General information
| Course type | AMUPIE |
| Module title | Insect-plant interactions: from molecules to communities |
| Language | English |
| Module lecturer | prof. UAM dr hab. Freerk Molleman |
| Lecturer's email | fremol@amu.edu.pl |
| Lecturer position | assocate professor |
| Faculty | Faculty of Biology |
| Semester | 2025/2026 (winter) |
| Duration | 45 |
| ECTS | 5 |
| USOS code | 01-INSPLANT-PIE |
Timetable
Theoretical part: Weekly block of 2 hours consisting of lecture plus literature discussion (30 hours)
1 group
Week 1: Insect nutrition and life history strategies, symbionts
Week 2: Physical plant defences against insect herbivores
Week 3: Chemical plant defences against insect herbivores
Week 4: Tri-trophic interactions, communication
Week 5: Insect adaptations to plant defences
Week 6: Mutualistic interactions, pollination
Week 7: Competition among insect herbivores
Week 8: Specialization vs generalization
Week 9: Insect behavior, oviposition, larval feeding
Week 10: Hostplant relationships and insect diversification
Week 11: Causes of tropical insect diversity
Week 12: Plants as islands for herbivorous insects
Week 13: Effects of vegetation diversity on insect life histories.
Week 14: Effects of insects on plant diversity
Week 15: Invasive plants
Practical part: Weekly block of three yours of fieldwork or laboratory experimentation depending on whether and availability of insects and plants
1 group
Week 1 and 2: Observe various feeding guilds
Work with scientific articles about topics discussed during the lectures.
Design experiments that address topics discussed during the lectures.
Module aim (aims)
Understanding of insect-plant interactions from chemical ecology to community biology
Develop skills in rapid extraction of information from scientific articles
Develop presentation skills
Develop experimental design
Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)
- Basic understanding of ecology
- Basic understanding of evolutionary biology
Syllabus
We will use insect-plant interactions as models to explore concepts in ecology and evolution. We will cover the range from chemical ecology to community biology, using lectures and primary literature. The course will give a broad perspective on insect-plant interactions, as well as improve skills is rapid reading of primary literature, experimental design, and presenting.
Reading list
Insect Plant Biology. Schoonhoven. 2006 (available digitally in AMU library)