RenR 120 – W oody Plants I Course O utline - Fall 2013 Instructor:
Dr. Simon Landhäusser
Office: 4-44 Earth Sciences Bldg.
Phone: 492-6381
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: by appointm ent (please em ail m e) Lectures: T R 09:30 – 10:50, TB 5
Laboratories: Location T 1400 - 1750 GSB 769 R 1400 - 1750 GSB 769
T A phone office em ail
Fran Leishman (Lab coordinator) (780) 492 6827 4-29 ESB [email protected]
Alia Snively (Tuesday) 4-52 ESB [email protected]
Elizabeth Hoffman (Tuesday) 4-52 ESB [email protected]
Caren Jones (Thursday) 4-52 ESB [email protected]
Alison Bijman (Thursday) 4-52 ESB [email protected]
REQ UIR ED TEXTS:
1. Farrar, John Laird. 1995. Trees in Canada. Fitzhenry and Whiteside, Toronto. 502 p. (F) And : 2. Johnson, D., Kershaw, L., MacKinnon, A., and Pojar, A. Plants of the Western Forest: Alberta, Saskatchewan
& Manitoba Boreal and Aspen Parkland Publisher Lone Pine Publishing
In addition the follow ing field guides could also be very useful:
3. Royer, France, and Richard Dickinson. 2007. Plants of Alberta. Lone Pine Publishing, Edmonton. 527p O R
4. Kershaw, Linda, Andy MacKinnon, and Jim Pojar. 1998. Plants of the Rocky Mountains. Lone Pine Publishing, Edmonton. O R
5. Wilkinson, Kathleen. 1990. Trees and shrubs of Alberta. Lone Pine Publishing, Edmonton. 191 p. O R 6. Harris, James G., and Melinda Woolf. 2001. Plant identification terminology. Spring Lake Publishing, Spring
Lake, UT. 206p. O R
7. Wilkinson, Kathleen. 1999. Wildflowers of Alberta. University of Alberta Press/ Lone Pine Publishing, Edmonton. 364p O R
8. Other regional field guide to plants
Recommended Text:
Burnie, David. 2005. Tree. Eyewitness Books. DK Publishing, Inc., New York. 72 p. (B)
Ringius, Gordon S., and Richard A. Sims. 1997. Indicator plant species in Canadian forests. Canadian Forest Service, Ottawa. 218 p.
Useful References:
1. Braun, E. L. 1964. Deciduous forests of eastern North America. Hafner Publ. Col, New York.
2. Barnes, B. v., D.R. Zak, S.R. Denton, and S.H. Spurr. 1998. Forest Ecology, 4th Edition. John Wiley &
Sons
3. Fowells, W. A. 1965. Silvics of forest trees of the United States.
4. Harlow, W. M. 1959. Fruit key and twig key to trees and shrubs. General Publishing, Don Mills.
5. Hardin, J. Leopold, D, and White, Fred. 2001. Harlow and Harrar’s Textbook of dendrology. Ninth Edition. McGraw-Hill, Toronto
6. Kimmins, J. P. 2003. Forest ecology (3rd edition). Benjamin Cummings, Toronto.
7. Legasy, K., S. LaBelle-Beadman, and B. Chambers. 1995. Forest plants of northeastern Ontario. Lone Pine, Edmonton.
8. MacKinnon, A., J. Pojar, and R. Coupe. 1992. Plants of northern British Columbia. Lone Pine, Edmonton.
9. Moss, E. H., and J. G. Packer. 1983. Flora of Alberta. University of Toronto, Toronto.
10. Parish, R., R. Cooupe, and D. Lloyd. 1996. Plants of southern interior British Columbia. Lone Pine, Edmonton.
11. Pojar, J., and A. MacKinnon. 1994. Plants of coastal British Columbia. Lone Pine, Edmonton.
12. Rowe, J.S. 1972. Forest regions of Canada. Canadian Forestry Service, Ottawa.
13. Soper, J. H., and M. L. Heimburger. 1982. Shrubs of Ontario. Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.
14. Spurr, S. H., and B. V. Barnes. 1980. Forest ecology. John Wiley & Sons, toronto.
15. Vitt, D. H., J. E. Marsh, and R. B. Bovey. 1988. Mosses, lichens & ferns of northwest North America.
Lone Pine, Edmonton.
Som e Internet resources
1. http://www.cnr.vt.edu/DENDRO/DENDROLOGY/main.htm
2. http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/gtr/gtr_srs062/ (pub on non-native/invasive species) 3. http://na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/table_of_contents.htm
4. E-Flora BC (http://www.eflora.bc.ca)
5. http://www.edmonton.ca/bylaws_licences/Weed_Identification_Book.pdf (Noxious weeds of Alberta) O BJECTIVES:
The objectives of this course are:
1. To become familiar with the basic biology of trees, shrubs, and a selection of non-woody plants. General areas discussed will be morphology of vegetative and reproductive parts, fruit types, ecology, indicator species, systematics and taxonomy, winter condition, and a series of lectures on the important native and introduced trees and shrubs of the various forest regions of Canada.
2. To develop skills in the identification and field recognition of trees and shrubs and other forest indicator species using dichotomous identification keys, learning the technical terminology and recognizing such characteristics as overall physiognomy or form, flowers, leaf shape and arrangements, twig, bud and bark characteristics, branching habit, and fruit types.
3. To become familiar with the basic silvical and ecological characteristics of the most important trees and shrubs of North America (focused on Canada) and to learn about the major forest regions and the species assemblages within North America with a focus on Canada.
Specific Objectives:
a. Students should know and be able to list characteristics useful in distinguishing major plant families and genera.
b. Students should know the scientific and common names of each plant studied in laboratory.
c. Students should be able to identify and name each plant covered in laboratory, either by flower, fruit, cone, leaf, twig, bark, habit, or any combination of these or other characteristics.
d. Students should be familiar with the basic ecology and range of each species covered in the lab and lecture through the reading materials provided in the required text books.
CO URSE:
An introduction to the biology, the basic terminology, and the taxonomy of major plant families will be presented in the lecture periods. The identification of plant families, the use of keys, and the recognition of trees and shrubs and some herbaceous indicator plants is taught and practiced in the laboratory period. Excursions to the field will take place during some laboratory sessions; however most labs will be held indoors.
A version of the lecture notes (with/without the photographs/figures) will be made available on the eClass site, either before or after each lecture. Remember the power point notes used in the lectures are used as a guide to teaching and learning and do not constitute all the information that a student will be expected to learn, nor are they a substitute for attending the lecture.
W hen a Laboratory section is full (m ax 25 students) there w ill be NO sw itching of lab sections by a student, unless another person is found w ho is w illing to sw ap. Nine lab quizzes (20% of total mark) will be distributed over the entire lab; one quiz during each laboratory period. The quizzes will emphasize the details about identification and ecology of plants studied during the previous laboratory session, but also will be cumulative and include species covered in earlier labs. Each student will be expected to identify fresh or preserved specimens, to describe key characteristics of that species and contrast species or genera or families, and to indicate geographic distributions and habitat requirements. The worst 2 quizzes will be dropped. There will be no make-up quizzes; any quiz missed (for any reason – excused or not) must count towards the dropped.
There w ill be absolutely no exceptions to this quiz procedure.
Each student will be required to make a collection of 20 plants for this course. Details, requirements, and due date will be outlined in the laboratories. This collection will be worth 15% of your final grade.
G R AD ING:
Meeting deadlines is an important part of becoming a professional. If you miss an exam or the deadlines for submissions of the paper and/or herbarium you will be given a mark of 0% unless you can provide a valid medical reason (if possible accompanied by a medical note). In the absence of a medical note, or where the absence is due to a reason other than illness, please provide other documentation or obtain either a Statutory Declaration or a Faculty Form to outline the reasons for the absence. In order to pass this course you will have to pass both the lab assignments and the examinations with a m inim um of 60% of the total marks.
DE ADLIN ES and im portant D AT ES:
Lab Assignm ents
Seven out of nine quizzes (total) 20%
Paper (silvics of a tree or shrub) (O ct 22 and 24 in lab) 15%
Plant collection (Nov 19 and 21 in lab) 15%
Lab Total 50%
2 M idterm s (1hr each) Total (O ct 8 and Nov 7) 15%
Final exam
Laboratory exam (Dec 3 in lecture (AM ) and in lab (PM )) 15%
Written exam (2hrs) (Dec 13 at 9 am) 20%
Final exam Total 35%
No electronic devices, including calculators, are permitted for quizzes, midterms or exams. This means you cannot use your own computer, electronic organizer or cell phone. No pictures, audio or video recordings may be taken during lab or lecture presentation without the knowledge and written consent of the instructor. If required, lab quizzes will be done on university computers. The lab quizzes can potentially be open-book, however, that will be announced prior to the exam, but note electronic notes are not allowed – for open book lab quizzes you may only bring textbooks, paper notes, or keys. This class has NO group assignm ents. Individual papers are to be an individual effort. No trading of word processing files, images or graphs and no copying of ANY parts of assignments is permitted. The submission of words, ideas, images or data of another person or group as their own will be considered plagiarism (see also below). The TA’s are instructed to report any evidence or incidences of plagiarism or cheating in this course.
Tentative Lecture Schedule
Date Topic
Sept 5 Introduction to woody plants and dendrology; syllabus and course requirements;
how to succeed in the labs; trips; grading
Sept 10 General plant morphology and terminology - Growth strategies, vegetative reproduction
Sept 12 General plant reproduction, flower morphology and terminology - sexual reproduction
Sept 17 Flowering and pollination
Sept 19 Fruits, fruit types, inflorescence/infructescence types Sept 24 Ecology, Site conditions and tolerance and adaptations Sept 26 Disturbance and forest succession
Oct 1 Plant distributions, life history strategies Oct 3 Soil-plant interactions
Oct 8 M idterm I
Oct 10 No lecture
Oct 15 Forest of North America
Vegetation of North America – Introduction, History and Climate (Part 1) Oct 17 Forest of North America
Vegetation of North America – Introduction, History and Climate (Part 2) Oct 22 Introduction to plant taxonomy (vascular plants)
Oct 24 Gymnosperms – overview of families and vegetative morphology. Family characteristics cones and seeds; trends in the evolution of conifers
Oct 29 Angiosperms - overview of selected families and their vegetative and reproductive morphology, the Cronquist system (Liliopsida (Monocotyledons) and
Magnoliopsida (Dicotyledons)
Oct 31 Liliidae (Liliaceae, Iridaceae, Orchidaceae)
Nov 5 Commelinidae (Juncaceae, Cyperaceae, Poaceae, Typhaceae)
Nov 7 M idterm II
Nov 12 No lecture, no labs
Nov 14 Magnoliidae (Magnoliaceae, Ranunculaceae) Hamamelidae (Ulmaceae, Fagaceae, Betulaceae)
Nov 19 Dilleniidae (Tiliaceae, Violaceae, Salicaceae, Brassicaceae, Ericaceae) Nov 21 Rosidae (Saxifragaceae, Rosaceae, Fabaceae, Aceraceae, Geraniaceae,
Apiaceae (Part 1)
Nov 26 Asteridae (Lamiaceae, Scrophulariaceae; Caprifoliaceae, Asteraceae (Part 1) Nov 28 Asteridae (Lamiaceae, Scrophulariaceae; Caprifoliaceae, Asteraceae (Part 2)
Dec 3 LAB FIN AL Thursday’s lab
Tentative Lab Schedule:
Date Topic
Sept 10,12 Lab requirements, procedures, terminology, and the evolution of plants from seedless vascular plants to seed plants
Sept 17,19 no quiz Field trip
Sept 24,26 1st quiz; Mosses, Lichens, Lycopodiaceae, Polypodiaceae, and Equisetaceae- Oct 1,3 2nd quiz; Field trip campus Gymnosperms: Cupressaceae, Pinaceae, Gingkoaceae,
and Taxaceae
Oct 8,10 3rd quiz; Field trip campus; Deciduous Angiosperms (trees): Aceraceae, Betulaceae, Fagaceae, Oleaceae, Salicaceae, Tiliaceae, Ulmaceae
Oct 15,17 4th quiz; Keying, Review of terminology
Commelinidae: Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Juncaeae, Typhaceae-
Oct 22,24 5th quiz; Liliaceae, Orchidaceae, Ranunculaceae, Violaceae, Brassicaceae Oct 29, 31 6th quiz; Ericaceae, Saxifragaceae, Araliaceae, Cornaceae, Boraginaceae,
Elaeagnaceae, Grossulariaceae, Onagraceae Nov 5, 7 7th quiz; Apiaceae, Rosaceae, Fabaceae Nov 12,14 Rem em brance Day- No labs
Nov 19, 21 8th quiz; Lamiaceae, Scrophulariaceae; Caprifoliaceae, Gentianaceae, and Santalaceae
Nov 26,28 9th quiz; Asteraceae, Pyrolaceae, and Rubiaceae
Dec 3 Thursday lab Final during scheduled lecture period, Tuesday lab final during scheduled lab period
Plagiarism and Cheating
All students at the University of Alberta are subject to the Code of Student Behaviour, as outlined in the 2012/13 Calendar. Please familiarize yourself with it and ensure that you do not participate in any inappropriate behaviour as defined by the Code. The Code of Student Behaviour is also accessible through
http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/governance/StudentAppealsCheatsheet.cfm
Key components of the code include the following statements:
30.3.2(1) No Student shall submit the words, ideas, images or data of another person as the Student’s own in any academic writing, essay, thesis, project, assignment, presentation or poster in a course or program of study.
30.3.2(2) c No Student shall represent another’s substantial editorial or compositional assistance on an assignment as the Student’s own work.
No Student shall represent or attempt to represent him or herself as another or have or attempt to have himself or herself represented by another in the taking of an examination, preparation of a paper or other similar activity.
Speak w ith the instructor or T A’s if you have questions or concerns about the code, particularly as it pertains to assignm ents, internet and library research, use of previous class notes and interview s or discussions w ith others.
