Lectures in Plant Physiology

I began teaching a combined undergraduate/graduate course in plant physiology in 1977 as a faculty member at Washington University. Danny Kohl and Joe Varner, both experienced researchers and instructors, shared responsibility for this course with me and provided guidance. Later, at Florida State University, I shared responsibility for a graduate course with Siwo DeKloet and Peter Homann, and I taught an undergraduate course separately. My final permutation of this course, taught in 2002, was as an advanced undergraduate course, which could also be used for graduate credit. This course was designed to complement courses taught by other faculty, notably courses in cell biology, genetics, plant development with an emphasis on molecular aspects, higher plants in which structure was the focus, and biochemistry. These lectures, therefore, do not comprehensively cover the discipline of plant physiology, but focus on selected topics. As most of these topics are firmly rooted in basic biochemistry and biophysics, there is, to some extent, a timeless quality to them. Regardless, the reader is cautioned that they will not be updated.

The pre-requisites for these lectures are organic chemistry, calculus, introductory plant biology, and four basic biology courses. Cell biology is recommended.