Understand the importance of water to plant agriculture

Know the functions of water in higher plants

Understand the concepts of water potential, osmotic potential, matric potential, and pressure (turgor) potential and how they are related.

Understand the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum and its impact on water flow in plants

Understand how water potential values can be used to describe water flow in plants

Understand the impact of hydraulic conductivity on water flow in soils, and the impact of soil texture on water availability.

Understand the role of stomata in controlling water flow in plants

Understand how stomatal function interacts with tissue temperature

Be aware of the advantages CAM photosynthesis provides plants in water-limited environments

Understand the impact of water stress on plant metabolism including growth, reserve accumulation, nutrient uptake, photosynthesis, translocation, dark respiration, and photorespiration

Understand how plants avoid and/or tolerate water stress

Understand the role of osmotic adjustment in plant water relations and stress tolerance

Understand the concept of water use efficiency (WUE) and its application to growth and yield of crop plants

Be able to describe the impact of management (i.e., fertility, shelter belts, cultivar,....) on WUE values

Understand the impact of flooding stress on plant metabolism and growth

Understand mechanisms of injury caused by flooding stress