Fall Semester 2007
location: 140 JTB


Course Personnel

Jim Ehleringer
Seth Arens (TA)
Greg Maurer (TA)

Web Page Problems or Questions? Contact Heather Rasmussen




This lecture course and associated laboratory course are offered to undergraduate students interested in learning more about how climate systems, soils, biotic interactions, and humans impact plant species and plant communities. Plant ecology topics are considered from evolutionary, functional, and global-change perspectives. Lecture will span from molecules to ecosystems. Students will have copies of all lecture materials available beforehand.

# Date Lecture (10:45-11:35) # Discussions (11:35-12:05)
I. Biomes and Climate of the World
Aug 21 Organizational discussions 28 Email, PDF, web and the electronic world
1 Aug 23 Ecology, adaptation, and environment 29 Entrada Field Station
2 Aug 28 Climate constrains plant distributions 29 Library searches
3 Aug 30 Biome and climate relationships 30 What is expected in your paper
4 Sept 04 Desert and steppe ecosystems 31 Desert vegetation slide show
5 Sept 06 Grassland, savannah, and shrub ecosystems 32 Grassland vegetation slide show
6 Sept 11 Forest ecosystems 33 Forest vegetation slide show
7 Sept 13 Alpine and tundra ecosystems 34 Tundra vegetation slide show
Sept 18 Examination 1
II. Environment and Resource Capture
8 Sept 20 Microclimate - the biophysical environment 35 Microclimate and energy computer models
9 Sept 25 Microclimate - the biophysical environment 36 Hanging gardens of Southern Utah slide show
10 Sept 27 Plants exchange energy with their environment 37 El Niño and La Niña patterns
11 Oct 02 Water moves through the plant-soil atomosphere continuum 38 Cheatgrass and the modern fire cycle
12 Oct 04 Plants acquire nutrients via roots and microbes 39* Wildfires should not be suppressed.
Oct 09 Fall Recess
Oct 11 Fall Recess
13 Oct 16 Plants acquire carbon and energy through photosynthesis 40* We should remove the dam at Glen Canyon.
14 Oct 18 Photosynthesis adaptations and adjustments to changes in light and temperature 41* Wolves should be allowed to expand throughout the West.
15 Oct 23 Environmental stresses limit resource capture and use 42* SLC residents should be required to xeriscape.
III. Resource Utilization
16 Oct 25 Canopy and scaling processes integrate plant activities 43 The Great Salt Lake ecosystem slide show
17 Oct 30 Plants allocate resources to enhance performance 44* We should constrain human atmospheric and waste inputs into the Great Salt Lake.
18 Nov 01 Plant phenology and competition for resources 45* We should change grazing policies in Utah.
19 Nov 06 Life histories, reproduction, and provisioning offspring
Nov 08 Examination 2
IV. Plant responses to a changing world
20 Nov 13 Urban ecosystems and land-use changes 46* We should take steps to protect the Wasatch forests from human impacts.
21 Nov 15 Global changes - "...the times they are a-changing" 47* Global warming is natural.
22 Nov 20 Atmospheric changes impact plant performance and evolution 48* We should reduce CO2 emissions.
Nov 22 Thanksgiving Holiday
23 Nov 27 Variation in photosynthesis pathways 49* Aquatic species should have access to water before irrigation.
24 Nov 29 Carbon balance from a global perspective
25 Dec 04 Biological diversity, disturbance, and invasions 50* We should control the spread of invasive species.
26 Dec 06 Utah- what the pioneers saw and what our children might see
Dec 10 Examination 3 due no later than Dec 10th at 12:30pm "*" indicates a student-led debate
Biology 5460 - Plant Ecology (Fall 2007)