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 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 3Course overview
Cells, tissues and organs Cells, tissues, and organs Vegetative Stems Leaves Roots Reproductive Flowers/cones Seeds Fruits
Photosynthesis and water relations Photosynthesis: The single most important chemical reaction in the biosphere Light reactions + carbon fixation reactions CO 2 uptake means water loss (transpiration) Three photosynthetic pathways Water relations Forces driving transpiration Strategies for coping with drought 5Photosynthesis & water relations
Primary growth Contrasting growth and development Primary growth = growth in length 6
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 growth7
Plant reproduction Reproduction What is reproduction? Asexual reproduction Sexual reproduction 8
Systematics Systematics Taxonomy Phylogenetics 9 = the scientific study of biological diversity
Evolutionary processes and their outcomes Evolution The agents of evolutionary change Adaptation is the result of natural selection Speciation: the origin of species 10
Interactions among plants and other organisms Plants interacting Competition Facilitation Mutualism Commensalism Parasitism 11
Soils, geomorphology and plant growth Soils, geomorphology 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 12
Weather, climate and the evolution of adaptation Weather, climate, and adaptation Weather Climate 13
Methods for describing vegetation Describing vegetation14 Community basics Describing communities Species richness Evenness (diversity) Physiognomy The importance of time
Global vegetation patterns Biomes Biome basics Biome descriptions Using your knowledge of biomes 15
Plants and ecosystem processes Plants as ecosystem players Ecosystem basics Biogeochemical cycles Carbon in ecosystems Nitrogen: the major nutrient 16
Succession Succession basics Disturbance Primary succession Secondary succession Wind Water Disease Humans Fire* Non-human animals* Colonization and replacement 17
Fire and invasive plants Succession 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 18
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 19
Paleoecology 20 Paleoecology basics Tools for reconstructing past vegetation Macro and microfossils Lakes and bogs Packrat middens Tree rings Historical ecology
Lecture title “Nothing else looks anything like this!”