PLBIO 2420 - Plant Function and Growth Lectures

Spring. 3 credits. Student option grading.

Prerequisite: two introductory-level biology courses. May not be taken for credit after PLBIO 3420.

S. Gan.

How plants function and grow. Examples deal with crop plants or higher plants where possible, though not exclusively. Topics include cell structure and function; plant metabolism, including photosynthesis; light relations in crops; plant-water relations; water uptake, transport, and transpiration; irrigation of crops; sugar transport; mineral nutrition; growth and development-hormones, responses to light, flowering, fruiting, dormancy, and abscission; stress; tissue culture; and genetic engineering of plants.

Outcome 1: Identify the physiological mechanisms by which plants capture sunlight, obtain nutrients, transport water and sugars, grow, and react to their environment, and to demonstrate an ability to integrate this knowledge into the functioning of an intact plant in a plant community or an agricultural or horticultural setting.

Outcome 2: Interpret modern research papers in the field, and also apply their knowledge as the basis of further studies in plant cell biology, molecular biology, ecology, and agricultural or horticultural crop cultivation.

Outcome 3: Explain the functioning and growth of plants to those involved in the commercial production of crops.

Outcome 4: Understand the principles of designing and improving plant traits.