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. Course materials including slides, readings, videos, and other materials are provided online ahead of time with an expectation that students have studied them before class. Class time will be dedicated for synthesis learning activities including reviews, group discussions, PollEv questions, problem solving, and others for knowledge expansion and applications.
This Canvas is being updated as needed for winter quarter 2026.
Last updated: Jan 2, 2026
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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 understanding how the physiology of plants relates to ecological observations and evolutionary processes . Through hands-on labs, students will learn about key instrumentation and measurement techniques in plant ecophysiology. The spatial and temporal scales covered in this course range from molecules to globe taking place from milliseconds to millennia with an emphasis on organism-level (i.e., whole-plant) responses within a plant life time. 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.
TA:
- Amelia Keyser-Gibson (she/her), graduate student, SEFS, akeyserg@uw.edu
Class Meetings: Tuesday & Thursday 10:00 am – 11:20 am PST (Raitt Hall 121)
- Class meets in-person
- If in-person class is not possible, we will meet via this Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/97927183792
- Class times will be used for lecture, PollEverywhere polls, problem solving, journal discussions, and guest lectures.
- Students will have studied relevant course materials (e.g., readings, slides, and required 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 8:30 am – 10:20 am PST
- AB: Wednesday 10:30 am – 12:20 pm PST
- AC: Wednesday 1:30 pm – 3:20 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.
- (recommended) 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
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(optional) Taiz L et al. (2024) Fundamentals of Plant Physiology (2nd edition)
- 10% discount code: "student10"
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(optional) Lambers H et al. (2021) Plant Physiological Ecology (3rd edition)
Grading (Grading scale and policy)
- Labs: 30% (See below)
- Online quizzes: 15% (Late penalty: 10% per day)
- Exams: 30% (15% each; No late submissions accepted)
- in-class PollEverywhere polls: 15% (No late submissions; graded on correctness)
- 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.
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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Information and findings from these five papers may be referenced and/or required for answering exam questions.
- All groups are highly recommended to cite these and other relevant scientific papers in their report.
* percentage of total lab grade
Exams
- Mid-term : Feb 10 (Tue) 10:00am (on-line)
- Final (cumulative): Mar 16 (Mon) 10:30am (on-line)
Office hours
- Zoom Link for Office Hours: https://washington.zoom.us/j/97927183792
- Instructor: Tuesday from 1 to 2pm or by appointment via Zoom and/or in Merrill Hall room 037
- TA: By appointment
Course Material is Copyright Protected
Do not share any course materials (lectures, lecture notes, recordings, assignments, quizzes, exams) posted to the class Canvas site. These materials are protected by U.S. copyright law and by University policy and may not be reproduced, distributed, displayed, posted or uploaded without written permission from the instructor. If you do so, you may be subject to academic misconduct proceedings under the UW Student Conduct Code.”
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/).
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.
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/).