Plant Systematics - BIO 350
Course Syllabus

Fall 2008

(Dr. John Rushin, Professor of Biology, Missouri Western State University)

Class Attendance
Regular class attendance is essential for success in Bio 350 Plant Systematics.  If you must miss a class because of extreme circumstances, inform your instructor and get notes for a classmate.  If you miss a lecture exam or a major keying/sight identification lab quiz you will take a make-up test on the day that you return to school.  (Make up) Missed laboratory work may be made up by having the instructor arrange another time for you to do the work.

Field Trip Attendance
Due to the field-oriented nature of Bio 350 Plant Systematics, it is imperative that students attend all field trips. It is my hope that students enrolling in Plant Systematics will have a strong desire to experience all of the Missouri habitats that this class will visit on field trips. If a student only misses (1) field trip s/he will not be penalized. However, for each additional missed field trip the student must:

1. make an independent field trip to the site of the missed field trip, and
2. spend at least 3 hours exploring the areas and studying its plants and natural features, and
3. describe the natural features, plants and any wildlife (or signs) observed in the area. A minimum of (10) plants growing in the area must be identified to genus and species. (No plants should be collected unless necessary permits are secured.)

All of the information in no. 3 above should be recorded in the students field notebook and turned in with the final plant collection at the end of the course. Failure to do steps 1, 2 and 3 for each missed field trip after the first one missed) will result in a loss of 5% points from the final course average.

Evaluation Procedures
In a general sense, both lab and lectures in this class cover the same broad topics and they should not be thought of as being distinctly different. Material covered in the "lab" may show up on lecture exams. You may also be studying live or prepared specimens during a "lecture" session.

Lecture:
Regularly scheduled lecture exams will consist of objective-type (multiple choice, matching, fill-in, etc.) questions, essay questions and possibly some keying of plant material. There will be three lecture exams ( lecture exams 1 and 2 and a final exam). The final exam will be partly comprehensive. Your grade will be calculated on a percentage basis as follows:

100-90 = A
89-80 = B
79-70 = C
69-60 = D
59 -0 = F

Each lecture exam will each count as 20% of your total course grade and the final exam will count as 1/4th of your total course grade.

Lab:
The lab will be flexible and use living and preserved plant material. Early labs will be used making field observations, practicing collection techniques and studying plant characteristics that are important in classification and identification. Generalizations will also be made about local plant associations. In later labs we will have time to key some of the collected plants.

There will be several field trips during which you will gather some plants for your own plant collection. You should also collect some palnts on your own. At the end of the semester you are required to turn in a minimum of (25) collected plants that are correctly identified and properly prepared as your Plant Collection. Your collection must include at least (18) different plant families. Ten (10) of the plants must be mounted for the herbarium.  Final collections must have plants arranged in alphabetical order by families and by genera within families. A complete hardcopy of your collection database must be turned in with your collection. One extra credit point will be awarded for a plant that is new to the Leo A. Galloway MWSU Herbarium or for a plant collected in a new county.  Two extra points will be awarded for each different plant family collected. Otherwise, each correctly identified and properly prepared plant is worth one point. Point totals will be scaled to a percentage for final collection grade determination. All of the plants that are to count as extra credit must be mounted on herbarium paper and clearly designated as "extra credit" on your final hardcopy printout. The collection will count as 20% of your total course grade.

** The first part of your collection (20 correctly identified and properly prepared plants, 2 mounted for the Herbarium) will be due by October 20th.

There will be two major keying/sight identification quizzes in the lab.  Each of these will be scaled to a percentage and each will count as 10% of your final course grade. There will also be a few unannounced lecture quizzes. (Lecture quizzes will be 10 points each. One of the quizzes for each student will be a 10->15 minute power point presentation covering the main characteristics of a vascular plant family.  The family that is to be covered on your power point presentation will be assigned to you.  A date for your presentation will also be assigned. You may drop your lowest lecture quiz but no lecture quiz make-ups will be given.  In addition, there will be a number (approximately 30-40) of character analysis sheets to complete based on plant observations to turn in for both labs and lectures. Your total percentage on character analysis sheets and unannounced lecture/lab quizzes (including the family presentation) will count as 10% of your total course grade.
 

FINAL COURSE GRADE:    

1st Hour Exam = 15%
2nd Hour Exam = 15%
Keying/Sight Identification Quizzes = 20% (10% and 10%)
Plant Character Analysis Sheets (comparisons and drawings) & Lecture Quizzes (including Pw. Pt. Presentation) = 10%
Plant Collection = 20%
Final Exam = 20%

You will share a copy of Flora of Missouri by Julian Steyermark with a lab partner during the course. You will use the Steyermark book for all class keying assignments and keying quizzes. Therefore, you must either bring your book all classes or leave it with your instructor between classes. Some reading assignments will be from journal articles or other publications but most will be from your textbook. The required textbook for this course is Vacular Plant Taxonomy (5th Ed.) by Walters, Keil and Murrell.  .Missouri Wildflowers by Edgar Denison concentrates on common Missouri flowering plants and includes an excellent summary of common plant families. This book is recommended. Other good references that can be found in the Missouri Western State University Library are Contemporary Plant Systematics by Dennis W. Woodland.and Plant Systematics by Samual B. Jones and Arlene Luchsinger.

*** FINAL EXAM = THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM.***

Global Objectives
Upon completion of Bio 350 Plant Systematics you should:
1. understand the basic nature of plant systematics and the state of this field today.
2. be able to identify plant characteristics and adaptations and describe their significance in terms of phylogeny, or evolution.
3. describe the local prairie, forest, wetland and successional plant associations and identify the dominant plants in each by sight.
4. have a basic understanding of dichotomous keys and be able to effectively use Julian Steyermark's Flora of Missouri.
5. know the recognition characteristics of some major vascular plant families.
6. be familiar with the major current rules of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.
7. understand the major evolutionary patterns of vascular plants.

EXAM I: Plant Families   LectIntro ,  LectPltChar ,  FamsI ,  Fams II ,  Fams III

- Introduction
- Botanical Nomenclature
- Taxonomic Characters - Root, Stem, Leaf, Flower and Fruit (some)
    Bignoniaceae
    Magnoliaceae
    Liliaceae
    Commelinaceae
    Iridaceae
    Scrophulariaceae
    Lamiaceae
    Solanaceae
    Convolvulaceae
    Malvaceae
    Gentianaceae

Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 plus Taxonomic Sections in Walters

EXAM II Generalized Subject Outline with Plant Families:  AsteraceSVB350.ppt , VebCornSV.ppt , ApiacSV.ppt , ApoAsclPoaCypSV.ppt , TreFamsSV.ppt , HistPltTaxLe5.ppt , Bessey’s DictaLe6.ppt , PonyExCALateFall.ppt ,  FlorRegsLeB350LSV.ppt ,
Salicaceae.ppt 

- Carpel Evolution
- Stems: Woody and Herbaceous, annual, biennial, perennial
- Modified Stems: bulb, caudex, corm, rhizome, stolon, tuber
- Root Types: tap and fibrous, prop, aerial, storage, holdfast
- Ovary Position: hypogenous, perigynous, epigynous
- Fruit Types: fleshy, dry indehiscent, dry dehiscent, multiple, aggregate (endocarp, mesocarp, exocarp)`
- Champion Trees - American Forestry Association (AFA) and the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC)
- Biogeography
    biomes - floristic regions
    C. Hart Meriam  "life zones"
    natural succession
    seral stages
    climax communities - plant associations
- Major Natural Divisions in Missouri (MDC/MDNR)
- Presettlement Vegetation in Missouri
- OTHER ...
-Plant Families:
    Asteraceae
    Poaceae
    Vebenaceae
    Cornaceae
    Fabacceae
    Apocynaceae
    Ascplepidaceae
    Caryophyllaceae
    Apiaceae
    Salicaceae
    Fagaceae
    Juglandaceae

Chapters 6 and 8 plus taxonomic sections in Walters

EXAM III Generalized Subject Matter Outline with Plant Families

- Evidences for Plant Evolution
- Plants Defined
- Major Events in the Evolution of Plants
- Major Plant Divisions
- Conifer and Angiosperm Life Cycles
- Early Theories about Evolutionary Change
- Darwin's Tenets for Natural Selection
- Divergent and Convergent Evolution
- Allopatric and Sympatric Speciation (Geographical Barriers)
- Gene Flow in Plant Populations
- The Role of Polyploidy in Plant Evolution
- Numerical Taxonomy and Cladistics
- Mechanisms for Evolutionary Change
- The Modern Theory of Organic Evolution
Plant families:
   Fagaceae
   Juglandaceae
   Nymphaceae
   Rosaceae
   Ranunculaceae
   Crassulaceae
   Cyperaceae
   Juncaceae
   Orchidaceae
   Primulaceae
   Plygonaceae
   Cactaceae
   Agavaceae
  

Taxonomic section in Walters
  

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