PLBIO 4480 - [Plant Evolution and the Fossil Record]

Spring. Next offered 2017-2018 (offered alternate years). 3 credits.

Prerequisite: PLBIO 2410 or equivalent, or permission of instructor.

W. L. Crepet.

Introduction to evolution, surveying major changes in plants from the origin of life to the present. Emphasizes plant form and function, adaptations to particular ecologic settings, and evolutionary theory as it relates to plants.

Outcome 1: Students will be able to distinguish among the three major early Paleozoic
vascular plant lineages.

Outcome 2: Students will be able to distinguish among the major fossil and extant pteridophyte lineages.

Outcome 3: Students will be able to distinguish among the major fossil and extant seed plant lineages.

Outcome 4: Students will understand the pattern of evolution of plants in time.

Outcome 5: Students will be able to communicate the basic principles of modern (cladistic) phylogenetic analysis including the concept of homology and of Evolutionary Biology including:

Darwinian evolution by means of natural selection.
Speciation
Adaptive radiation and the environment
The role of the fossil record in understanding evolution