Course website: www.bit.ly/VegEcol

The course is introducing main concepts in vegetation ecology. We will focus on different aspects of plant ecology at the community level, including topics like vegetation-environment relationship, vegetation dynamics, plant invasions, diversity patterns, plant traits, vegetation in the historical perspective, vegetation classification, biomes of the World, vegetation of Taiwan etc. We will discuss also more specific topics including vegetation and climate change or conservation, management and restoration.

The course is focused on senior undergraduate and graduate students, who want to gain theoretical knowledge about vegetation ecology, i.e. plant ecology at the community level. Additionally to theoretical lectures, I will also encourage students to deepen their view and interest by additional suggested readings, as well as moderating discussions on potentially interesting or controversial topics related to vegetation ecology.

Class schedule (preliminary):

1. Introduction to vegetation ecology

2. Vegetation and environment 1

3. Vegetation and environment 2

4. Diversity patterns and ecosystem functions

5. Species interactions in plant communities (competition, allelopathy, parasitism, facilitation, mutualisms)

6. Mechanisms of species coexistence in vegetation (assembly rules, niche- vs neutral, storage effect, priority effect)

7. Group discussion (based on reading required papers)

8. Plant traits at community level

9. Vegetation dynamics (succession, disturbance)

10. Midterm quiz

11. Plant invasions and invasibility of plant communities

12. Vegetation classification and vegetation maps

13. Vegetation of the World

14. Vegetation of Taiwan in the context of East Asia

15. Vegetation in the past (Holocene and historical perspective)

16. Vegetation and global change (effect of climate change, myths and facts)

17. Group discussion (based on reading required papers)

18. Applications in vegetation ecology: management, conservation and restoration

Part of the final evaluation will be a written essay on selected topic (in English). Final evaluation will be based on final test, midterm quiz, written essay and activity in the class, mostly joining group discussions.

College of Life Science Main Campus *Prerequisite: General Biology & Ecology (preferred) David Zeleny 20 Wednesday 7,8 EEB5085 2 Half Department of Lifescience, Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology http://ecology.lifescience.ntu.edu.tw/english/index.htm

The key contemporary issues in international agricultural development _ including food security, food safety, poverty reduction, climate change, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the effects of the financial crisis on agricultural development, food crises and food aid etc.

The agriculture for development highlights two major regional challenges, which are sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Agricultural productivity growth is vital for stimulating growth in other parts of the economy, but accelerated growth requires a sharp productivity increase in small holder farming combined with more effective support to the millions coping as subsistence farmers, many of them in remote areas.

The success will also depend on concerted action by the international development community to confront the challenges ahead. We must level the playing field in goods, such as technologies for tropical food staples; help developing countries address climate change; and overcome looming health pandemics for plants, animals, and humans. This course on agricultural development aims to teach students to understand trends in international agricultural development. College of Bio-Resources & Agriculture Main Campus *Restrict to students in International Master’s Program of Agricultural Economics. Pai-Po Lee 20 Thursday A,B,C AGEC7088 3 Half Graduate Institute of Agricultural Economics http://www.agec.ntu.edu.tw/main.php?lang=en&Trad2Simp=n

The correct application of selection approaches for superior genotypes is directly dependent of the chromosome behavior during the process of cell division – mitosis and meiosis. Moreover, cytogenetics is the connection between the molecular level (genomics and epigenetics) and phenotypic level (from individual to biosystems). Cytogenetics by itself is the phenotypic expression of the genome organization and its epigenetic indexing. The evolutionary machinary acts directly in the genome organization promoting changes in the structure, behavior and the number of genes, with direct consequences to phenotype and thus, to germplasm manipulation. The cytogenetic knowledge is an important and indispensable tool for General Biology, with direct applications to Plant Breeding, Biotechnology and Biodiversity conservation, exploration and prospection. Basic concepts of Cytogenetics applied to plant breeding are presented and their implications to genomics, epigenomics, evolution, systematic, biotechnology and ecology, covering: 1) Introduction to Cytogentics; 2) Introduction to genome organization, chromatin epigenetics and chromosome structure (DNA sequences and chromosomal proteins – histone and non-histone proteins); 3) mitotic behaviour and biotechnology applications; 4) meiotic behavior and applications to plant breeding; 5) Cytological and molecular principles of genetic mapping; 6)Structural and numerical chromosomal alterations, mechanism of origin and consequences; 7) Importance of the chromosomal alterations to evolution and gene mapping into the chromosomes; 8) Recombination mechanisms, meiotic behavior and genetic mapping in polyploid species (cytogenetic principles); 9) variant chromosomal systems from parthenogenesis and apomixis Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ) Piracicaba campus – Introduction to Cytogenetics. General overview of chromosomes behavior during cell cycles – mitosis and meiosis, chromatin strcuture and molecular organization of the chromosomes. Introduction to epigenetic indexing mechanism. – Meiotic behavior. Meiosis and recombination, linkage and crossing-over. Genetic and Cytological Maps. Genetic mapping approaches in plant and animals. Meiotic instabilities and their consequences to fertility. – Alterations in chromosome structure – deficiencies/deletions, duplications, inversions and translocations. Origin, phenotypic effects, meiotic behavior and its genetic consequences. Segmental Genome Duplication (SGD) – Alterations in chromosome numbers – aneuploidy, autopolyploidy and allopolyploidy. Origin and genetic consequences. Importance in the evolution and for breeding. Aneuploidy applied to genetic mapping. – Whole Genome Duplication (WGD) and types of poliploidy. Artificial polyploids. Gene expression and silencing in polyploids. Gene expression and epigentic alterations as consequences of genome duplication. – Diversity in reproductive systems, parthenogenesis and apomixis. Cytogenetics, Evolution and Biotechnology. Study of cases covering the main subjects. Practicals: chromosome analysis in plant and animals. Chiasma and meiotic instability analysis in maize. Chromosomal alterations in plants. Physical mapping of ribosomal genes by Fluorescent Molecular in situ Hybridization. Immunodetection of chromosomal proteins and DNA methylation. Introduction to bioinformatic applied to cytogenetics. Mateus Mondin 70 LGN5703 8 Seminar presentations and bibliographic review. Theoretical exams. Analysis of practical exercises. http://pt.esalq.usp.br/