Unit PLANT ECOPHYSIOLOGY
- Course
- Natural and environmental sciences and technologies
- Study-unit Code
- GP004106
- Curriculum
- In all curricula
- Teacher
- Chandra Bellasio
- Teachers
-
- Chandra Bellasio
- Hours
- 42 ore - Chandra Bellasio
- CFU
- 6
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2026
- Offered
- 2026/27
- Learning activities
- Affine/integrativa
- Area
- Attività formative affini o integrative
- Sector
- BIOS-02/A
- Type of study-unit
- Obbligatorio (Required)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- Italian
- Contents
- This course examines how plant processes respond to environmental stimuli, integrating concepts from physiology and ecology.
The first part (Review) revisits the fundamentals of plant physiology: the physical and physicochemical processes that govern water and solute transport through cells and the whole plant; the mechanisms through which the plant uses light energy to absorb and assimilate carbon dioxide and minerals from the soil; and the basics of regulatory mechanisms.
The second part (General section) reviews methodologies used to study plants and their responses.
The third part (Special section) provides a detailed overview of how healthy plants respond to perturbations in environmental conditions such as light, temperature, CO2, and water availability.
Students will gain practical experience with experimental techniques and data analysis. - Reference texts
- Park S. Nobel, Physicochemical and Environmental Plant Physiology (any edition)
L. Taiz, E. Zeiger, Plant Physiology (any edition) - Educational objectives
- Knowledge (Dublin Descriptor 1)
The course aims to provide in-depth knowledge of the tools used to measure and analyze plant responses to major environmental perturbations and to understand them within an integrated framework based on key concepts of plant physiology.
Applying Knowledge and Understanding
Students will be able to analyze representative ecophysiology studies and understand the described phenomena by linking them to the fundamental processes of plant physiology. - Prerequisites
- None
- Teaching methods
- 42 hours of lectures.
- Other information
- For information on support services for students with disabilities and/or learning disorders, please visit http://www.unipg.it/disabilita-e-dsa
- Learning verification modality
- There will be two written tests: one mid-course and one at the end. Passing both tests grants access to the oral exam. Students who do not pass the tests may retake them in recovery sessions.
For information on support services for students with disabilities and/or learning disorders, please visit http://www.unipg.it/disabilita-e-dsa - Extended program
- Physiology
Water: chemical properties; surface tension; menisci and cavities; capillary rise. Hygrometry.
Osmosis. Water potential. Laminar flow.
Water and the plant: turgor; pressure–volume curves; transpiring structures; transpiration and relative humidity; transpiration and temperature; water potential in the plant at equilibrium with the soil; cohesion–tension theory; xylem hydraulic conductivity; minimum tension required for water ascent; embolism and cavitation; cavity stability; cavity rupture and refilling; hydraulic vulnerability; embolus refilling.
Water uptake: absorbing structures; the Casparian strip; water potential in the transpiring plant.
CO2 assimilation, light reactions: light and pigments; electron carriers; excitation; charge separation; photosystem I; photosystem II; oxygen evolution; photophosphorylation; cyclic and pseudocyclic electron transport.
Carbon metabolism: review of catalysis; the C3 cycle; the Rubisco mechanism; oxygenation and carboxylation; PGA reduction; regeneration; starch and sucrose synthesis. Photorespiration. The C2 cycle.
C2 and C4 photosynthesis: anatomy; subtypes; ecology. CAM plants.
Phloem transport: review of vascular anatomy; transported compounds; sources and sinks; apoplastic phloem loading; translocation; unloading.
Excess light: leaf and chloroplast movements; NPQ and the xanthophyll cycle; state transitions.
Regulation of Rubisco. Regulation of the RPP cycle. Regulation of starch and sucrose synthesis.
Stomatal regulation: review of anatomy; guard cells; turgor; responses to red and blue light; responses to CO2; stomatal closure and relative humidity.
General Section: Techniques
Experimental approaches (screening, descriptive experiments, hypothesis testing)
Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE), Free Air Temperature Increase (FATI)
Gravimetric measurements (evapotranspiration, relative water content, growth, and shoot-to-root ratio)
Elemental analysis
Visual analyses (leaf anatomy, stomatal analysis, wood anatomy)
Water potential, osmotic potential, turgor
Radiation (light intensity, spectrophotometry)
Temperature (bulb thermometers, thermocouples)
Transpiration (porometry)
Photosynthesis (optical methods, oxygen evolution measurements)
Fluorescence
Isotopic composition (mass spectrometry and optical methods)
Hydraulic conductance (laboratory and field flow meters)
Cavitation (acoustic methods)
Introduction to modelling (empirical and mechanistic models)
Special Section: Short- and Medium-Term Responses
Basic responses of healthy plants (A/PPFD curves, A/Ci curves, fluorescence at different oxygen concentrations)
Data analysis and basic curve fitting
Measurement of photorespiration
Analysis of photosynthetic limitations
Water-use efficiency and nitrogen-use efficiency
Short-, medium-, and long-term responses to:
CO2 (sub-ambient and elevated)
Light (shading, photoinhibition, UV): regulatory and acclimation mechanisms; phenotypic plasticity (leaf, stem, root); shade avoidance and signal transduction
Temperature (heat and cold): case study, midday depression of assimilation
Water deficit