IMPRS-gBGC core course: Terrestrial Biosphere

This course will focus on processes important in biosphere-atmosphere exchange of greenhouse gases as well as methods used to scale these exchange processes to understand their importance in global biogeochemical cycles.

The emphasis will be on plants since soils are covered in a separate course.

If you are an doctoral researcher with limited background knowledge in biology and ecology, this is the right course for you.

1. When & where

May 2015
Start at 09:00 in seminar room B0.002, MPI for Biogeochemistry
Visit to the Jena Experiment (>> location in google maps)

2. Registration

Click here to register before April 28, 2015.

3. Outline

preliminary agenda

Legend
L = lecture, D = demonstration, P = practical, E = excursion

Day	Slot	Type	Content	Who
Mon, May 11, 2015			Introduction and ecophysiology
	09:00 - 10:30	L	Hierarchical theory and levels of organization of biological systems - Intro to ecophysiology - Ecosystem and Biospheric levels of organization	Carlos Sierra
	11:00 - 12:30	L	Photosynthesis, respiration and phloem transport, part 1 - Intro - Why are plants important? - The currency of life and its economic motor – photosynthesis (Background and history, light-dependent reactions, ATP, light-independent reactions, adaptations: C3, C4, CAM, Photorespiration) - Life requires energy – respiration (substrate-level phosphorylation, oxidative phosphorylation, alternative oxidase) - Moving energy within the plant (Phloem transport)	Henrik Hartmann
	13:15 - 15:00	L	Photosynthesis, respiration and phloem transport, part 2 see details above	Henrik Hartmann
	15:30 - 17:00	D/P	Measuring photosynthesis using Licor 6400 CO₂ and light gradients	Henrik Hartmann
Tue, May 12, 2015
	09:00 - 12:30	L	Water transport, mineral nutrition and symbiotic interactions	Henrik Hartmann
	13:15 - 17:00	D/P	Measuring plant water potential, assessment of stomatal parameters and estimation of GPP/NPP using a closed chamber approach	Henrik Hartmann, Christine Römermann
	9:00 - 13:00	E	field trip to the Jena Experiment (ca. 2 h on site) (how to get there: >> www.vmt-thueringen.de, start: Beutenberg Campus, stop: Jena, Zwätzen Brückenstr. or Jena-Zwätzen (Zug)) Meeting point is at the Jena Experiment Make sure to wear weather-adapted, insensitive clothing.
Tue, May 26, 2015			Plant traits and modeling plant/soil	Jens Kattge, Carlos Sierra
	09:00 - 12:00	L	- biogeochemical cycles in general & models of BGC cycles - traits as characteristics of plants (including their relevance for determining soil properties)
	14:00 - 17:00	P/D	building a simple biogeochemical model in 3 steps of abstraction (visual representation, mathematical representation, working model) for this part, please bring a laptop with a current version of R and RStudio installed. You will need the deSolve package for solving differential equations. The model will be presented in a way that you can follow without knowing R.
Tue, May 27, 2015			Plants in Landscapes & large scale biodiversity / biogeography	Shaun Levick, Axel Kleidon
	09:00 - 10:30	L	Pattern and process at landscape scales - the physical template - biotic processes - disturbance - tools, metrics and models	Shaun Levick
	11:00 - 12:30	L	Large scale biodiversity and biogeography - from plants to biomes and biodiversity - exchange fluxes of the biosphere - atmosphere-biosphere interactions - the global biosphere	Axel Kleidon
	14:00 - 16:00	L	Lab exercise - geophysical modelling (laptops needed) (>> daisy world spreadsheet)	Axel Kleidon & Shaun Levick
Mon, July 13, 2015			Biodiversity – plants interacting with each other and higher trophic levels	Christiane Roscher, Anne Ebeling, Kristin Bohn
	9:00 - 10:30	L	- What is biodiversity? - Changes and threat on biodiversity - Consequences of biodiversity loss
	11:00 - 12:30	L	- Biodiversity experiments - Biodiversity and ecosystem processes
	13:15 - 13:45	L	- Modelling

4. Feedback

5 out of 12 participants filled in the survey by July 20, 2015. Thanks a lot for taking time! Your feedback is valuable because it helps the instructors and organizers to improve the individual modules and the general structure of the course.
The survey results are available here. Statistics and statements should not be taken as an exhaustive or exclusive list.