علاقات مائية للنبات 343

BIO343 Plant and Soil Relation

علاقة نبات بالتربة 343

COURSE NAME: -Plant and Soil Relation-

COURSE NUMBER: -----343-----

SEMESTER/YEAR: ----2005--2006---

Instructor Information

Instructor: Dr. Sameera Bafeel

Office#: 1-174 Build. 7

Phone#: 6952000 Ext. 26383

email: sbafil@kau.edu.sa

Website: htpp://www.kau.sa/sbafil

Course Information

BIO343 Plant and Soil Relation

Class Meeting: Sunday 11-1 PM- Room B/ 100 Build. 7

Lab Meeting:  Monday 11-2

Office Hours: Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday 11-2 

Text:  Brady, N.C. & R.R. Weil. The Nature and Properties of Soils. 13th ed.  Prentice Hall

            Publishing Co. N.Y. 2002.  

            Additional required reading material will be made available in the

            Class.

Course Title and Description: Plant and Soil Relation (3hrs). Two lectures. Three hours laboratory.

        This course will strengthen the students' knowledge of science and give them a better understanding of the classification, identification and the importance of soil. This 

        course is designed to introduce students to areas and concepts involved a basic understanding of the fundamental soil physical, chemical and biological characteristics of

        the soil formation, and their relation to soil productivity, soil and water quality, and movement of water, air, heat, and solutes through soil. The Functions and properties

        of soil organic matter SOM and calculations of pool size in dependence of litter input and humus decay; Factors that influence build-up and decay of humus. Identify the

        principle cations present in the soil in solution, exchangeable and non-exchangeable form and their variance with change in soil pH. And this course will present

        common laboratory methods to evaluate soil properties. 

Course Prerequisites and Requirements:  General Botany 241

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course the student will be able to:

a. Recognize the different types of soils based on its physical characteristics;

b. Know and explain the significance of the physical, chemical and biological

    properties of soils;

c. Recognize the structure of rocks and minerals and their relationship to formation and use;

d. Recognize the importance of organic matter in soils and its involvement in soil formation and use;

e. Describe saline soils and explain methods to treat saline soils.

Learning Resources

Text:  Brady, N.C. & R.R. Weil. The Nature and Properties of Soils. 13th ed. 

            Prentice Hall Publishing Co. N.Y. 2002

            Additional required reading material will be made available in the

            Class.

Course Requirements and Grading

Lecture Sessions: It is important that students attend all the lectures and take good

            notes. The lectures are given for their benefit to provide the student with the

            most important and interesting information taken from the text and other

            sources of information. My goal is to present this information to the student in

            a way that she can understand it and ask questions. Good notes are her record

           of what we have covered for the exams.

Laboratory Sessions: Attendance at your laboratory session is required.

             Laboratory sessions allow student to take soil concepts which studied in class

             and explore them in the field or lab in more detail to further understanding.

             Laboratory report will be required for each experiment, and will be normally

             submitted one week after completion of each experiment. The details of the  

             report will be discussed during the first laboratory period. Student will be

             responsible for material ( quiz, report, etc.) covered by that laboratory section.

             There is no make-up time for missing laboratory session.

Presentation: Students will select a date and topic area to make a presentation on the first day of class. Two weeks prior to the date of their presentation they will be provided with a recent (1995-2006) journal articles in that area. The student may be able to locate one or a select few papers that provide all the    necessary         information. It is expected that the student will use scientific literature to back up the information used to write her papers. The student is to present the presentation and to lead a discussion on the implications of the research. The student is expected to have read sufficient background literature on the topic to answer questions about the research, and to provoke a stimulating discussion among the other students. All members of the class are expected to listen to the presentation prior to the

            colloquium and to participate in the discussion. The objective is for student to demonstrate that she can take information presented in a scientific journal and translate

            it such that a lay-person can understand and use the information also to open scientific discussions among the students.

Grading: The student will receive one grade for this course. Lecture and laboratory scores are added together. The final grade will be based on the total number of points that student receive out of a possible 100 points;

        Component & Point value                                                     Base grade scale

            Exam 1               10                                                                    90% = A                     

            Mid exam           20                                                                    80% = B 

            Final exam          35                                                                    70% = C 

            Lab                     25                                                                   60% = D 

            Presentation        10                                                                     59% = F

             Total points = 100

                             All exams will be comprehensive.

            Detailed Course Schedule