Plant Geography (P01310)

? Credit Points : 10 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : BIO-P-PGeog

Biologists have sought to explain the uneven distribution of organisms across the globe for over two centuries, a field of enquiry called biogeography. It is still a vital research area in a time when we need to be able to predict how organisms will react to anthropogenic environmental change. However, because of the complex interplay of contemporary ecology, earth history, organismal extinction and evolution, universal biogeographic explanations are still elusive. This course provides a background to the discipline of plant geography, including an account of its history, as well as explanations of the most modern biogeographic tools such as molecular clocks. This material is interspersed with key environments lectures, which discuss key species-rich environments that are studied at RBGE and the University of Edinburgh. These illuminate the theoretical material with real examples, and highlight conservation issues

? Keywords : plant geography, biogeography, vegetation history, plant environments

Entry Requirements

? Co-requisites : none, but Angiosperm Biodiversity and Phylogenetics and Population Genetics are recommended

? Costs : none

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Postgraduate, (School of Biological Sciences, Schedule K)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 1 hour(s) 50 minutes per week for 10 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Monday	09:00	12:00	External

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

1.History of plant geography
2.Basic outline of plate tectonics
3.Biogeographic techniques including vicariance (cladistic) biogeography, using phylogenies to test biogeographic hypotheses, molecular clock studies of divergence times
4.Knowledge of the floristic composition, ecology, biogeographic history and conservation issues relating to key species-rich plant environments