Undergraduate Plant Science 2014-2015

Lectures and practical classes provide you with an in-depth understanding of processes that underlie the functioning of all terrestrial ecosystems. 

Structured lab-based activities provide training in laboratory practice and skills in collecting and recording data related to key aspects of nutrient and carbon cycling in plant-soil systems.

Data analysis sessions reinforce skills developed earlier in the academic year in statistics, scientific presentation and interpretation.

Coursework is designed to allow you to employ a range of methods to analyse complex problems in a logical and coherent way.

• Why do plant species occur in predictable places?
• Focus is on current and historical distribution of plant species. Content includes speciation, endemism, and evolution.
• Teaching is by lectures, computer labs, and visits to the botanical gardens and herbarium. Tutorials provide a rich and challenging part of every week.
• You are encouraged and helped to participate in discussions. You create and edit wiki pages.
• Assessment consists of: species profile (20%), mini-review (30%) and a 2-hour exam (50%)
• The course creates opportunities for thinking deeply and widely about plant distributions in time and space.

Lectures, workshops, excursions and computer-based sessions provide a diverse set of learning opportunities relating to plant physiology and adaptations to their environment.

A grant writing and grant review exercise on a topic of your choosing within plant physiology and interactions with the environment develops specialist knowledge and your capacity for creative, independent and critical thinking, problem identification and problem solving. Participation in a grant review panel helps you to develop confidence and oral communication skills.

In a computer-based practical you will develop an understanding of how landscape modelling informs our understanding of plant-environment interactions.

How and why are plant communities formed, sustained and lost?

The focus is on plant communities, especially interactions among species and with the non-living environment. Main themes are: populations, life histories and strategies, describing communities, community interactions, and changing communities.

Delivery is by lectures, seminars, computer labs and field trips.

There is a strong emphasis on quantitative techniques, including ordination, sampling vegetation and the analysis of data sets.

During the course, you will develop skills in enquiry, field techniques, data exploration and team working.

Assessment: review essay (20%), a data-based project (20%) and a 2-hour exam (60%).

• Why do plant species occur in predictable places?
• Focus is on current and historical distribution of plant species. Content includes speciation, endemism, and evolution.
• Teaching is by lectures, computer labs, and visits to the botanical gardens and herbarium. Tutorials provide a rich and challenging part of every week.
• You are encouraged and helped to participate in discussions. You create and edit wiki pages.
• Assessment consists of: species profile (20%), mini-review (30%) and a 2-hour exam (50%)
• The course creates opportunities for thinking deeply and widely about plant distributions in time and space.