ESRM 412 – Native Plant Production

Spring Quarter 2009

3 credits

Course Description

Advanced plant propagation techniques, emphasizing native plants, propagation for restoration projects, and unique problems associated with providing appropriate plant material for restoration or conservation purposes. Emphasizes greenhouse and fieldwork, and includes lectures, field trips, and a class project. Recommended: ESRM 411, which may be taken concurrently.

Instructor

Professor: Dr. Jon Bakker                                TA: Amy Yahnke

Office:  Room 036, Merrill Hall, CUH

Phone: 206-221-3864

Email: esrm412@u.washington.edu                   Email: aey@u.washington.edu

Office Hours:  please make an appointment via email

Course Goals

1)      Students will recognize the many facets of the plant production process.

2)      Students will begin to develop skills necessary to set up and operate a low-cost native plant production system.  Nursery and greenhouse skills and techniques will be discussed and practiced.

3)      Students will become familiar with information resources about native plant propagation.

Course Structure

This course will be extensively field-based.  We will meet on Wednesdays from 1:30 to 4:20 pm.  Our general schedule will be to begin each class period with a short lecture and then spend the rest of the class period in the greenhouse or nursery.  There is a required field trip on May 27 from noon to 7 pm.

Course Webpage

http://courses.washington.edu/esrm412/

Note that the webpage will be continually updated as necessary.  This paper copy may soon be out of date!

Course Text

Various articles and websites, as noted on the schedule posted on the course website.  A list of recommended resources is also available on the website.

Grading

Participation                                                     10%

Worksheets and Lab Reports                           25%

Plant Propagation Protocols (4)                        25%

Research Paper                                                20%

Final exam                                                        20%

The grading scale is available here.

Participation:  Student participation will be rated at the end of each period based on a simple ordinal scale:

0 – none

1 – minimal – student not involved (checking voice mail, talking on phone, etc)

2 – average – present but not fully prepared

3 – great – read and interacted with readings; engaged and focused on the tasks at hand

Worksheets and Lab Reports:  Students will periodically be responsible to complete a worksheet at the end of the lab or to respond to a few questions.  Worksheets can be filled out by hand and are due at the end of class period.  Reports should be typed out and are due by midnight on the Sunday after class so that I can grade and return them during the next class period.  Lab reports should be submitted via a Catalyst dropbox.  Late reports will be docked ten percent per day.

Plant Propagation Protocols:  Each student will choose four species for which to develop propagation protocols during the quarter.  Protocol details are available on the course website.

Research Paper:  Write a paper on a plant production related topic (verify topic with me before investing a lot of time in it!) or conduct an experimental trial and write a report summarizing it.  Sample trials might include:

• effects of dormancy treatments of varying duration on seed germination
• evaluation of seed cleaning methods

More details are available on the course website.

Final Exam:  The final exam is on Monday, June 8, from 6:30 – 8:20 pm.  It will cover the entire course, including readings.

UW College of Forest Resources Course Polices

Academic Integrity

Plagiarism, cheating, and other misconduct are serious violations of your contract as a student. I expect that you will know and follow the University's policies on cheating and plagiarism. Any suspected cases of academic misconduct will be handled according to University regulations. More information, including definitions and examples, can be found at:  http://depts.washington.edu/grading/issue1/honesty.htm

Disability Accommodations

To request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disabled Student Services, 448 Schmitz, (206)543-8924 (V/TTY). If you have a letter from Disabled Student Services indicating that you have a disability which requires academic accommodations, please present the letter to me so we can discuss the accommodations needed for this class.