2025

Plant Physiology

Name: Plant Physiology
Code: BIO12352L
6 ECTS
Duration: 15 weeks/156 hours
Scientific Area: Biological Sciences

Teaching languages: Portuguese
Languages of tutoring support: Portuguese, English
Regime de Frequência: Presencial

Sustainable Development Goals

Learning Goals

In the first part of this course aims to make students understand how plants remove environmental energy
and materials necessary for its development, and how these materials are transported in plants, in order,
where possible, the application of this knowledge to agriculture. The second part is the actual development
of higher plants that is the subject of classes, with particular emphasis on the importance of plant
hormones, radiation and temperature in this development.

Contents

WATER RELATIONS: Functions and water movement. Responses to water stress.
TRANSPORT IN PHLOEM: Input and output of metabolites in phloem and transport. Distribution of assimilates.
MINERAL NUTRITION: Essential elements. Criteria of essentiality. Absorption of minerals. Ion movement in roots.
Ion transport in membranes.
PHOTOSYNTHESIS: Reactions directly dependent on light. CO2 reduction. Metabolism C3, C4 and CAM. Photorespiration.
Abiotic factors that affect photosynthesis.
RESPIRATION: Pentose phosphate pathway. Abiotic factors that affect respiration.
DEVELOPMENT AND PHYTOHORMONES: Growth and differentiation. Auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins, ethylene, abscisic acid,
brassinosteroids, salicylic acid and estrigolactonas.
PIGMENTS and Photo-Morphological Characteristics: The pigments of blue light receptors. The family of Phytocrome.
PHOTOMORPHOGENESIS AND FLOWERING

Teaching Methods

Lectures aim to provide a solid and integrated conceptual basis in Plant Physiology (Water relations, Photosynthesis and respiration, Mineral nutrition, and Developmental physiology).

The following teaching methodologies are used:

Structured presentation of the contents, using slides, diagrams, graphs, animations, and images.
Frequent questioning of students to promote participation and to check understanding.
Solving concrete situations and studying real cases.
Use of multimedia materials: projection of videos and animations on key processes (water transport, stomatal opening/closing, electron transport chain, nutrient uptake, action of plant growth regulators). Short knowledge?check moments after the multimedia resources (short?answer questions, oral polls, etc.).
Use of summary diagrams and conceptual maps at the end of each topic.
Emphasis is placed on the relationships between different processes (for example, the links between water relations, mineral nutrition, and photosynthesis in plant growth).
Laboratory practical classes
Laboratory practical classes aim to consolidate and apply theoretical knowledge through laboratory experiments based on experimental protocols carried out by groups of three students.

Brief theoretical introduction at the beginning of each practical class, including a review of the key concepts needed to understand the experiment, explanation of the objectives of the practical work and of the hypotheses to be tested, and execution of experimental protocols. Experiments are carried out on the following topics:
Water relations experiment: ?Effect of soil drought on plant growth and physiology?. Measurement of stomatal conductance, transpiration, water potential, relative water content in leaves, and determination of leaf area and plant biomass. Construction of graphs and tables with the results, and preparation of a short report presented in class.
Photosynthesis and respiration experiments: ?Effect of light intensity during plant development?. Measurement of photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll content, chlorophyll fluorescence, and determination of leaf area and plant biomass. Construction of graphs and tables with the results, and preparation of a short report presented in class.
Mineral nutrition: ?Hydroponic trial in complete nutrient solutions and in solutions deficient in iron, potassium, nitrogen, calcium, sulfur, magnesium, and manganese?. Observation and recording of deficiency symptoms and evaluation of plant growth.
Developmental physiology: ?Presentation of recent scientific articles on the effect of plant hormones on plant development.?
In all practical classes, there is close supervision by the teacher and constant clarification of doubts during the execution of the protocols, with reinforcement of good laboratory practices.

Assessment

The assessment of the course unit Plant Physiology consists of a theoretical component (60% of the final grade) and a practical component (40% of the final grade).

The final grade can be obtained through:

continuous assessment, carried out in two assessment moments (two written tests), or a final exam and/or resit exam.

In the continuous assessment regime:

Theoretical component (60%)
Assessed in two continuous assessment moments, through written tests.
There is no minimum grade required for each individual test.
The final grade for the theoretical component must be equal to or higher than 9.5 (on a 0?20 scale).

Practical component (40%)
Assessed through the submission of two reports, the presentation of a scientific article, and a short practical test with questions about the protocols.
There is no minimum grade required for each subcomponent (reports, presentation, practical test).
The final grade for the practical component must be equal to or higher than 9.5 (on a 0?20 scale).

In the exam assessment regime:

The exam includes the assessment of both the theoretical and practical components, with the same weightings (60% for the theoretical component and 40% for the practical component).
Assessment is carried out through written tests.
The final grades for both the theoretical and practical components must each be equal to or higher than 9.5 (on a 0?20 scale) in order to pass the course.
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Teaching Staff

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