An examination of selected topics in environmental physiology, how animals and plants interact with their environment and influence ecological processes in natural and managed ecosystems.

This paper introduces students to animal and plant environmental physiology, the discipline that examines how organisms are adapted to and respond to their environment. Understanding the physiological responses of animals and plants to environmental stress can help explain higher level ecological questions, including the controls on their distribution, abundance, and productivity, and the responses of populations, communities and ecosystems to environmental change. Selected topics drawn from the contemporary literature may include adaptation to temperature, water and oxygen stress in animals and plants, relationships between organism size and metabolic processes, and interactions between organism functioning and global change. Critical evaluation of selected readings from the scientific literature will provide a theoretical framework for the selected topics and an introduction to recent research in those fields.

Each topic will comprise an introduction to the subject followed by an examination of selected readings from the scientific literature. Students are expected to attend ALL lecture sessions and participate in class discussions.

The lecturer leading each topic will provide instructions and assign readings on Moodle prior to the seminar. Assessments include completion of a written review of a topic selected by the participant and that is relevant to the course, an oral presentation that summarises the review findings, two data analysis exercises linked to particular seminar topics, and a mock peer review of a paper selected by each participant.

This paper has a Moodle page (http://elearn.waikato.ac.nz) where you will be able to access pdfs of prescribed readings, lecture notes and assessment materials. There are also discussion forums where you can both ask and answer questions. Your essay assignments must be submitted through Moodle.

PLEASE NOTE: Moodle will be used for class notices etc and it is your responsibility to check the site regularly. Instructions provided on Moodle and in lectures are considered to be given to the class as a whole.

10 hours per week (2 hour seminar + 8 hours independent study).