Plant Biodiversity: complexity at
multiple scales
Scope of the project
Students will investigate a major group of plants across biological complexity scales
(from molecules to ecosystems). Each will present her/his findings in a review paper.
This paper will undergo formal peer review and revisions, and will be published on the
course web page and accessible as a component of the students’ academic portfolio.
Teams of students will select one Division of plants and together conduct research and
share resources about that Division as well as the major group of plants that includes
the division. The five major plant groups and Divisions are listed on Page 3. Students
will critically evaluate information they find to develop scientific review article. The article
will be submitted to the class for peer review, and, after revision, will be posted online
as a webpage, linked to the course website.
Ttimeline
- By Monday, September 15, student teams will select the plant group of interest and
begin collecting sources and drafting their papers. Each group will submit their plant
group and reasons they selected this group.
-October 27: each individual in the group will bring two copies of the draft paper for peer
review;
November 3: peer reviews are due in class.
November 5: peer reviews returned to authors.
Individuals revise their articles according to the reviewers’ comments. Review Article
due December 1.
One individual from each group will present their paper to the class on December 3.
PLB 203_F08_ Elena Bray Speth and DE-M
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Objectives
As a result of participating in this project, you will:
1. identify a group of plants of interest to the broader public from the popular press.
2. describe and synthesize information about a group of plants across scales of
biological organization;
3. collect and organize information on plants;
4. evaluate peers’ review papers and provide feedback;
5. communicate your findings in the form of a review paper and possibly an oral
presentation;
6. contribute to a long-term, web-based plant biodiversity database.
Engage the reader
Find an article from the popular press that focuses on group of plants that is of interest
to you. Find photographs of those plants on the web (try the USDA site). Develop a
brief summary “story” from the article to engage the reader about this group of plants –
why is the plant of interest? Consider framing your review with a question based on the
topic of the article. Popular press includes everything from the New York Times, to
National Geographic, the New Yorker, Newsweek, Time, Local newspapers,
Smithsonian, American Museum of Natural History – and many more.
Literature search
Possible sources: books, textbooks, websites (use the link on the homepage “Using the
Web for Rearch”), journal articles, newspaper articles.
Writing guidelines
Content
You must explore your group of plants at all of the different levels listed below:
- evolutionary (what do we know about the evolutionary history of this group of plants?)
- molecular and genetic (e.g., what do we know about genome(s) size and
organization, genome sequencing efforts, molecular studies, etc…; are there any model
species in this group? why or why not?);
- organismal: structures (e.g., what are the common morphological/anatomical
characteristic of these plants or groups of plants, etc…) and functions (e.g., how do
these plants reproduce, how do they transport water and nutrients within their bodies,
etc…);
- ecological (e.g., distribution, abundance, ecosystem services, etc…)
- economical (e.g., use in agriculture, medicine, basic research, etc…)
PLB 203_F08_ Elena Bray Speth and DE-M
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Format
Sample formats include “Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment” review articles
(inclusive of text, figures, tables, charts, maps, text boxes, etc…), many of those papers
are included in the Course Readings folder.
Peer Review: We will provide you a rubric for the review paper and the peer reviews.
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Kingdom Plantae – Plants
I.
Division Anthocerotophyta – Hornworts
Subdivision Anthocerotae
Class Anthocerotopsida
Division Bryophyta – Mosses
Subdivision Musci
Class Andreaeopsida – Granite mosses
Class Bryopsida – True mosses
Class Sphagnopsida – Peat mosses
Division Chlorophyta – green algae
Class Chlorophyceae
Division Hepaticophyta – Liverworts
Subdivision Hepaticae
Class Hepaticopsida
Subkingdom Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
II.
Division Equisetophyta – Horsetails
Class Equisetopsida
Division Lycopodiophyta – Lycopods
Class Lycopodiopsida
Division Psilophyta – Whisk-ferns
Class Psilopsida
Division Pteridophyta – Ferns
Class Filicopsida
Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants
III.
Division Coniferophyta – Conifers
Class Pinopsida
Division Cycadophyta – Cycads
Class Cycadopsida
Division Ginkgophyta – Ginkgo
Class Ginkgoopsida
Division Gnetophyta – Mormon tea and other gnetophytes
Class Gnetopsida
Division Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
IV.
Class Liliopsida – Monocotyledons
V.
Class Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
USDA, NRCS. 2008. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 14 August 2008). National Plant
Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
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