On completion of this module students should be able to:
- Develop a general understanding of the basic needs of plants and of the strategies that plants use to meet these needs even under adverse environmental conditions (stress);
- Understand stress concepts - the definition and origin of the term 'stress', general and specific responses to stress and basic similarities and differences in the response to stress between plants and animals (e.g. humans);
- Obtain in-depth understanding of responses of plants to the stresses drought, salinity, mineral nutrition and heavy metals;
- Understand the different strategies that plants use to cope with stress and to integrate responses at various organisational levels (e.g. plant, plant organ, tissue, cell);
- Also, advanced oral and group presentation skills.
Criteria for 4th-year level: In-depth understanding of complex responses; providing a synthesis of knowledge of basic processes of plants to understand their performance in a potentially stressful environment; view current stress concepts and plant responses critically.
Learning outcomes are met through oral presentation - topic related to plant stress of choice, requiring initiative; training of advanced oral and group presentation skills - and through an end of semester essay, requiring synthesis of advanced knowledge in a specified amount of time.

Plant abiotic stress - basic challenges and strategies (if any) to tackle those

Not applicable to this module.

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Self-assessment activities

Interactive, feedback either way (staff-student)