CLASSES

The course consists of 2 one-hour lectures and follow-up exercises per week, plus block practicals which are compulsory for all students. Lecture and exercise materials will be made available on-line on the Monday of each week. The exercises follow on the lectures and must be completed by Monday of the following week. This is to encourage you to keep up with the course each week. Some of the exercises are on-line quizzes covering the lecture material. Others are more in-depth numerical exercises using Excel, which will allow you to explore the lecture concepts in detail.

The compulsory practical sessions will run 9 am – 5.30 pm on the following dates:

• Saturday 9 March;
• Sat-Sun 23-24 March;
• Sat-Sun 27-28 April.
• Location: Glasshouses, F5A roof

REQUIRED AND RECOMMENDED TEXTS AND/OR MATERIALS

The course covers both plant physiology and terrestrial ecosystem ecology.

Plants in Action (available online) is probably the best reference covering both topics.

* Atwell, B.J., Kriedemann, P.E. and Turnbull, Plants in Action. Macmillian Education Australia (2010, 1999). http://plantsinaction.science.uq.edu.au/edition1/

 For more detailed information on plant ecophysiology, see:

* Lambers, H., Chapin, F.S. III and Pons, T.L. Plant Physiological Ecology Springer (2008)

 For more detailed information on terrestrial ecosystem ecology, see:

* Chapin, F.S. III , Mooney, H.A., Chapin, M.C. and Matson, P. Principles of Terrestrial Ecosystem Ecology. Springer (2011, 2004).

 We also recommend the following books for more specific topics:

Plant physiology

* Taiz, L. and Zeiger, E. Plant Physiology. Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Co. (2006, 2002, 1998, 1991).  QK711.2 .T35

* Salisbury, F.B. and Ross, C.W. Plant Physiology. Wadsworth Publishing. (1992). QK711.2 .S23

Biochemistry

* Lea, P.J. and Leegood, R.C. Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Wiley (1999). QK861 .P5533

* Dennis, D.T. and Turpin, D.H. Plant Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Longman Scientific and Technical. (1997, 1990). QK881 .P54

Water relations

* Nobel, P.S. Physiochemical and Environmental Plant Physiology. 3^rd edition (2005, 1991).

Mineral nutrition and ion transport

*Marschner, H. Mineral Nutrition of Plants. 2^nd edition. Academic Press (1995).

Plant response to stress (especially nutrition)

* Mooney, H.A. et al. Response of Plants to Multiple Stresses. Academic Press. (1991). QK754 .R47

Plant ecosystems

* Jones H.G. Plants and Microclimate. Cambridge University press, 2^nd edition (1992). QK754.5 .J66

* Landsberg J & Sands P Physiological Ecology of Forest Production (2011) QH541.5.F6 L3

UNIT WEBPAGE AND TECHNOLOGY USED AND REQUIRED

Website

All course content will be made available via iLearn.

iLearn and email will be the primary methods of communication in this subject. You are expected to use iLearn for:

• Regularly checking subject announcements;
• Downloading lecture, tutorial and reference materials;
• Submitting assignments;
• Checking your grades.

How do you log in? The URL for iLearn is: http://ilearn.mq.edu.au/.

You must log in to iLearn each time you use it. Your user name is your student number, and your password is your myMQ student portal password, provided upon enrolment (unless you’ve changed it). If you are having trouble accessing your online unit due to a disability or health condition, please go to the Student Services Website at http://sss.mq.edu.au/equity/about for information on how to get assistance.

If you are having problems logging on, that is, if you cannot log in after ensuring you have entered your username and password correctly, you should contact Student IT Help, Phone: (02) 9850 4357 (in Sydney) or 1 800 063 191 (outside Sydney).

Software

Tutorial assignments will be available on-line. This material will take the form of a series of exercises in EXCEL and WORD format. Students will need access to EXCEL and WORD to complete these assignments.

Lecture outline

A major theme of the course is “ecosystem services” – the things that ecosystems do for us, such as providing food and fibre, storing carbon, regulating water flow, and maintaining soil quality. We need to ensure that ecosystems continue to provide these services, and to do so, we need to understand the plant and environmental processes that determine them.  In the course, we interweave lectures focusing on plant-level processes (given by Brian Atwell) with lectures that discuss how these processes interact to determine ecosystem-level processes (given by Belinda Medlyn).

Follow up Exercises

Most weeks we will provide you with activities to check you have understood the lecture content. These activities will comprise on-line quizzes (following Brian’s material, worth 1 mark each) and numerical exercises in Excel (following Belinda’s material, worth 2 marks each). The numerical exercises will be supported with online discussion boards. Each exercise must be completed by 10 am Monday of the following week (excepting Easter Monday – due that Tuesday instead).

Practicals

The three block practicals will be held in the Plant Biology Complex on the rooftop of the F5A carpark (eastern end of campus) on 9 March, 23-24 March and 27-28 April.  You can drive up into the opposite carpark if you have a university sticker or purchase a day ticket. The practicals will run from 9am sharp to 5.30pm, depending on the day's activities.

The practical work has two components. You will run a mini-experiment, in small groups, using the Macquarie University glasshouse facilities. You will be given a choice of experiments to do. We will also spend a day in the Macquarie University Ecology Reserve exploring field-based plant ecophysiology techniques. These practicals are compulsory for all students.