Important Notes:
BIOL424/ESRM478 are joint and identical courses and either course should meet graduate requirements of your major but do make sure to confirm this with your department advisor.
This is an in-person class with hands-on labs. Most lectures, readings, and course materials are provided online ahead of time with an expectation that students have studied them before class. Class time will then be dedicated for other learning activities including group discussions, Q&A, PollEverywhere, problem solving, and others.
This Canvas is being updated as needed for winter quarter 2024.
2024 Quad Cherry Bloom Watch: https://PollEv.com/surveys/jrZ7vULoqCBD4t9fwxwzf/respond
Last updated: Feb 14, 2023
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Welcome to ESRM478/BIOL424. This course will cover physiological and biophysical basis of how plants function and interact with the environment. Students will be introduced to plant physiological mechanisms underlying ecological processes and observations. In addition, students will be exposed to key instrumentation and measurement techniques in plant ecophysiology. This course will address stress responses, acclimation and adaptation of plants to the environment with an emphasis on organismal (i.e., whole-plant) responses. The climate impacts on plants and their role in ecosystem processes will be discussed towards the end of the course.
General Information
Instructor:
- Dr. Soo-Hyung Kim (he/him), Professor, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences (SEFS), soohkim@uw.edu, (206) 616-4971, Merrill 037
- Best way to communicate with the instructor and TAs is to send Canvas message.
TAs:
- Miro Stuke (they/them), PhD student, SEFS, stuke@uw.edu
- Shubroto Sarkar (he/him), PhD student, SEFS, sksag@uw.edu
Class logistics: Tuesday & Thursday 10:00 am – 11:20 am PST (Hans Rosling Center 155)
- Class meets in-person with no live Zoom.
- In-person classes may be recorded and available for viewing at a later time.
- Class times will be used for topic recap, PollEverywhere polls, Q&A, problem solving with study questions, break-out group activities, journal discussions, and guest lectures.
- Most lectures are delivered as pre-recorded videos and posted by Saturday prior.
- Students will have studied relevant course materials including pre-recorded lectures for the week before in-person classes.
- Most course materials are marked by priority as: required, highly recommended, recommended, and optional.
- If an online quiz is scheduled for the week, it will be due on Friday by 11:59pm.
- Permanent link to submit questions: https://PollEv.com/discourses/uleFlHxThek8mbBy2pNkV/respond
- PollEverywhere: https://pollev.com/plants
Lab (Meet in-person in Douglas Research Conservatory at the Center for Urban Horticulture)
- AA: Wednesday 9:30 am – 11:20 am PST
- AB: Wednesday 12:30 pm – 14:20 pm PST
- AC: Friday 8:30 am – 10:20 am PST
- AD,AE: Friday 10:30 am - 12:20 pm PST
Books and Resources
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- Peer-reviewed scientific journal articles in plant science will be used as primary reading materials in this course. On-line access to these papers will be provided as needed.
- Schmidt RS, Beveridge C. 2016. Plants in Action. 2nd ed. Australian Society of Plant Scientists, New Zealand Society of Plant Biologists, and New Zealand Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science
- Alternate links:
- Plant ecophysiology modeling tools
- Cropbox Jupyter Lab for this class
- Plant Gas-Exchange Simulator (PGES): PGES_win.zip for Windows or PGES_mac.zip for macOS
Grading (Grading scale and policy)
- Labs: 35% (See below)
- Online quizzes: 15% (Late penalty for quizzes: 10% per day)
- Exams: 30% (15% each; No late submissions accepted)
- Participation and engagement (e.g., PollEv polls, nature observation, and other activities): 10%
- In-class Discussions: 10%
- There will be scientific journal article discussions on relevant topics including stomatal relations, plant-microbe interactions, and plants and people relationship.
- There may be extra credit opportunities: TBA
Labs (See lab assignments and lab manual for details):
- Scientific report on the experiment (group report; no late submissions accepted)
- First draft: 20%*
- Final draft: 30%
- Writing credits: No writing credits are available from this course
- Group presentation: 30%
- Two peer evaluations of group work: 20% (10% each)
- Required readings for the lab report:
- Munns and Gilliham (2015) https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.13519
- Munns and Termaat (1986) https://doi.org/10.1071/pp9860143
- Nackley and Kim (2015) http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12184
- Poorter et al. (2012) https://doi.org/10.1071/fp12028
- Jones (2007) https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erl118
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Students are highly recommended to cite these in their report, and information and findings from these papers may be referenced and/or required for answering exam questions.
* percentage of total lab grade
Exams
- Mid-term : Feb 6 (Tue) 10:00am (on-line)
- Final (cumulative): Mar 11 (Mon) 10:30am (on-line)
Office hours
- Zoom Link for Office Hours: https://washington.zoom.us/j/97168436809
- Instructor: Thursday 1:30-2:30pm or by appointment via Zoom and/or in Merrill Hall room 037
- TAs: By appointment
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Our university, college, and school support an inclusive learning environment where diverse perspectives are recognized, respected, and seen as a source of strength. In this course, the instructor and the class as a whole will strive to create welcoming spaces where everyone feels included, engaged, and respected regardless of their social and cultural backgrounds.
Academic Integrity
At the University level, you must do your own scholarly work. Presenting anyone else’s scholarly work (which can include written material, exam answers, graphics or other images, and even ideas) as your own, without proper attribution, is considered academic misconduct.
Plagiarism, cheating, and other misconduct are serious violations of the University of Washington Student Conduct Code (WAC 478‐120). We expect that you will know and follow the university’s policies on cheating and plagiarism. Any suspected cases of academic misconduct will be handled according to University of Washington regulations. For more information, see the College of the Environment Academic Misconduct Policy (http://environment.uw.edu/intranet/academics/academic-policies/academic-misconduct/) and the University of Washington Community Standards and Student Conduct website (http://www.washington.edu/cssc/).
Disability Accommodations
It is crucial that all students in this class have access to the full range of learning experiences. At the University of Washington, it is the policy and practice to create inclusive and accessible learning environments. To request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disability Services for Students (DRS), 011 Mary Gates, (206) 543-8924, or uwdrs@uw.edu. If you have a letter from DRS indicating that you have a disability which requires academic accommodations, please present the letter to the instructor so we can discuss the accommodations needed for this class. More information can be found at: http://depts.washington.edu/uwdrs/
Religious Accommodations
Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/).