Biology 240W Welcome Who s who Dr Michael Axtell Plant guy now until Spring Break mja18 psu edu Dr John Waters Animal guy After Spring Break through end of semester jrw8 psu edu Dr Kim Nelson Course Coordinator Dr Dianne Burpee Lab Coordinator kxn4 psu edu dmb11 psu edu Your TA Depends on your lab section Office Hours and email Axtell 260 North Frear Tuesdays and Thursdays 1 00PM 4 00PM email mja18 psu edu put 240W in the subject line No ANGEL mail I don t read it because ANGEL s mail utility is a pain I may occasionally use ANGEL mail to send outgoing group emails to students because it is the easiest way to have a class list of 600 students but don t reply to me via ANGEL mail because I will be very slow to see it Syllabus Syllabus on course ANGEL site cms psu edu Read it Lab Labs begin this week Attendance is mandatory Missed labs must be made up the same week when possible Legitimate excuses for missing lab follow the exam policy which is strict Read the policy for lab attendance found on ANGEL Lab Your TA is your primary resource Dr Nelson the course coordinator is a secondary resource for issues your TA can t handle kxn4 psu edu 111C Mueller Lab Office Hours M 9 10 am Syllabus Required Materials 1 Campbell s Biology 9th Ed 2 Access code for Mastering Biology can be purchased with textbook or separately Homeworks are delivered via Mastering Biology s website 3 Lab coupon Cash registers at HUB bookstore Syllabus Exams There are three mid term exams each worth 10 of the final grade They will be given at the PSU eTesting center http testing psu edu Students It is your responsibility to schedule eTesting exams within the allotted time frame You will be notified in class and via email when scheduling is open for each exam Final Exam during Finals week May 5 May 9 Worth 30 of the final grade NOT an eTest Time and place to be announced later Do not make travel plans until your final exam schedule is known Conflict final exams You must file a request between Feb 11th and March 3rd No conflict exam requests will be accepted after March 3rd Individual conflict final exams will not be arranged Final will consist of two parts 100 pts on new material since the 3rd mid term and 200pts on the entire course Syllabus Homework Announced during class due by the beginning of the next lecture generally over the weekend for my part of the course Completed via the Mastering Biology website details in a little bit Worth 10 of final grade 100 out of 1 000 points More than 100 points will be available during the semester Late assignments accepted with 50 point penalty up to end of Axtell or Waters sections Syllabus Science Readings Each week an article from the popular press will be selected and assigned The NY Times Science section Tuesdays will be used often Students have free access Friday before class a 2 paragraph summary is due to your designated ANGEL dropbox 1 paragraph to summarize 2nd paragraph to comment on the article topic Assignments are worth 5 pts each Max 65 pts total Grading Overview Mid term Exams3 x 100pts Final Exam 300pts 30 Homework100pts 10 Science Readings 65pts Lab 235pts 23 5 TOTAL 1 000pts 100 30 6 5 A 930 1000 pts A 900 929 pts B 870 899 pts B 830 869 pts B 800 829 pts C 770 799 pts C 700 769 pts D 600 699 pts F 600 pts Syllabus Make Up policies for missed or late assignments Homeworks 50 penalty for late assignments no exceptions Exams If you have a documented and legitimate excuse for missing an exam you can make it up at the eTesting center within 7 days After that it is graded zero Lab same as above Lab attendance is mandatory Final exam Make ups only for exceptional circumstances with clear and verifiable documentation Tips for this course 1 Come to class 2 Do the readings and homework on time 3 Come to class 4 Ask questions in class to your peers or in my office hours 5 Come to class 6 Study each day after class not just before the exams 7 Come to class Mastering Biology Demonstration of student registration http www pearsoncustom com pa psu maste ringbio Class MBAXTELLSP2014 You must use your PSU access ID as your student ID for instance mja18 would be mine You will not receive any credit for homework if you fail to do this correctly Reading and Homeowork Reading for Wednesday 1 15 37 2 Science reading assignment Plant Nutrition Where does the mass of a plant come from 1640s van Helmont planted a willow seed in a pot with 90 9 Kg of soil After 5 years the plant weighed 76 8 Kg but only 0 06 Kg of soil was missing Answer Mostly CO2 and H2O contributes to plant mass Plant Nutrition Plants like other autotrophs are metabolically complete All required compounds are synthesized from inorganic inputs Compare this to humans which have essential amino acids and vitamin requirements Plant Nutrition Distinguishing essential nutrients from other materials Hydroponic culture Plant Nutrition Macronutrients vs Micronutrients Plant Nutrition Macronutrients weight C O and H make up most of plant s dry Derived from CO2 and H2O during photosynthesis Plant Nutrition Macronutrients The big 3 N P K N is often limiting for growth Part of nucleic acids proteins chlorophyll many other compounds Scavenged from soil as NO3 or NH4 Plant Nutrition Macronutrients The big 3 N P K P is scavenged as PO4 2 Major component of nucleic acids phospholipids ATP many others Plant Nutrition Macronutrients The big 3 N P K K is scavenged as K Cofactor for protein synthesis major osmoregulator e g guard cells Plant Nutrition Macronutrients The big 3 N P K Plant Nutrition Macronutrients Others Plant Nutrition Micronutrients Required in much lower concentrations Almost always co factors for enzymes or proteins For instance Iron in the heme compound is critical for electron transport in photosynthesis and respiration Plant Nutrition Micronutrients Are rarely limiting for plant growth health Plant Nutrition Mineral deficiencies often cause distinct symptoms Plant Nutrition Symptoms are often affected by the mobility of the nutrient Relatively immobile nutrients like Fe have symptoms that first appear in young growing tissues Highly mobile nutrients like Mg have symptoms that first appear in older tissues Seedlings rarely have symptoms seed stored nutrients overcome soil deficiencies Plant Nutrition Mineral deficiencies trigger molecular responses in gene expression in plants Some genes turned on others off You will be investigating changes in microRNA gene expression in response to S and P deprivation during