BT2250:03
Plants and the Tropical Environment
Townsville
Prerequisites: BT1020 BZ1020 (CH1001 CH1002 or BM1000)
26 lectures, 36 hours practicals. First semester.
Staff: Dr J Holtum.
The subject introduces the core processes responsible for plant life. In discussions of photosynthesis, mineral nutrition, plant growth hormones, plant movement and plant defence, emphasis will be placed upon understanding mechanisms by which plants respond to tropical environments where growth may be limited or inhibited by light (rainforests, deserts), water (saline and arid environments, epiphytes), temperature or nutrients.
A unifying theme of the subject will be examination at the whole plant and physiological levels of the relationships between structure and function. It will be suggested that the ecological responses of plants are ultimately determined by structure-function relationships.
Learning Objectives:
- to provide fundamental knowledge about how plants function and why they respond the way they do to the environments in which they grow;
- to demonstrate in the laboratory the basic physiological principles that underlie plant structure-function relationships.
Assessment by a three-hour written examination (60%); performance in written assignments and practical exercises (40%).