Short Course Description
Background: Land plants , also known as embryophytes, are the dominant group of photosynthetic organisms in most terrestrial ecosystems, including all domesticated crops. The course will provide a broad outline of the evolutionary history, current and past diversity, as well as patterns of function and development of reproductive organs across all major groups of land plants. The problem of the evolutionary origin of land plants and their life cycle with alternation of generations will be discussed. The importance of fossil record and molecular phylogenetics/phylogenomics as the two primary and equally important sources of knowledge on plant evolution will be studied. The only way of integrating these two sources is through morphology (including anatomy). The morphology of each major plant group will be discussed, with an emphasis on the structure, function, and development of reproductive organs (antheridia, archegonia, sporangia, ovules, flowers). Major events in the evolution of terrestrial vegetation will be considered, including the origins of tracheophytes and bryophytes, the origin of seed plants and seed reproduction, and the origin of angiosperms.
Course Learning Goals: The general goal of the course is to provide the basic knowledge on morphological and developmental aspects of land plant evolution and to highlight the key role of morphology as a bridge between molecular/experimental botany and the fossil record. Specific goals are:
1. To gain a broad understanding of the diversity of body plans and life cycles of among all major groups of land plants.
2. To develop an understanding of the extensive data accumulated through comparative morphology, anatomy, and reproductive biology, while also recognizing the significant gaps in our primary knowledge of plant diversity. The course aims to highlight the urgency of filling these gaps to prevent the extinction of many plant species and communities due to climate and land-use change.
The students have to realise that many questions of evolutionary botany do not have a single ?correct? answer so far, but instead, several competing theories and views exist among scientists today.
Full Syllabus
