Plant-Soil Practical

Course manual 2021/2022

Course content

Soils are essential for agriculture: they are the medium that plants grow in and supply the nutrients that plants require. In addition, soils have important functions in regulating and purifying water supplies, recycling waste and raw materials, modifying the composition of the atmosphere, serving as a habitat for soil organisms that initiate litter decomposition. During the course Plant-soil Interactions you will learn about soil formation, the chemical processes that take place in soils and, and the properties of soils and how these can impact the different functions and services that soils provide. You will also cover the profound impact of these processes on the yield of crops. This course aims to compliment this by introducing to practical techniques and approaches by which you can measure both soil properties and their subsequent effects on plants.

Study materials

Software

• R (R studio)

Objectives

• Formulate scientific hypothesis and design experiments to test them
• Test hypothesis with appropriate statistical analysis in R
• Write a scientific report with appropriate structure and language
• Demonstrate practical skills to investigate soil and plant composition in the field and laboratory
• Interpret information from their own experiments and measurements using the content and concepts covered in the Plant-soil interactions course

Teaching methods

• Lecture
• Laptop seminar
• Fieldwork/excursion
• Self-study
• Working independently on e.g. a project or thesis
• Computer lab session/practical training

During the laboratory practicals and excursion you will gather data to analyse in write up in your groups. Lectures and workshops will support this process to guide you through the scientific cycle. 

Learning activities

Attendance

Programme's requirements concerning attendance (OER-B):

• Participation in fieldwork is compulsory and cannot be replaced by assignments or other courses.
• In case of practical sessions, the student is obliged to attend at least of 90% of the sessions and to prepare himself adequately, unless indicated otherwise in the course manual. In case the student attends less than 90%, the practical sessions should be redone entirely.
• In case of tutorials/seminars with assignments, the student is obliged to attend at least 7 out of 8 seminars and to prepare thoroughly for these meetings, unless indicated otherwise in the course manual. If the course has more than 8 seminars, the student can miss up to 1 extra meeting for every (part of) 8 tutorials/seminars. If the students attends less than the mandatory tutorials/seminars, the course cannot be completed.

Additional requirements for this course:

All students must attend all the laboratory practicals. Attendance at the workshops is mandatory. 

Assessment

Assessment diagram

Assignments

There are three assignments during this course, the excursion group report (which will be a presentation in the field), the experimental report and the laboratory notebook. The first two are group assignments but you notebook will be assessed individually. 

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

Course structure

Timetable

The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.

Last year's course evaluation

In order to provide students some insight how we use the feedback of student evaluations to enhance the quality of education, we decided to include the table below in all course guides.

Contact information

Coordinator

• dr. E.R. Burdfield Steel