How do plants sense and respond to changes in their external environment? What are the chemical signals produced by plants in response to external stimuli (light, gravity, temperature) and how are these signals amplified within the larger plant community? This program focuses on these questions through the study of individual plants (autecology), the interactions among plants (synecology), and the physiological interactions of plants with their environment (ecophysiology).

Students will learn field and laboratory methods for studying plant community ecology and plant physiology including vegetation sampling methods, methods for measuring plant growth, photosynthesis, water-stress, and tree water-use. Lecture topics will include plant communities; competition and facilitation ecology; plant growth and development; plant hormones; water use; photosynthesis; rooting; and the potential effects of large-scale disturbances, such as climate change, on plant communities. We will apply what we learn about plant physiology to better understand current research in the broader fields of ecosystem and community ecology. Our readings will be divided between current widely used texts in plant physiology and ecology, historical papers of great importance, and current research papers from technical journals.

Local day trips, workshops, labs, and a multi-week field trip will allow us to observe field research on plant physiology, plant restoration, and the plant ecology of diverse environments, as well as conduct student-driven research on plant ecology and physiology. This is also a writing intensive program for technical science writing. Communication skills will be emphasized, particularly reading scientific articles and writing for scientific audiences.

This program will focus on intensive group and individual field research on current topics in ecological science. These topics will include forest structure, ecosystem ecology, effects of forest management, ecological restoration, riparian ecology, fire history, plant community abundance and monitoring, insect-plant interactions, and disturbance ecology. Students will be expected to intensively use the primary literature and student-driven field research to address observations about ecological composition, structure, and function. Multiple independent and group research projects will form the core of our work in local forests, prairies, national forests, national parks, state forests, and other relevant natural settings.

Students are expected to hit the ground running and should develop research projects for the entire quarter within the first several weeks of the program. Through a series of short, intensive field exercises, and a multi-day field trip, students will hone their skills in observation, developing testable hypotheses, and designing ways to test those hypotheses. We will also explore field techniques and approaches in ecology, and especially approaches related to measuring plant communities. Research projects will be formally presented by groups and individuals at the end of the quarter. Finally, student research will be supported in multiple ways including a series of intensive multi-day paper-writing workshops and a research symposium at the end of the quarter. We will emphasize identification of original field research problems in forest habitats, experimentation, data analyses, oral presentation of findings, and writing in scientific journal format.