PLSCI 3420 - Plant Physiology, Lectures

Spring. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

Prerequisite: BIOG 1140 or BIOG 1440, plus PLSCI 1420 and PLSCI 2410, or permission of instructor. Corequisite: PLSCI 3421. Co-meets with PLSCI 5420.

C. Catala.

Integrated and interdisciplinary study of the processes that contribute to the growth, competition, and reproduction of plants. Topics include, but are not limited to, plant-water relations, membrane properties and processes, photosynthesis, plant respiration, mineral and organic nutrition, stress physiology, control of growth and development, and responses to the environment. Emphasis is on the relationship between structure and function from the molecular to the whole-plant level.

Outcome 1: Describe, and give relevant examples of, how each process in a plant integrates with other relevant processes to determine the overall response of the plant to a particular set of conditions.

Outcome 2: Demonstrate how energy affects processes at all levels of biological organization from the molecule and cell to organisms and ecosystems.

Outcome 3: Predict how the basic rules of chemistry and physics constrain the physiological behavior of plants.

Outcome 4: Explain how cells/organisms perceive and respond to their environment, and the signal transduction, intercellular communication and information processing mechanisms involved.

Outcome 5: Explain how evolution underlies all aspects of biology and accounts for the unity and diversity of life.

Outcome 6: Discuss new findings and newly discovered mechanisms and signaling pathways that are shaping our understanding of plant development, and plant responses to the environment.