Plant Physiology

OBJECTIVES:
This course satisfies one of the six upper-level course requirements for the biology major. It is designed to provide you with comprehensive exposure to the subject of plant physiology. You will learn about the structure and function of plants throughout their development from seeds through reproduction. Considerable experience in chemistry is assumed, as is recall from BIO 220 (Cell Biology). Our discussions and exercises will cover from the biochemical level through the organismal level. The laboratory exercises will complement the lectures. If you are a person who has over-specialized in molecular biology, zoology or human biology, this course will expand your horizons significantly. As a study of producers, this course will examine those organisms so important because of their position at the energy and elemental intake portion of the energy pyramid and the food web! Upon these organisms depends human survival.

ELECTRONIC MATERIALS:
You will find lecture notes, lab exercises, due dates, and other course materials available for you on the World Wide Web at this address: http://plantphys.info/ There may be a required username:___________________ and password:___________________ to access some of these materials as they are copyrighted and therefore cannot be given out over the internet beyond the members of our class.

TEXT:
Several texts in Plant Physiology are published...I have chosen none of them because they are too deep (expecting too much background undergrads do not have yet) or are extremely expensive or both. If you want a finished, published text, older editions (except the first edition) are probably just fine for this course, but here are references for latest edition choices:

L. Taiz and E. Zeiger. 2007. Plant Physiology. 4th ed. Sinauer Associates, Inc. This is the deep, standard text at $90.

W. G. Hopkins and N. P. A. Huner. 2009. Introduction to Plant Physiology. 4th ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. While more introductory, it costs $110.

B. B. Buchanan, W. Gruissem, and R. L. Jones. 2000. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Plants. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. This book is VERY deep in biochemistry and extremely expensive at $130 for a new paperback copy of an aging edition! However, it is very comprehensive!

LAB MANUAL:
Separate exercise worksheets will be handed out for your use. You should obtain a three-ring binder to hold them together as a laboratory manual. The exercises will overlap in time and due-dates, so having them all together and with you in class each day is critical! The binder will help with that. I know spiral books are all the rage, but a 3-ring binder is vastly superior for this course! Put your name inside your binder so when it is lost you have at least some hope of recovery!

LAB KIT:
Large three-ring binder with zipper pouch containing: Small Scissors, Metric Rule, Fine Forceps, Pencil (mechanical preferred), Eraser, Simple Calculator (+−×÷=). Former students suggest getting some color pencils for your zipper pouch. A small pocket knife or whatever you like to clean under your fingernails would be good to have too. You absolutely need to have a USB=flash=jump drive. All of these are available inexpensively at retail stores just about anywhere. The alternative to the USB drive is to bring your own laptop with Microsoft Excel installed to some lab sessions (not inexpensive but maybe most useful to you)! Lab worksheets even partially completed in ink will receive a 10% penalty...use pencil only...keep it in your zipper pouch so it is ready for use!

GRADING:
Your final course grade will be based on weekly quizzes, laboratory worksheets and amplified abstracts, a lab report, and a final exam as described below.

QUIZZES:
There will be a quiz given each week for the first few minutes of laboratory time. Emphasis for each quiz will be whatever has been covered since the previous quiz in either lecture or laboratory, but questions could be on anything previously in the course and/or synthesis of separate ideas presented in the course. Each quiz may consist of a variety of question types; be prepared for all! You will be given one week after each quiz is returned in which to challenge, in writing, the grading/scoring of that quiz. THERE WILL BE NO MAKE-UP QUIZZES! Being tardy for the quiz will shorten your time to work on the quiz...when all students who are on-time to class are finished, all quizzes will be collected promptly. You be prompt too! Quizzes are collectively worth 35% of the course grade.

LAB EXERCISES:
Each laboratory exercise will be inspired by a handout. You will work with one or more partner(s). Each person will fill out and hand in their own handout and/or write a one-page abstract about the project amplified by attached notes, drawings, graphs, calculations, etc., depending on the exercise. Electronic files are not acceptable documentation of your laboratory exercises. The worksheet and/or amplified abstract will be due one week after the exercise is officially completed and the due date will be posted on the official syllabus page for this course on the website. The papers are due at the beginning of the class period on the indicated date. Papers received after the starting time of the lecture by even 1 minute will be considered one-day late. Late papers will receive a penalty of 10% per day late but after the first graded exercise paper is returned to one of your classmates, your late submission is no longer acceptable and earns a grade of 0%! I grade as promptly as possible, so you need to be prompt too! The laboratory exercises are collectively worth 35% of the course grade.

LABORATORY REPORT:
The format of the lab report must follow the standard guidelines in the departmental style manual (Pechenik). The laboratory report must be handed in as a hard-copy; electronic files are not acceptable. The laboratory report is due no later than 5 PM on Thursday, April 1, 2010; failure to hand in this report by this deadline will result in a course grade of F, regardless of the other grades earned in the course. The laboratory report is worth 10% of the course grade. With some trepidation, at your request, I have provided a link to a scoring rubric I have used in past semesters. I think providing this undercuts your experience but perhaps you have already done that to yourself by letting this assignment go to the end of the semester without any attention on your part? If it helps you write a better report, even as a crutch, well maybe at least you had to so some thinking on your own and having a complete report is perhaps a better experience that the usual freshman level paper.

COMPREHENSIVE FINAL EXAM:
You will take a comprehensive final exam in this course at the appropriate time on the official final exam schedule. The exam covers all material in this course. Studying the quizzes will assist you in preparing for the final. But you will also want to be prepared to answer broader questions, perhaps even integrative essay questions that go beyond weekly coverage. The Final Exam constitutes 20% of the course grade.

PARTICIPATION:
Participation in this laboratory course is essential but, due to its subjective nature, is not given grading credit in a specific numerical sense. However, should your course grade come near a grading border, my sense of your participation in this course will be used as leverage into or barrier from the next-higher grade. Being on-time to all classes, having all materials needed for class, turning in assignments on time or early, being thorough in your laboratory work, being attentive in both lab and lecture classes, working efficiently and cooperatively with lab partners, asking pertinent questions, having answers to my questions in lectures, etc. are all good ways to impress me about your commitment to learning about plant physiology. If you are a person who procrastinates, who does only the minimum, who is tardy with everything, who complains about academic workloads, who watches lab partners doing the work, who sleeps in class, or who can not or will not do simple math, well...you will get what you earn...and only what you earn.

If you are a commuter to our campus, you should remember that parking is often hard to find and leave extra time for the search, and for the walking that may be required once you are parked. Also, you need to think about alternatives should you have vehicle problems. Is there a family member who can give you a ride? Do you have contacts for other ECSU students from your town with whom you might carpool? Are your tires good enough for the driving conditions that New England weather will present? Commuters need to be courageous about driving in snow, on glare ice, in torrential rain, etc.

ACCOMMODATIONS:
If you believe you will need special accommodations for this class, please contact the Office of AccessAbility Services at (860) 465-5573 as soon as possible. I cannot provide accommodations until I have received a formal accommodation letter from the Office of AccessAbility Services.

CHEATING:
In many exercises you will work with laboratory partners and will share the data obtained. Your calculations, your reports, abstracts, and quizzes must, however, be done ON YOUR OWN. Plagiarism will not be tolerated and severe penalties will be invoked. Copying will not be tolerated. Extra credit work will not be given to any one for any reason!

This page © Ross E. Koning 1994.

Go to the Course Schedule Page.

Go to the Plant Physiology Information Homepage.

Send comments and bug reports to Ross Koning at rkoning@snet.net.