BZ555 –
Reproductive Biology of Higher Plants
E444
Anatomy/Zoology Building
Fall 2000
Instructor: Dr. Shanna Carney
Department of Biology
E416 Anatomy/Zoology Building
Office Hours: by appointment
Phone: 491-1092
E-mail: secarney@lamar.colostate.edu
Course Description and Objectives: To present an overview of reproduction in the flowering plants. Monday and Wednesday class meetings will generally follow a lecture format, while Friday will be used for discussion of journal articles. Each student enrolled in the class will also write a literature review of some aspect of plant reproduction that is of interest to them. The class will also participate in a research project, which will be written up for publication at the end of the semester.
Textbook: Plant Breeding Systems Second Edition, by A. J. Richards, published by Chapman and Hall. The relevant pages in the text for each lecture are listed on the lecture schedule.
Attendance: Attendance is required to gain a full understanding of the material.
Grades: Grades will be based on a final essay exam (40% of grade), leading of and participation in the Friday discussions (10%), the literature review paper (25%), and participation in the research project (25%). In order for the discussions to be a learning experience, it is important for everyone to have read the paper and contribute their views. For the writing assignment, two points will be subtracted from the final score for each day that the assignment is late.
Academic Dishonesty: Academic dishonesty (see “Students Rights and Responsibilities” section of the General Catalog for definitions) will not be tolerated and will result in severe penalties (i.e., failure in the class and referral to the University’s Director of Judicial Affairs).
WebCT: This Internet based class tool will be used to for you to keep track of your grades, access the syllabus online, contact your classmates to arrange work on the research project, etc. Class e-mail accounts are provided for easy access to me and to your fellow students. A separate handout will explain how to access our course website, or go to http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/InstrSrv/WebCT/WebCT_studentGuide.html
Please let me know if you have any special learning needs.
Tentative Lecture/Discussion Schedule:
|
Monday - Lecture |
Tuesday - Lecture |
Friday – Discussion Topic |
|
8/21 – Intro, Go over syllabus, etc. |
8/22 – Sexual basics in plants, Advant. and disadv. of sex; Pp. 1-25, 50-67 |
8/25 - Discuss Research Project |
|
8/28 – Sex Expression and Determination; Pp. 297-356 |
8/29 – Work on Research Project |
9/1 – Sex Expression and Determination |
|
9/4 – No Class |
9/5 - Sexual selection; Pp. 25-42 |
9/8 – Sexual selection |
|
9/11 – Sexual selection, cont., Pollen competition, Female choice |
9/12 – Work on Research Project |
9/15 – Submit Review Paper Topics; Sexual selection |
|
9/18 – Molecular interactions of pollen and pistil (Pat Bedinger) |
9/19 – Attractants and Vectors; Pp. 84-88, 91-95, 106-131 |
9/22 – Molecular pollen-pistil interactions |
|
9/25 – Pollination syndromes; Pp. 68-146 |
9/26 – Work on Research Project |
9/29 – Pollination syndromes |
|
10/2 - Pollination syndromes |
10/3 - Private Life of Plants: The Birds and the Bees |
10/6 - Pollen vs Resource limitation |
|
10/9 – Pollen and Resource Limitation |
10/10 – Pollination energetics; Pp. 147-165 |
10/13 – Pollination energetics |
|
10/16 - Review Papers Due; Pollination energetics |
10/17 - Sexual resource allocation |
10/20 – Patterns of fruit set |
|
10/23 - Critiques of Review Papers Due; Seed dispersal syndromes; Pp. 192-194 |
10/24 - Private Life of Plants: Branching Out |
10/27 – Dispersal syndromes |
|
10/30 - Revised Review Papers Due; Gene flow, Genetic population structure; Pp. 165-199 |
10/31 - Gene flow, Genetic population structure |
11/3 – Gene flow; optimal outcrossing |
|
11/6 – Work on Research Project |
11/7 – Assortative Mating; Pp. 194-199 |
11/10 – Assortative mating |
|
11/13 – Mechanisms favoring outcrossing and selfing; Pp. 357-395 |
11/14 – Mixed Mating Models |
11/17 – Selfing vs. outcrossing |
|
11/20 – No Class |
11/21 – No Class |
11/24 – No Class |
|
11/27 – Self Incompatibility Pp. 200-241 |
11/28 –Heteromorphy; Pp. 242-296 |
12/1 – Self Incompatibility |
|
12/4 - Hybridization |
12/5 – Asexual reproduction and the Evolution of Sex; Pp. 396-450 |
12/8 – Hybridization and Asexual reproduction |