BIOL 5495 - Biophysical Ecology

This lecture and laboratory course will examine the physical environment (light, wind, temperature, humidity) in which plants, animals, and soil organisms live, how the physical environment affects their physiological function, and how organisms in turn affect their physical environment. The course will focus on theory and methods relevant to examination of biological and ecological processes. It will be taught from an interdisciplinary perspective, including aspects of biology, physics, chemistry, and meteorology. Topics will include radiative, heat, and energy balance of plants, animals, soils, and ecosystems, convection, evaporation, transpiration, water transport through plants and soils, gas transport from leaves, boundary-layer phenomena, atmospheric structure and stability, atmospheric composition, atmospheric transport of biological trace gases, and climate change. The laboratory portion will focus on learning and using the Matlab programming language to investigate topics covered in the lecture. It is recommended that PHYS 2010 or 2110 or 2210 be taken prior to taking this course.