UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - STEVENS POINT
CHAIRPERSON OF BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Fundamentals of plant biology are illuminated using unifying features of life. Common regional plants are identified, kingdoms of life are surveyed and life histories are emphasized.
The cellular biology, systematics, evolutionary relationships, and ecology of algae are discussed. Locally and regionally important taxa are emphasized. Course includes lecture, lab, fieldwork, unknowns, papers, and team exercises.
Discussions and investigations into current and classic research papers dealing with a wide variety of algal ecology including blooms/toxicity, pollution/control, nutrient enrichment, reproductive strategies, succession, diversity, and community dynamics.
Study of hypolithic (under rocks) and endolithic (inside rocks) algae. Areas include community composition, biogeography, seasonal succession, biomass measures, and algal microhabitat descriptions. These organisms survive in extremely inhospitable environments by avoiding environment stress with remarkable desiccation -resistant metabolism adaptations.
Field research in taxonomic composition, successional dynamics, and biomass fluctuations. Includes laboratory growth experiments testing algal tolerance and response to environment perturbations, temperature, light nutrients, salt, and acid.
Studies of adjacent agricultural and nonagricultural soils. Community biomass, seasonal dynamics, and successional trends are identified. Differences between the habitat and effects of fertilizers/pesticides are enumerated.
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