Plant Diversity and Adaptation

• Credit value: 15 credits at Level 5
• Convenor and tutor: Dr Steven Dodsworth
• Assessment: a one-hour online quiz (10%), three-hour practical skills assessment (30%) and two-hour end-of-module test (60%)

Plants are vital components of most terrestrial ecosystems and crucial to gaining a fuller understanding of environmental systems. In this module we introduce you to the diversity and importance of plants and their associated biology. We will cover aspects of plant science through the lens of extraordinarily varied plant taxa and their adaptive traits. Furthermore, the broader environmental connections will be considered as well as the importance of plants used by humans.

Indicative syllabus

• Plant systematics and identification
• Plant body plan and plant growth processes
• Energy, leaves and photosynthesis
• Flowering, flower development and reproduction
• Plant-animal interactions
• Plant-microbe interactions
• Molecular ecology approaches
• Domestication, crops and future of plant use

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• demonstrate knowledge of the major groups of extant land plants
• explain key biological processes underpinning plant growth, development, reproduction and ecological interactions
• understand the significance of plants to ecosystems at multiple scales
• analyse experimental and observational data of plant morphology
• identify the major groups of land plants based on clear vegetative characters
• identify the main groups of flowering plants based on clear reproductive characters
• interpret botanical data from different sources, including photographs, live plants, as well as dried herbarium specimens
• work effectively in teams to organise and collect data in the lab and in the field.