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Plant Ecology Laboratory (BIOL 5465) is a 3-unit laboratory class with field trips. The field trip experiences are designed to introduce students to ecological gradients in northern Utah, ranging from coniferous forests in the Wasatch Mountains to the salt deserts of western Utah and from near pristine ecosystems through urban ecosystems. Students are also expected to work in groups to design and defend a work proposal. Each experience is designed to develop critical thinking, analytical, writing, and oral presentation skills. 

Jim Ehleringer
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A six-module laboratory and field course

• Coniferous forests of the Wasatch Mountains (Big Cottonwood Canyon field trip; upper and lower limit tree distributions on north- and south-facing slopes; site water balance and plant distribution modeling)
• Grassland and oak shrublands of the lower Wasatch Mountains (Red Butte Canyon field trip; line transects for plant community characterization; DBH sampling to estimate tree ages; sun-shade leaf evaluations)
• Salt desert communities of western Utah (Tooele Valley and Skull Valley field trip; line transects to characterize plant distributions along salinity gradients; determining soil salinities and nitrate concentrations; evaluating leaf carbon isotope variations to assess stomatal constraints and photosynthetic pathways)
• Campus as a Living Lab (structure and leaf characteristics of dominant trees in forest ecosystems across North America, Europe, and Asia)
• Analytical training and theoretical principles of isotope ratio mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, and elemental analyzers with applications to solid, liquid, and gas samples
• Developing, assembling, presenting, and evaluating a proposal