Plant Ecology

The course engages students in learning activities aimed at building in-depth knowledge and understanding of fundamental concepts in plant ecology. Students will familiarize with key ecological patterns, processes, and applications involving plants at individual, population, community, and ecosystem scale. A major goal of the course is to expand students' critical thinking skills and professional expertise. Students will first assess information from media and literature and will practice interpreting results and communicating findings to different audiences. Then, students will learn how to pose questions, formulate testable hypotheses, design, implement, analyse, and report plant ecology studies by conducting original scientific research projects.

At the end of the course, students will be able to explain and communicate clearly key findings and concepts in plant ecology to a broad audience in different ways. They have learnt to work autonomously and collaborate within teams to pose fundamental questions and test hypotheses, design and implement research projects, analyse, and interpret ecological data, and theorize on the most important aspects of plant ecology. They will be able to relate and anticipate the consequences of changing plant diversity for ecosystem functions as well as apply different plant ecology theories and approaches to ecosystem management, restoration and sustainability. They will be capable of evaluating and reflecting on complex and novel social-environmental issues as well as making recommendations and generating solutions to address the current ecological crisis.