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Integrating Photosynthesis, Respiration, Biomass Partitioning, and Plant Growth: Developing a Microsoft Excel®-based Simulation Model of Wisconsin Fast Plant (Brassica rapa, Brassicaceae) Growth with Undergraduate Students

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2011

Y. L. Grossman ,
A. B. Berdanier ,
M. L. Custic ,
L. R. Feeley ,
S. F. Peake ,
A. J. Saenz  and
K. S. Sitton
Y. L. Grossman*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Beloit College, Beloit, WI 53511, USA
A. B. Berdanier
Affiliation:
Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
M. L. Custic
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL 60607, USA
L. R. Feeley
Affiliation:
Veterinary Technology Distance Learning Program, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
S. F. Peake
Affiliation:
Freeman School of Business, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA
A. J. Saenz
Affiliation:
Colegio de Educación Infantil y Primaria Doctor López Rosat, Valencia, 46018, SPAIN
K. S. Sitton
Affiliation:
Parker Junior High School, Flossmoor, IL 60422, USA
*
⋆ Corresponding author. E-mail: grossman@beloit.edu
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Abstract

This paper demonstrates the development of a simple model of carbon flow during plant growth. The model was developed by six undergraduate students and their instructor as a project in a plant ecophysiology course. The paper describes the structure of the model including the equations that were used to implement it in Excel®, the plant growth experiments that were conducted to obtain information for parameterizing and testing the model, model performance, student responses to the modeling project, and potential uses of the model by other students.

Keywords

carbon flowpartitioningphotosynthesisplant growthpotential relative growth raterespirationsimulation modelstudent learningWisconsin Fast Plants
Type
Research Article
Information
Mathematical Modelling of Natural Phenomena , Volume 6 , Issue 6: Biomathematics Education , 2011 , pp. 295 - 313
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, 2011

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