An examination of selected topics in environmental physiology, how animals and plants interact with their environment and influence
ecological processes in natural and managed ecosystems.
This paper introduces students to animal and plant environmental physiology, the discipline that examines how organisms are adapted
to and respond to their environment. Understanding the physiological responses of animals and plants to environmental stress can help
explain higher level ecological questions, including the controls on their distribution, abundance, and productivity, and the responses of
populations, communities and ecosystems to environmental change. Selected topics drawn from the contemporary literature may
include adaptation to temperature, water and oxygen stress in animals and plants, relationships between organism size and metabolic
processes, and interactions between organism functioning and global change. Critical evaluation of selected readings from the scientific
literature will provide a theoretical framework for the selected topics and an introduction to recent research in those fields.

This paper will be taught through weekly seminars which may be attended either in person or online via Zoom. Each topic will comprise an introduction to the subject followed by an examination of selected readings from the scientific literature.
Students are expected to attend ALL seminar sessions and participate in class discussions.
The lecturer leading each topic will provide instructions and assign readings on Moodle prior to the seminar. Assessments include
completion of a written review of a topic selected by the participant and that is relevant to the course, an oral presentation that
summarises the review findings, two data analysis exercises linked to particular seminar topics, and a mock peer review of a paper
selected by each participant.

Readings from selected scientific journals will be provided via the Moodle course page.