CPSC/NRES 431, IB 440
 Spring 2007      
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Welcome to Plants and Global Change!

Lectures:          TU, TH 5:00 – 6:20, W115 Turner Hall.
(Please see the instructor if you need accommodations for physical or learning disabilities, or timetable or other academic commitment clashes.)

Instructors:     
Dr. Andrew Leakey
1402 Institute for Genomic Biology
e-mail: leakey@ (our school)
Office Hours: Tu & Th 3:30-4:30 PM, or by arrangement.

Dr. Lisa A. Ainsworth
Room 147, Edward R. Madigan Laboratory
Campus phone: 5-9887
e-mail: ainswort@  (our school)
Office Hours: Tu 4-5 PM, or by arrangement.

TA:  Charles Chen, Room 379 ERML, 4-6317, email: cpchen@ (our school)

Text:   May be seen in full at: http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/index.htm or paper: “Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis.  Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)”.  Edited by J. T. Houghton, Y. Ding, D. J. Griggs, M. Noguer, P. J. van der Linden, D. Xiaosu, K. Maskell, C. A. Johnson.  Cambridge University Press, ISBN  0-521-01495-6 (Paperback)
Library Call number Q. 551.6 C6136

Recommended: Pritchard SG, Amthor JS (2005) “Crops and Environmental Change” (Haworth Press, NY), ISBN 1-56022-913-6 (soft)

Evaluation:   One 1h mid-term examination, one final take-home examination, one term paper, one debate and discussions.

Final grade:  Hour examination (20%)
Final examination (25%)
Term paper (20%)
Quizzes (10%), Debates (20%) & Discussion (5%).  Do not miss more than 3 classes and participate in discussion.

Prerequisite:   IB100, IB101, IB102, IB103, IB203, or CPSC112 or consent of instructor. 3 HOURS.

Course aims:  (1) To provide an overview and synthesis of global atmospheric and climate change and its impacts on plants, including crop and natural ecosystems.  The focus is on the processes and other biological mechanisms that provide the basis for a) understanding responses and b) development of predictions.  The impacts considered are rising CO2, tropospheric ozone, rising UV-B, increased nitrogen deposition, and rising temperature. (2) To give an appreciation of how atmosphere, climate and ecosystem interact, and models developed both to synthesize current understanding and predict into the future. (3) To provide a basis for considering: how agriculture and other land use may be adapted to climate change with special emphasis on renewable biofuels and how biological systems might be utilized to mitigate atmospheric change; and the policy implications of these issues.