TROPICAL HORTICULTURAL SYSTEMS

PLANTSCI 333

Survey of the basic principles and concepts of the biology of plants and their application to cultivation of food crops in controlled environments. Integrates topics including: organic systems, sustainability, urban agriculture, and socioecological factors.

PLANTSCI 378

Visit diverse agricultural systems, such as small farms, large-scale operations, market growers, industrial export businesses, agronomic centers, botanical gardens, herbaria, germplasm banks, and nature preserves in a tropical country in Central America. Provides an opportunity to develop a holistic appreciation of horticulture by highlighting the interactions between plants and society. Reflect on the role of plants in our daily lives and the effects that our daily choices have on the environment, human health, conflicts, poverty, and development. Discuss some of the social, scientific and environmental challenges that conventional, sustainable and organic horticulture practices face in the production, marketing, and use of tropical crops. Enrollment in a UW-Madison resident study abroad program; requires completion ofPLANTSCI 376.

PLANTSCI 350

Plants provide not only the foundation of food, clothing, and shelter essential for human existence, but also some of the key raw materials for transcendence and abstraction through music, art, and spirituality. Since antiquity, we have co-evolved with plants and their derivative products, with each exerting a domesticating force on the other. It is, for example, impossible to think of our modern life without its plant-based accompaniments in the form of cotton, sugar, bread, coffee, and wood. Yet they are so ubiquitous we may forget they all derive from plants discovered, domesticated, bred, and farmed for millennia in a never-ending pursuit to improve our wellbeing. Major points of intersection between plants and human wellbeing will be explored from a horticultural point of view by highlighting a plant or group of plants that represent a primary commodity or resource through which humans have pursued their own aims and explore effects and impacts on human society.

PLANTSCI 110

Introduces the basic principles of plant science and technology as they apply to cultivated plants. Topics include the historical and economic importance of plants for food, feed, and fiber; origin, classification, and geographic distribution; plant breeding; growth, development, and physiology; agroecosystems and practices; field and greenhouse production; integrated pest management; and marketing practices. Discuss and apply associated technologies (e.g. gene editing, remote sensing, unmanned aerial vehicles).

PLANTSCI 310

Explores the application of plant science and current technologies in both field and controlled environments to enhance crop production. Analyzes the impacts of these technologies on agroecosystem structure and function, examining the trade-offs that affect productivity, profitability, environmental sustainability, and social outcomes.