Plant Ecology in a Changing World
  • Topics
    • Topic Overview
    • Biomes and Climates in a Changing World >
      • Adaptation, biodiversity, and environment
      • Climate constrains plant distributions
      • Biome and climate relationships
      • Deserts
      • Grassland, savanna, and shrub biomes
      • Forest biomes
      • Alpine and tundra biomes
    • Plant adaptation >
      • Plant microclimate 1
      • Plant microclimate 2
      • Leaf energy budgets
      • Water movement through the soil-plant continuum
      • Principles of photosynthesis
      • Photosynthesis responses to light and temperature
      • Environmental stresses limit resource capture and use
      • Nutrients in the environment
      • Adaptation to environmental stress
    • Resource Allocation Changes with Environment >
      • Architecture and canopy processes
      • Plant phenology and resource allocation enhance performance
      • Leaf economic spectrum
      • Life history and reproduction
      • Defense against herbivory
      • Plant competition
    • Plant Responses to a Changing World >
      • Global changes occurring today
      • Invasive species
      • Atmospheric CO2 impacts plant
      • C3/C4 photosynthesis and climate
      • Climate change and the global carbon cycle
      • Climate warming and its impacts
    • Engineering Plant Communities >
      • Remember Utah's past and envision our future
      • Restoration ecology
      • Managed ecosystems
      • Utah urban ecology
      • Urban ecological futures
  • Assignments
    • Assignment Overview
    • Discussion
    • Problem sets
    • Ecology & Global Changes
    • Plant ecology policy
    • Defense of policy
    • Exam #1
    • Exam #2
  • Campus
    • Campus Overview
    • Grasses
    • Green infrastructure >
      • GI Overview
      • Stormwater >
        • GI 1
        • GI 2
        • GI 3
        • GI 4
        • GI 10
      • Green roof
      • Pollinator >
        • Pollinator species
    • Trees of the Wasatch
    • Shrubs of the Wasatch
    • Invasives
  • Biomes
    • Biome Overview
    • Climate diagrams
    • Vegetation sight-seeing trip
    • Biome images
  • Models
  • Lab
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Debates are a powerful means of educating citizens on a topic. You will be given the opportunity to argue 'pro' or 'con' on several plant-ecology related topics that deal with real world issues where a background in plant ecology is useful.
 
The debate topics for this year have been determined.  They are:
  • Should xeriscaping be mandated by law or receive tax incentives?
  • Should shrub-grassland wildfires be suppressed or allowed to burn in Utah’s deserts?
  • Should we regulate/reduce human waste and atmospheric inputs into the Great Salt Lake ecosystem?
  • Should we mandate control on the spread of invasive species in the foothills along the Wasatch Front?
  • Should dogs be allowed to roam freely in canyons along the Wasatch Front?
  • Should home owners be provided with a tax incentive for cultivating low-transpiration trees on their properties that save on culinary water consumption?

Click here to review the debate guidelines. You will find the debate schedule and the list of debaters on CANVAS.

Jim Ehleringer, University of Utah