Instructor:

Dennis Baldocchi
Professor of Biometeorology
Ecosystem Science Division
Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management
& Berkeley Atmospheric Science Center
345 Hilgard Hall
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720

Email: Baldocchi@nature.berkeley.edu
Phone: 510-642-2874
Fax: 510-643-5098
Web Site: http://nature.berkeley.edu/biometlab

version Aug 15, 2006

Course Description

This course describes the physical environment (light, wind, temperature, humidity) about plants and the soil, how the physical environment affects the physiological status plants and how plants affect their physical environment. This course accomplishes its goals by examining the physical, biological and chemical processes that affect the transfer of momentum, energy and material (water, CO2, and atmospheric trace gases) between vegetation and the atmosphere. Instrumentation and measurements, associated with the study of plant biometeorology, are also discussed.

Course Schedule and Student Involvement

The class will meet three times per week (MWF 11-12) at 306 Wellman Hall. Hour lectures will be presented. Discussion and questions by the class is encouraged.

Class assignments will include readings from the Instructor's web-based lecture notes. Periodic homework assignments will involve accessing data from experiments that are posted on the World Wide Web and plotting them to discover mechanisms and relationships between plants and the atmosphere. One source of data for assignments is the FLUXNET web page (Fluxnet Web page); scientists, from throughout the world are posting their data on canopy microclimate and mass and energy fluxes. Other homework assignments will involve numerical calculations and solving problem sets. A term paper (8 to 10 pages) is assigned and due the 14th week of the semester.

Class Lecture Material, Web Page and Figures

Pdf copies of lecture overheads and material that augments the lectures is available for downloading on a lecture by lecture basis from the following table.

Course material is available on:

http://nature.berkeley.edu/biometlab/espm129

A Reference Textbook is

Campbell and Norman. An Introduction to Environmental Biophysics.

Lecture	Notes	Slides	Assignments/Class Enrichment/Resources/Data
Unit 1, Introduction
1, Aug 28 Biometeorology Overview, Concepts and Principles			Background Material Assignment: Walk in the Woods
Unit 2, Plant and Atmosphere Characteristics
2, Aug 30 Canopy Structure, Part I, Plant Atmosphere Interactions
3, Sept 1 Canopy Structure Part II, Leaf Area Index			Assignment: Leaf Area Index
Sept 4	Labor Day, Holiday
4, Sept 6 Canopy Structure, Part III, Plants, Leaves Roots
5, Sept 8 Canopy Structure, Part IV Biogeography			Web Resources: Go to the USGS Climate-Vegetation Atlas of North America http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/p1650-a/ Examine how the climate factors describing forests in the western US differ from those in the East. What are some of the key factors?
6, Sept 11 Canopy Structure, Part V, Phenology			Greening Earth. Go to the NASA Web page and construct an animation that shows how the Earth's greeness varies over the course of a year, or several years. How far north is it green in March, April and May in North America vs Europe? http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Observatory/Datasets/ndvi.fasir.html
7, Sept 13 Solar Radiation Part I, Principles
8, Sept 15  Solar Radiation II
9, Sept 18 Solar Radiation, Part III			Assignment: Solar Energy
10, Sept 20 Radiative Transfer in Plant Canopies, part I Concept
11, Sept 22 Radiative Transfer in Plant Canopies, Part II
12, Sept 25 Radiative Transfer III
13, Sept 27 Temperature and Thermodynamics, I
14. Sept 29 Temperature and Thermodynamics, II			Resources: Gridded Weather/Climate Data Daymet.org California Irrigation Management System California Climate Data Archive
15 Oct 2 Temperature and Thermodynamics, III
Oct 4  Midterm I.
16, Oct 6 Humidity and Trace Gases, Part 1
17, Oct 9 Humidity and Trace Gases, Part 2
18, Oct 11 Wind and Turbulence, Sfc Bound. Layer, I
19, Oct 13 Wind and Turbulence, Sfc Bound. Layer, II
20, Oct 16 Wind and Turbulence, Sfc Bound. Layer, III
21, Oct 18 Wind and Turbulence, Sfc Bound. Layer, IV			Assignment: Compute Wind Profiles Due Oct 25
22, Oct 20 Wind and Turbulence, Canopy, I
23, Oct 23 Wind and Turbulence, Canopy, II
24, Oct 25 Instrumentation and Meteorological Measurements
Unit 3, Mass and Energy Exchange
25, Oct 27 Concepts of Flux and Mass Conservation, I			Assignment  Calculations, Respiration Chambers
26 Oct 30 Leaf Boundary Layers			Resources WIMOVAC Homepage http://www.life.uiuc.edu/plantbio/wimovac/homepage.htm .
27 Nov 1 Leaf Energy Balance, I
28, Nov 3 Leaf Energy Balance, II			Assignment: Leaf Energy Balance
29 Nov 6  Stomatal Conductance, Concepts I
30 Nov 8 Stomatal Conductance, Observations II Stomatal Conductance, Theory III
Nov 10 Holiday
31 Nov 13 Guest Lecture Micrometeorology of Oak Savanna
Nov 15 Midterm II
32, Nov 17 Canopy Evaporation, I, Theory
33, Nov 20 Canopy Evaporation, II
34, Nov 22 Soil Physics, I: Heat Transfer			Resources: Soil Climate Analysis Network http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/scan/ Soil Water Characteristics Hydraulic Properties Calculator Global Soil Texture and Water Holding Capacity
November 24THANKSGIVING
35, Nov 27 Soil Physics, II: Water Transfer
36 Nov 29 Canopy CO2 Exchange, I, Carbon Balance Concepts
37,Dec 1 Canopy CO2 Exchange, II
38, December 4 Canopy CO2 Exchange, III, observations			Term Paper Due
39, December 6 Plant Atmosphere Interactions
40, December 8, Overview
Dec 12 1230-1530	FINAL		2030 Valley Life Sci Bld