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Announcements. Pick up your collections by Wed PM . Q. & A. session Thursday 11 December 11:00 AM in Rm 124 BSE. Comprehensive final exam, Monday 15 December, 11:00 AM-1:00 PM. Will include some sight ID (20 specimens, 29 points). Field Botany Renewable Natural Resources 230.
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Announcements • Pick up your collections by Wed PM. • Q. & A. session Thursday 11 December 11:00 AM in Rm 124 BSE. • Comprehensive final exam, Monday 15 December, 11:00 AM-1:00 PM. Will include some sight ID (20 specimens, 29 points).
Field BotanyRenewable Natural Resources 230 Semester summary
Course overview and plant growth forms • Who is this guy? • Why Field Botany? • Goals, organization and mechanics • What we will do • How we will do it • Describing plants and their growth forms Course overview
Cells, tissues and organs • Vegetative • Stems • Leaves • Roots • Reproductive • Flowers/cones • Seeds • Fruits Cells, tissues, and organs
Photosynthesis and water relations • Photosynthesis: The single most important chemical reaction in the biosphere • Light reactions + carbon fixation reactions • CO2 uptake means water loss (transpiration) • Three photosynthetic pathways • Water relations • Forces driving transpiration • Strategies for coping with drought Photosynthesis & water relations
Primary growth • Contrasting growth and development • Primary growth = growth in length Primary growth
Secondary growth • Secondary growth = growth in girth • Vascular cambium is a cylindrical meristem • Cork cambium is a cylindrical meristem • Wood development in (columnar) cacti Secondary growth
Plant reproduction • What is reproduction? • Asexual reproduction • Sexual reproduction Reproduction
Systematics • Systematics • Taxonomy • Phylogenetics = the scientific study of biological diversity Systematics
Evolutionary processes and their outcomes • The agents of evolutionary change • Adaptation is the result of natural selection • Speciation: the origin of species Evolution
Interactions among plants and other organisms • Competition • Facilitation • Mutualism • Commensalism • Parasitism Plants interacting
Soils, geomorphology and plant growth • Soils • Basic characteristics • Formation • Particle size and texture • Particles cluster to form structure • Pore space filled with air/water • Plants receive mineral nutrients from the soil • Geomorphology • Tectonic uplift and volcanism build up landscapes • Erosion and mass wasting lead to denudation that produces sediment Soils, geomorphology
Weather, climate and the evolution of adaptation • Weather • Climate Weather, climate, and adaptation
Methods for describing vegetation • Community basics • Describing communities • Species richness • Evenness (diversity) • Physiognomy • The importance of time Describing vegetation
Global vegetation patterns • Biome basics • Biome descriptions • Using your knowledge of biomes Biomes
Plants and ecosystem processes • Ecosystem basics • Biogeochemical cycles • Carbon in ecosystems • Nitrogen: the major nutrient Plants as ecosystem players
Succession • Succession basics • Disturbance • Primary succession • Secondary succession • Wind • Water • Disease • Humans • Fire* • Non-human animals* • Colonization and replacement Succession
Fire and invasive plants • Disturbance: Fire • Fire behavior and regimes • Fire adaptations • Meristem location • Meristem protection • Seed adaptations • Post-fire invasion • Cheatgrass in temperate shrublands • Buffelgrass in deserts • Special problems associated with pyrogenic plants: Temperate shrublands in California Succession
Herbivory • Herbivory basics • Types of herbivores • Herbivory affecting vegetation and plant evolution • Herbivory can have effects over many scales • Herbivory at the level of individuals • Amount and plant part consumed is important • Different plants respond differently • Resistance • Avoidance • Tolerance • Herbivory and plant populations • Herbivore preference can affect abundance • Livestock grazing in southern Arizona • Bark beetles and conifers in the western U.S. • Mesquite invasion of desert grasslands Herbivory
Paleoecology • Paleoecology basics • Tools for reconstructing past vegetation • Macro and microfossils • Lakes and bogs • Packrat middens • Tree rings • Historical ecology Paleoecology
“Nothing else looks anything like this!” Lecture title