UNIVERSITY OF GUAM

COURSE OUTLINE

Course Number: BI 302 COLLEGE/UNIT: College of Arts & Sciences

Course Title: Plant Diversity Division of Natural Sciences

Date of Final Approval Credit Hours: 4

Semester Offered: F/EVEN YEARS

Course Counts as General Education Requirement

X Part of Biology major program

Elective

1. CATALOG DESCRIPTION

This course is a phylogenetic survey of the plant Protista and Metaphyta with emphasis on structure and function of major divisions. It includes three hours of lecture weekly. The Lab, BI 302L, MUST be taken concurrently.

Prerequisite: BI 157/157L and BI 158/158L or equivalent.

Corequisite: BI 302L

2. COURSE CONTENT

Major taxonomic groups of algae and land plants are described through representative examples. Local species are used whenever possible, rather than the temperate examples in the textbook. Structure, reproduction, and life history patterns are used to show the development of plants through evolution. Approximately half the course deals with the range of algal divisions, the remainder covers the mosses and liverworts, and vascular plants from ferns through flowering plants.

3. RATIONALE FOR OFFERING THE COURSE

This is one of the required core courses in the BIO majors program. It provides a foundation in botany for all biology students.

4. SKILLS AND BACKGROUND REQUIRED OR EXPECTED

Students are expected to have had an introduction to the diversity of life, taxonomic hierarchies, and an outline of plant structure. They are expected to have some familiarity with the use of microscopes. BI 101 (prerequisite) gives them this background. Students are expected to have, or develop the abilities to accurately interpret and draw botanical specimens see in the microscope.

5. TEACHING METHODOLOGIES AND ANTICIPATED CLASS SIZE

Lectures are used to explain and emphasize key concepts that the students have read in the textbook. The textbooks available for this course are typically overloaded with terminology and facts; the role of the instructor is to guide the students to be able to read the text selectively. Additional materials are provided in linked, illustrated documents on computers in lab to give up to date information.

Occasional field trips are used to show the students plants in their natural habitat. Most laboratories are based on observation of living local plants which the instructor and students bring in. Prepared microscope slides (especially stained thin sections) of anatomical features of plants are used to supplement the living materials. Laboratories are designed to give the students opportunities to observe plants and features discussed in lecture; thus the labs are an integral part of the learning process and not apart from it.

Class size is 15-20.

6. ADDITIONAL COURSE DESCRIPTORS

None.

7. LEARNING OBJECTIVES FOR STUDENTS

· An appreciation of the range of plant form and function;

· An understanding of the taxonomic diversity of the local flora;

· An ability to classify unknown plants to major taxa based on their knowledge of the characteristic features of these taxa;

· An improved ability to critically observe biological materials.

8. METHODS OF EVALUATION

Weekly lab drawings; three in-term written tests on information and concepts (“lecture” material) and two tests on observation and recognition (“lab” tests).

9. REQUIRED AND RECOMMENDED TEXTS AND/OR STUDY GUIDES

Authors: Harold C. Bold, Constantine J. Alexopoulos & Theodore Delevoryas Book Title: Morphology of Plants & Fungi

10. SUBSEQUENT COURSES

BI 365 Taxonomy of Vascular Plants. [This can be substituted for BI 302 as the core botany requirement.]

BI 474G Marine Botany.

THE CALENDAR OF ASSIGNMENTS, ATTENDANCE AND GRADING POLICIES ARE TO BE INCLUDED IN THE COURSE SYLLABUS.