Welcome to Biol 120

Local Flora!

Syllabus info:• Instructor: Dr. Vic

Landrum

• Research area: Succulent plant evolution, systematics, and anatomy.

• Office Hrs.: before, after class

• Email: jlandrum@olympic.edu

• Textbooks:

• Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest, about $19

• Trees and Shrubs of Washington State, about $13

• Systematic Botany (free textbook!)

The course basics:• This course is mostly a field

course, with some lab work/preparation of plant specimens for your collections.

• The principles and methods you'll learn in this course apply to any biological group, not just plants.

• I always hope that a field course like this will spark a lasting curiosity about our natural world in you.

• Enter this course with an open mind and you'll do well.

Course objectives:

By the end of the course, the student will:

• Be able to identify the major component plants of our area and the Pacific Northwest in general;

• Be exposed to contemporary approaches to figuring out how organisms are related;

• Recognize the major ecological biomes present in the Pacific Northwest .

Grading:There are no formal written exams. Your grade for this course consists of:

1.plant collection project (800 points [100 plants X 8 points each])

2. field notebook notes (100 points)

3.quizzes (5 quizzes X 20 points = 100 points)

Important dates:

• July 2nd—1st class• July 30th—first 50 plants

due!• August 20th—last class

(last 50 plants due!)

Useful links:

• http://www.burkemuseum.org/herbarium University of Washington herbarium

• http://pnwplants.wsu.edu/ WSU-connected plant identification website

• http://www.ecy.wa.gov/PROGRAMS/wq/plants/plantid2/index.html aquatic plant manual

• http://www.pnwflowers.com/ One your books’ website

How do we classify life?

•Kingdom—largest; has most organisms•Phylum•Class•Order•Family•Genus•Specific epithet (‘species’)—smallest;has fewest organisms

Example of classification: Dogs•Kingdom: Animalia

•Phylum: Chordata•Class: Mammalia•Order: Carnivora•Family: Canidae•Genus: Canis (Latin for dog)•Specific epithet : familiaris (Latin for familiar or domesticated)

Example of classification: Cats

•Kingdom: Animalia•Phylum: Chordata•Class: Mammalia•Order: Carnivora•Family: Felidae•Genus: Felis (Latin for cat)•Specific epithet : domesticus (Latin for domesticated)

Classification of humans:

•Kingdom: Animalia•Phylum: Chordata•Class: Mammalia•Order: Primates•Family: Hominidae•Genus: Homo•Specific epithet: sapiens

Rules for scientific names

•1. Genus name always capitalized•2. Species name always lowercase•3. Both names underlined or italicized:

white rose: Rosa alba

chimpanzee: Pan troglodytes

humans: Homo sapiens

So what is a scientific name?

• The genus + specific epithet is usually called the scientific name

• Scientific name is also called species name

Scientific names

• Scientific names are usually abbreviated to the genus and specific epithets

• Uses the two-name system (genus + specific epithets) reintroduced by Linnaeus (father of taxonomy [naming])

How do we show evolutionary relationships?

• by using phylogenetic (evolutionary) trees

• These trees start with a common ancestor and show evolutionary shifts into different groups

• Can apply to any type of organism

Human inheritance tree:

Plant evolutionary tree:

Last common ancestor

Eudicots (175,000)

Monocots (70,000)

Chloranthaceae (70)

Ceratophyllaceae (6)Flowering Plants

Magnoliids (9,000)

Austrobaileyales (100)

Nymphaceae (70)

Amborellaceae (1)

Pinaceae (220)

Gnetales (80)

Other conifers (400) Gymnosperms

Ginkgo (1)

Cycads (130)

Leptosporangiate ferns (11,000)

Horsetails (15)

Marattioid ferns (240) Ferns

Ophioglossoid ferns (110)

Whisk ferns (15)

Lycophytes (1,200) Lower Vascular Plants

Mosses (15,000)

Liverworts (9,000) Bryophytes

Hornworts (100)

Seed Plants

150my

300my

350my

380my

475my

Evolution of Stomata

2. Evolution of vascular tissues

Green Algae

Liverworts

Hornworts

MossesVascular Plants

475my

425my 1. 2n dominance

400my