Instructor: Paul Gepts, Department of Plant Sciences, phone: 2-7743, office: room 1242 Plant and Environmental
Sciences (PES), Office
hours: Mondays: 12:10-1pm; Thursdays: 5:10-6 pm; or by appointment. E-mail:
plgepts at ucdavis dot edu
A note about e-mail: E-mail is probably the best way to get in touch with the instructor and the TAs. However, when you do this, please help everybody by mentioning PLB143 in the Subject line (together with additional information about your e-mail).
Assistance:
TAs:
Matthew Hufford : mbhufford at ucdavis dot edu;
Shelby Repinski : slrepinski at ucdavis dot edu;
Margaret Worthington: mworthington at ucdavis dot edu;
Units: 4 units (18 lectures, 2 midterms during class hours; 1 discussion hour)
Schedule: Spring quarter
Two 1.5-hour lectures per week,
Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 1:40 pm to 3:00 pm in Storer 1322
Discussion sections:
Day
Section
Time
TA
Office Hours
Tuesday
A01
4:10 pm
Matthew Hufford
Wednesdays 11:00-11:50 am 1220 PES
Tuesday
A02
5:10 pm
Shelby Repinski
Fridays 11:00-11:50 am 1220 PES
Wednesday
A05
3:10 pm
Margaret Worthington
Mondays 4:10-5:00 pm 1220 PES
Wednesday
A06
4:10 pm
Margaret Worthington
Wednesday
A03
5:10 pm
Margaret Worthington
Thursday
A07
9:00 am
Shelby Repinski
Fridays 11:00-11:50 am 1220 PES
Thursday
A04
11:00 am
Shelby Repinski
Prerequisites: PLB012 (Plants & People), Biological Sciences 001C (Introductory Biology) or
equivalent. See the instructor if you have questions.
Grading:
Grades will be based on points received on two midterm and
one final examination (20% each) and one term paper (30%), as well as class participation (10%).
Class participation: involves asking and answering questions in class or discussion, e-mail exchange about substantive course subject matter-related issues, etc.
Bonus points: about 10 short quizzes distributed throughout the quarter: each has 4 to 5 multiple-choice questions related to major points of the lecture; BRING SCANTRON AND No. 2 PENCIL WITH YOU.
Examinations:
Midterms: Tuesday April 21, Thursday May 14, 2009: 1:40 - 3:00 pm (during
normal lecture hours in 1322 Storer)
Harlan JR. 1992. Crops and Man, 2nd edition. ASA, Madison,
WI. I will use half of the chapters.
Readings: Additional readings will be assigned during lectures.
Copies for consultation of these readings will be made available for
downloading through the course web site.
Term paper:
Towards the end of the quarter (specifically, Lecture 18: May 28th, 2009),
you will provide me with your term paper.
In this term paper - written
individually - you will give an up-to-date account of our knowledge of
the evolution of a specific crop of group of related crops: List of
crops . You can also chose a topic of your own, related to crop
evolution and the origins of agriculture. However, you should get my
approval first in that case.
You can also choose to form a group of up to three individuals to
jointly do the bibliographic research for your paper. However, the actual writing must be done individually.
Throughout the quarter, you will be given further instructions
about the term paper. First step: choose a topic and email me this
topic (by Lecture 04, April 09, 2009), together with the names and e-mails of your colleagues if you
are going to do it as a group.
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