Plants in Populations and Communities

Plant ecology is the scientific study of biotic and abiotic interactions that determine the abundance, distribution and patterns of diversity of populations and communities. This course focuses on the ecological and evolutionary processes that regulate these interactions at population and community levels. A major focus of the course is to use ecological theory and methods to understand basic and applied questions in plant ecology with relevance to sustainability objectives in both agricultural and natural ecosystems.

Many global environmental and agricultural challenges require an understanding of plant ecology. The demand for nutritious, sustainably produced, plant-based food is increasing, requiring knowledge of plant performance and interactions in populations and communities. Weeds, insect pests and diseases cause substantial yield losses and therefore it is important to understand plant-plant, plant-insect and plant-pathogen interactions to design sustainable agricultural systems. Plant populations and communities in natural ecosystems are also under threat from agricultural intensification, land use change, climate and environmental change. How does reduced biodiversity affect processes in natural and human-dominated landscapes and how can we include plant diversity in landscape and agri-environmental planning, which may ultimately influence our well-being as humans?

The core of the course aims to teach basic principles in plant population and community ecology that will help to address these challenges:

Plant population ecology: demography, population dynamics, life histories, modelling plant populations 

Biotic interactions: plant-plant, plant-microbe and plant-animal interactions and their impacts on plant populations and communities.

Evolutionary ecology: Local adaptation, co-evolution, population and ecological genetics. 

Plant community ecology: community assembly processes, functional plant ecology, succession, species diversity.

We explore the importance of basic plant ecology for addressing current global, agricultural, environmental and sustainability challenges (zero hunger, life on land, responsible consumption and production, climate action) through lectures and seminars, student-led classroom discussion, literature criticism, fieldwork (including data collection and analysis) and project work. Case studies include:

- Plant invasions, pest management, patterns of plant biodiversity, big data and citizen science for plant ecology, climate change impacts and conservation of natural plant communities.

The course relies on active participation of the students in discussions, data collection and analysis, exercises, peer feedback and lectures.