Courses

Undergraduate | Graduate


The following descriptions are for the courses offered by the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences. For a description of courses offered by other departments, see the MSU Schedule of Courses.


Graduate Level Courses

CSS 802 - Weed Biology
Spring of even years, 2 credits. Weed biology, including weed seed production and dispersal and seed fate. Weed life history traits and ecophysiology, including invasive species. Data collection in weed ecology research. Instructor: Karen Renner

CSS 805 - Herbicide Action and Metabolism
Spring of even years, 2 credits. Properties and characteristics of herbicides. Processes involved in herbicide action, transport, and fate in plants and soils. Instructor: Donald Penner

CSS 819 - Advanced Plant Breeding
Fall, 3 credits. Prerequisite: CSS 450 and STT 422. Genetic expectations resulting from breeding strategies with cross- and self-pollinated crop plants. Germplasm collections, mapping populations, and modifications of reproductive biology useful for crop improvement.

CSS 820 - Plant Reproductive Biology and Polyploidy
Spring, 1 credit. Genetic processes underlying variations in plant reproductive biology and polyploidy and the utilization of these characteristics in plant breeding.

CSS 821 - Crop Evolution
Spring of even years, 1 credit. Cultural and biological aspects of the evolution of domestic plants.

CSS 822 - Historical Geography of Crop Plants
Spring of even years, credits. Development and spread of the major crop species.

CSS 825 - Clay Mineralogy and Soils Genesis
Spring of even years, 4 credits. Open only to graduate students in College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, College of Engineering, or College of Natural Science. Mineral structures. X-ray diffraction, pedogenic processes, and mineral transformations and stability. Instructor: Brian Teppen

CSS 827 - Techniques in Cytogenetics
Fall of even years, 1 credit. Preparation of chromosomes from commercially important plants for cytogenetic analysis. Instructor: Joanne Whallon

CSS 829 - Advanced Microbial Ecology
Fall of even years, 3 credits. Functional roles of microorganisms, their population dynamics and interactions, and their mechanisms of evolutionary change in natural communities, laboratory experiments, and mathematical models.

CSS 832 - Environmental and Natural Resource Law
Fall, 3 credits. Prerequisite: RD 430. Origin and development of environmental law. Theories of power, jurisdiction, sovereignty, property interests, pollution, and other bases for legal controls of natural resources. Common law and constitutional limitations on governmental power.

CSS 836 - Plant Evolution and the Origin of Crop Species
Fall of even years, 3 credits. Prerequisite: CSS 350. Cultural and biological aspects of the evolution of domestic plants. Origin and diversity of cultivated plants.

CSS 837 - Confocal Microscopy
Fall, Spring, 2 credits. Approval of department; application required. Confocal imaging, theory and practice. Basic optics. Lasers. Light paths for transmission, florescence and reflection. Image quality, analysis and processing. Instructor: Joanne Whallon

CSS 840 - Soil Physics
Fall of odd years, 3 credits. Open only to graduate students in College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, College of Engineering, or College of Natural Science. Physical properties of soil including texture, structure, consistency, aeration, moisture content, and temperature. Quantitative measurement of plant growth. Agronomic and engineering practices. Instructor: Alvin Smucker

CSS 841 - Soil Microbiology
Spring of even years, 3 credits. Prerequisite: MIC 425. Ecology, physiology, and biochemistry of microorganisms indigenous to soil.

CSS 842 - Population Genetics, Genealogy and Genomics
Fall, 3 credits. Population genetic processes underlying patterns of molecular genetic variation. Genealogical approaches to the study of genomic diversity, phylogenetic reconstruction, and molecular ecology.

CSS 850 - Soil Chemistry
Spring, 3 credits. Open only to graduate students in College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, College of Engineering, or College of Natural Science. Ion activities, ionic exchange and equilibrium reactions. Soil pH, macro- and micronutrients, saline soils and availability of nutrients to plants. Instructor: Brian Teppen

CSS 853 - Plant Mineral Nutrition
Fall of even years, 3 credits. Prerequisite: PLP 301. Inorganic ion transport in plant cells and tissues. Physiological responses and adaptation to problem soils. Genetic diversity in nutrient uptake and use by plants. Physiological roles of elemental nutrients in crop growth. Instructors: Wayne Loescher and Sieglinde Snapp

CSS 863 - Mineral-Water Interactions
Spring of even years, 4 credits. Open only to graduate students in Crop and Soil Sciences or Geological Sciences or Geography. Mineralogy, petrology and geochemistry of fluid-rock reactions in geologic, sedimentary and geochemical cycles. Rock and mineral weathering, soil formation, genesis and burial diagenesis of sediments and sedimentary rocks, and metamorphism.

CSS 865 - Organic Chemistry of Soils
Spring of even years, 2 credits. Chemistry of natural and anthropogenic organic substances in soils. Instructor: Steve Boyd

CSS 870 - Techniques of Analyzing Unbalanced Research Data
Spring, 4 credits. Prerequisite: STT 464. Open only to graduate students in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Not open to students with credit in: ANS 943. Linear model techniques to analyze biological research data characterized by missing and unequal number of observations in classes. Simultaneous consideration of multiple factors. Prediction of breeding values and estimation of population parameters from variance and covariance components.

CSS 890 - Independent Study
Fall, Spring, Summer, variable from 1 to 6 credits. A student may earn a maximum of 8 credits in all enrollments for this course. Open only to graduate students in College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, College of Engineering, or College of Natural Science. Individual study on field, laboratory, or library research.

CSS 891 - Current Topics in Ecology and Evolution
Summer, 1 credit. A student may earn a maximum of 8 credits in all enrollments for this course. Presentation and critical evaluation of theoretical and empirical developments by visiting scientists.

CSS 891B - Selected Topics in Plant Breeding and Genetics
Fall, Spring, Summer, variable from 1 to 2 credits. A student may earn a maximum of 6 credits in all enrollments for this course. Open only to graduate students in Plant Breeding and Genetics or Genetics. Approval of department. Selected topics in plant breeding.

CSS 892 - Plant Breeding and Genetics Seminar
Fall, Spring, Summer, 1 credit. A student may earn a maximum of 8 credits in all enrollments for this course. Experience in review, organization, oral presentation, and analysis of research.

CSS 893 - Selected Topics
Fall, Spring, Summer, variable from 1 to 3 credits. A student may earn a maximum of 6 credits in all enrollments for this course. Open only to graduate students in College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, College of Engineering, or College of Natural Science. Selected topics in crop and soil sciences of current interest and importance.

CSS 899 - Master's Thesis Research
Fall, Spring, Summer, variable from 1 to 12 credits. A student may earn a maximum of 99 credits in all enrollments for this course. Open only to master's students in Crop and Soil Sciences. Master's thesis research.

CSS 921 - Contemporary Statistical Models in Biology
Fall of even years, 3 credits. Prerequisite: STT 465 or approval of department. Working knowledge of SAS. Estimating functions. Growth models, generalized linear models, linear and non-linear mixed models. Field experiments with spatial trends. Longitudinal data. Modeling in the presence of spatial and temporal correlations. Instructor: Sasha Kravchenko

CSS 941 - Quantitative Genetics in Plant Breeding
Spring of even years, 3 credits. Prerequisite: CSS 450 and STT 422. Theoretical genetic basis of plant breeding with emphasis on traits exhibiting continuous variation. Classical and contemporary approaches to the study and manipulation of quantitative trait loci. Instructor: Dechun Wang

CSS 999 - Doctoral Dissertation Research
Fall, Spring, Summer, variable from 1 to 24 credits. A student may earn a maximum of 99 credits in all enrollments for this course. Open only to doctoral students in Crop and Soil Sciences. Doctoral dissertation research.