Syllabus

Summer, 2013

Class Times/Places:

Office Hours:

I will be on campus most weekdays. You are welcome to call or come and find me in my office or lab (Harned Hall 304) at any time. Although there is always a chance that I may have something under way which can not be interrupted, I can usually stop and help. Additional means of contacting me are the phone (number above) and email (just click on the "email Me" buttons on any of my web pages).

Accommodating those with disabilities:

The Biology Department, in conjunction with the Office of Disabled Student Services, makes reasonable accommodation for qualified students with medically documented disabilities. If you need an accommodation, please contact Dan Steely of TSU's Disabled Student Services Office at 963-7400 (phone) or 963-5051 (fax), preferably in the first week of class.

Course Description:

Credit Hours: This course is designed for a four credit summer session course. The credit hours are listed in the University catalog as 4 for the lecture and 0 for the lab and only the lecture receives an ABCDF letter grade (the lab gets either an "s" or "u").

Prerequisites: BIO 1030 & BIO 1040 (General Biology I and II, including labs, or the honors equivalents), In addition BIO 332 (Botany), BIO 330 (Plant Morphology), BIO 412 (Ecology), or BIO 416 (Evolution) would be helpful to anyone taking this course.

Catalog Description. A course designed to acquaint the student with basic principles of plant classification and identification, the use of manuals with reference made to the families, genera, and species of the local flora.

Course Objectives: specific objectives are at: BIOL 4320 Course Objectives

This course is designed as an introduction to the diversity of plants found in natural systems. Since it is a field course, most of the students' time will be spent either in the field or working with specimens collected from the field.  However, there are some basic ideas about systematics in general, plant systematics specifically, and plant evolution that will be presented in class.  In addition, students will demonstrate proficiency with the basic terminology of plant morphology and plant taxonomy.   The student will learn to collect plant specimens, preserve them, and present them in a format similar to specimens found in herbaria. BIO432 Preservation.html

Since habitat information will be taken with each specimen, students will learn to associate plants with different habitat types.

In addition to the field elements, the student will learn to use the botanical literature and web-based resources needed to identify a specimen.

Evaluation:

Evaluation will be based on a single examination and the plant collection to be done by each student.  Each specimen must be presented properly preserved and identified (using the traditional hierarchical scheme of Kingdom, Division, Class, Order. Family, Genus, and Species). In addition, information on the collection date and locale and habitat must also be presented.  Only specimens complying with all requirements will count toward the student's total. To learn what constitutes an acceptable specimen, go to the Preservation, Mounting, and Examples pages. As the objective of this class is to learn about the local natural flora, horticultural cultivars (including hybrids) will not be accepted as specimens.

Grading: Grading will be based on two separate methods of evaluation.  Ten percent of the grade will come from the exam and 90% of the grade from the number of acceptable specimens in the student's portfolio.  The grading will be done on a 100 point basis, with 90 and above earning an A, 80 to 89 a B, etc. Since the examination will be 10 of the 100 points, the grade on the examination will be the fraction of those 10 points that you earn (a 90 on the exam earns 9 points). The remaining 90 points are from the collection and are earned as a proportion equal to the proportion of acceptable specimens (for example, 40 acceptable specimens out of 50  required earns 4/5 of the 90 points available, or 72 points).   In addition, the collection must present specimens from at least 10 different plant families and from at least two different taxa above the level of Family (i. e., from at least two different Classes or Orders).  Failure to satisfy these criteria will result in the loss of 6 points for the former and 4 for the latter, subtracted from the total points earned.  Once they are graded, the portfolios are the property of the student and can be retrieved from the instructor.   They will be discarded by the beginning of September if not picked up.  The schedule lists the last day on which a specimen will be accepted but students are encouraged to turn in specimens as soon as they are done to minimize the chance of misunderstandings resulting in poor grades.   This is especially true for students who are graduating at the end of the summer semester.

This semester, the specimens must be presented by Wednesday, August 7.   In the schedule below, notice that no changes can be made after the 8th.  If you hand them in on the 6th OR EARLIER, changes might be made if easily correctable mistakes are detected but not if you hand the colledtion in on the 8th.  In fact, the best thing to do is to hand in each identified specimen as finished.  Then you may be able to rescue specimens, not just mistakes in the labels.  If they are handed in at the last  moment, they stand as handed in. 

In addition, these errors will cause a lowering of the grade:

Unacceptable portfolio format (e.g.. using a standard notebook for your portfolio, placing more than one specimen per page, unreadable handwriting, ...)

Policy on Lateness: This is a summer class, and the time for grading the collections is very short. For this reason no specimens will be accepted after the final due date.

Policy on plagiarism and cheating: Much of the integrity of this course must rest on an honor code. Each student is expected to collect, preserve, mount, and identify their specimens on their own. Help may come in the form of advice, but no student is to hand in a specimen he or she has not collected, preserved, mounted and identified themselves. Violation of this honor code will result in a 0 for the course. The Department Chair and Dean will be informed of the occurrence.

Disclaimer: The instructor reserves the right to change the occurrence, timing and content of lectures, laboratory exercises, and examinations.

Schedule (with suggestions of when each task should be completed):

Remember that specimens can be handed in at any time

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Last updated on July 8, 2013