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Plant Population Ecology

a)b)c)d)

• PLB452 Plant Population Ecology:
  • The principles and research techniques of plant population ecology including the dynamics of the spatial, age, size, and genetic structures of plant populations. The origin of these different kinds of population structure, their influences upon each other, and their temporal dynamics: Lab fee: $15. Prerequisite: Biology 307 or consent of instructor.
  • Objectives:
    • Students which successfully complete this course should be able to:
    • 1. Explain the importance and interaction between the spatial structure, age structure, and size structure on the birth, death, immigration, and emigration rates within plant populations.
    • 2. Explain how population ecology processes affect the genetic structure of plant populations.
    • 3. Discuss the current research literature on plant population ecology.
    • 4. Design and conduct experiments to investigate current concepts in plant population ecology.
• Laboratory:
  • This part of the course will expose students to the techniques associated with research in plant population ecology. Students will i) conduct computer simulation exercises to investigate the dynamics of plant populataions, and ii) conduct experiments using rapid cycling Brassica plants (Brassica rapa), and Arabidopsis thaliana to address hypotheses that they develop to test current concepts in plant population ecology.
• Information for Spring 2009 Semester (links to pdf files):
  • Lecture Schedule & Evaluation criteria:
  • readings:
  • Lecture outlines:
  • Labs:
    • Outline & Evaluation criteria.
    • Schedule.
    • Lab Exercises.
    • Bibliography.
• Textbooks (outside links):
  • Silvertown, J., & D. Charlesworth. 2001. Introduction to Plant Population Biology, 4th edition. Blackwell Science. Required for the lectures.
  • Gibson, D.J. 2002. Methods in Comparative Plant Population Ecology. Oxford University Press. Required for laboratory, and recommended for lectures.

Population Ecology Links:

• Population Ecology at Virginia Tech.
• Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College, UK.
• Ecology WWW site.
• Society for Population Ecology, Japan.
• Population Studies Center, Univ. of Michigan.
• Theoretical Population Biology (journal)
• Plant Population Ecology section of the ESA.
• POPULUS: A downloadable simulation program.
• PopTools: Excel plugin for population ecology.
• Population ecology reference list: lots of links.

Back to the main Plant Biology home page

Jan 5, 2009

http://www.plantbiology.siu.edu/PLB452/plb452home.html

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