BIOL 428
Forests of the Future--Understanding Global Change through 'Big Science' Experiments Spring 2021
Division III
This is not the current course catalog

Increases in atmospheric CO2 and warming temperatures associated with global climate change affect the growth and physiology of plants and microorganisms and the cycling and storage of carbon and nutrients within terrestrial ecosystems. These changes cross scale and encompass complex feedbacks that are challenging to predict and understand. Over the past several decades, scientists have used large-scale global change experiments to depict the future of organisms and ecosystems in a CO2-enriched, warmer world. In this course, we will trace the progress of these experiments and evaluate our understanding of the effect of global changes on plant growth and physiology, microbial community composition and activity, and ecosystem nutrient cycling processes. We will then consider the interactive effects of multi-factor global changes and assess the promises and challenges of interpreting biological responses at the ecosystem level. Finally, we will investigate how experimental results can be integrated within models that describe and predict ecosystem function at a global scale. Throughout the course, we will consider how understanding gained from manipulative experiments can be used to inform and prioritize climate change mitigation strategies. Discussions and writing assignments will focus on reading and critiquing the scientific literature. Writing assignments will include two short writing assignments (3 pages each) and a final research proposal (6 pages), as well as formal written peer review. Students will gain experience revising scientific writing.