Biol 484 – Plant Evolution
Fall 2012
Instructor
Lila Fishman
lila.fishman@mso.umt.edu
309A Health Sciences
x5166
Office hours
11:00-12:00 T/Th
other times by appt
Goals
 Reinforce understanding of the principles of biological evolution

Explore the patterns and processes of plant evolution, with primary focus on
mechanisms of adaptation and speciation

Practice critical evaluation of research and writing on plant evolution

Practice scientific writing skills
Course format
Lectures, plus discussion of readings. The readings will be a mix of syntheses/reviews
and primary research literature. You are expected to complete the readings before class
and come with questions/comments for discussion.
Course schedule (will evolve..)
See page 2 for general overview of scheduled topics..
Materials
Each week’s readings will be posted on the course Moodle page and (usually) handed out
in class in advance as well. Powerpoint slides, notes etc. from lectures will be placed
online after class. I have several copies of Freeman & Herron Evolutionary Analysis and
other evolution/genetics texts in my office for those interested in review.
Assessment
Grading will follow +/- grading scale and the standard decile letter grade system (>92% =
A, etc.).
Grades will be based on
=> participation in class discussions
=> short article reviews (précis)
=> final project
~20%
~25%
~55%
See pages 3-5 for more detail on the writing expectations and assignments.
1
Fall 2012 -- BIOL484 SCHEDULE
WEEK
DATE
TOPIC
8/28
Week 1
Intro to Course
8/30
Broad patterns in plant evolution
Week 2
9/04
9/06
Week 3
9/11
9/13
Week 4
9/18
9/20
Week 5
9/25
9/27
Week 6
10/02
10/04
Week 7
10/09
10/11
Week 8
10/16
10/18
Week 9
10/23
10/25
Week 10
10/30
11/01
Week 11
11/06
11/12
Week 12
11/13
11/15
Week 13
11/20
11/22
Week 14
Review: Population Genetics
Ch. 1-3, C&H (pdfs)
plus articles
Review: Quantitative Genetics
Ch. 4-6, C&H (pdfs)
plus articles
Guest Lecture?
Abiotic Adaptation
articles
Biotic Adaptation & Coevolution
NO CLASS – GO VOTE!!!!
Speciation & Adaptive Radiation
THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
11/27
11/29
Week 15
READINGS
Student Presentations
12/03
12/05
Final Week
Final Paper Due – Wed. Dec. 12th
C&H = Conner & Hartl’s “Primer of Ecological Genetics”. You can purchase this text as a paperback
online, but I will provide pdfs/hard copies of the chapters we will be using.
2
Writing outcomes and expectations - overview
Critical reading and synthesis of the primary literature is key to learning how to write effectively
about biology, as well as to gaining conceptual/factual mastery of the field. We will use several
different types of activities to practice reading and writing skills.
Weekly readings -- Each week, we will read at least one scientific journal article and discuss it in
detail during class-time. You are expected to read the assigned articles prior to class, and to come
prepared to participate with at least one question or comment. No question is "too basic" -- the
goal here is participation!
Précis reviews -- You will complete 5 "précis" reviews (1 page max, single-spaced) of assigned
research articles during the semester. A précis is a critical synopsis, not merely a summary of
content (see Précis handout for more details on format, goals and evaluation). In addition to
enhancing knowledge of the research topics and critical thinking skills, this activity is designed to
encourage efficient reading and writing through repeated practice.
Final Project -- The majority of your grade will be based on a research project on a topic of your
choosing (within the scope of the course). This project includes multiple graded components (see
attached handouts for details of the Presentation and Paper components).
Final Project -- Process and grading
1. Meet with me to discuss topic (week 9)
2. Submit 1/2 page outline of paper (week 10)
3. Draft paper due (week 12)
4. Receive comments/feedback (week 13-14)
5. 15 minute presentation (weeks14-15)
6. Final paper due (day of Final exam)
5%
15%
15%
20%
55% of course grade
As a Writing Course, a primary goal of this class is training in the process of scientific writing, which
generally involves multiple rounds of revision. Therefore, you will have the opportunity to revise your
final paper in response to feedback on your outline, first draft, and in-class presentation. These
preliminary components and the Final Paper will be evaluated on the basis of both structure and content
(Does it do the things outlined on the handout well? Is is accurate, complete and insightful?).
Specific writing outcomes of the précis and paper assignments include the ability to:







use writing to synthesize concepts
formulate and express hypotheses and alternatives
find, evaluate, and integrate biological information from diverse sources effectively
compose written documents appropriate for a given audience/purpose
use scientific writing conventions (e.g., citations, scientific names)
revise writen work in response to constructive feedback
demonstrate appropriate English usage, including grammar, spelling, and paragraph construction
Please note: You are bound by the University of Montana student conduct code. All written work turned
in for credit must be solely your work AND may not have been used for credit in another course.
Plagiarism and cheating of any kind will result in referral for disciplinary action and you will receive a
3
zero on the assignment. This will significantly impact your final course grade.
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BIOL 484 – Plant Evolution
Writing a Précis of a Research Communication
Being able to summarize and criticize scientific literature is essential to your success as a student
or professional scientist. The goals listed below should be in mind whenever you read an article
from the primary scientific literature. To practice applying them, you will write a brief summary
paper (a précis) addressing these goals for many of the articles we read. Strictly speaking, a
“précis” is a brief summary and critical evaluation of the text under consideration.
In writing a précis of a research article, your goals are:
(1) to identify the hypotheses being tested (including alternatives)
– this generally includes both BIG QUESTIONS and more specific ones
(2) to indicate why they are being tested
– i.e., what observations and/or theory motivate the authors
(3) to summarize succinctly the methods employed and results obtained
– focus on the overall approach and key findings rather than the details
(details can matter a great deal, but at this stage is better to get the big picture)
(4) to show how these results do or do not address the hypotheses under investigation.
(5) to evaluate whether the methods used are appropriate to testing the hypotheses and whether
the results convincingly support the authors’ conclusions. You are not expected to evaluate the
methods with a specialist’s eye –focus on whether or not the experimental approaches rule out
alternative hypotheses, whether there may be confounding factors unconsidered, etc.
For papers in this class, a précis should be no less than 300 words and no more than 500 words
long, i.e., up to a page of text single-spaced (1-2 paragraphs). Hallmarks of a good précis are
conciseness, clarity of exposition, and insight into the assumptions, limitations and merits of the
text under review.
The précis assignments will be graded on both content and presentation (i.e., correct spelling,
punctuation and grammar, as well as sentence and paragraph structure) on a 10 point scale.
5
Biology 484
Plant Evolution
Final Projects
The goal of this exercise is for you to think deeply about a particular problem in plant evolution,
summarize the current theory and existing empirical data relevant to your chosen issue, and
propose a program of research to address remaining questions. Problems may range from the
broad (“Why has sex evolved?”) to the relatively specific (“Why do whitebark pine trees make
lots of cones some years and few in others?”). Generally speaking, these will be “why?”
questions. Particularly for the last goal, it will be useful to concentrate on a particular system
(i.e., propose experiment/studies following up on published work). Choose a question/system
you are interested in!!
*Note: It is acceptable (and even wise) to “double-up” on the background reading/research for
another project in another class. For example, if you have been reading a lot about the
physiology of drought tolerance for another course, choosing to write your BIOL484 paper on
the evolution of drought tolerance would be fine. However, you must address a significant (and
general) evolutionary question relevant to the topic AND any work turned in for credit may not
overlap substantially in content/wording with work also submitted for any other class past or
present. Such plagiarism is not acceptable and will result in a ZERO grade on the assignment.
You will be graded on 4 components of the final project: an outline, a first draft, a
presentation, and a final paper.
Outline: bullet list of the anticipated content in each section of the paper, including 3 key refs.
Presentation: ~15 minutes during the last 2 weeks of class-time (see page 6 for details)
Paper: 8 pages double-spaced (maximum), 8+ references.
The format of the paper will be similar to a research proposal, but with more emphasis on the
background sections rather than the proposed work, methods etc.
Broad outline
1st page – frame question broadly and concisely
=> Why is this an important problem?
=> What do we already know? What are gaps in knowledge?
p. 2-5 -- Expand background/ review prior research on topic
p. 6-8 – Describe future research program designed to answer main question
Depending on how specific your topic is, you will almost certainly also need to describe
the biological system and discuss why it is a good one for addressing the question.
We will go over in class (and in our 1-on-1 meeting) strategies for finding key references using
online databases, defining important gaps in knowledge, organizing your background
information, etc. etc. I will provide detailed feedback on the first draft, which is worth nearly as
many points as the final draft, and you will have the opportunity to revise.
6
Biol484: Plant Evolution
Final Presentations
The presentations are an opportunity to share your topic with the rest of the class and get
feedback for revising your paper.
Format: 12-15 minutes + 5 minutes for questions
Use Powerpoint. Plan on ~10-18 slides. Resist the impulse to add animations, sound, etc. unless
they substantially and directly address your points (e.g. a video of pollinators may be a good use
of time, a random cartoon is probably not). You can choose “blank presentation” or use a
template with titles etc., but please do not use the fancy backgrounds etc. as they are distracting.
1. Introduce the general question/problem/topic. 1-2 slides.
2. Provide background, summarize other’s research. Describe general patterns, competing
theories, etc. This will probably include several case studies with brief synopses and images
(photos, results). It is OK to copy figures (use photo-select in Adobe) directly from papers as
long as you give credit. This will be the bulk of the presentation: 4-8 slides (go low if wordy)
3. Define the specific question/system for your proposal. This will generally be narrower than the
general topic (not always) and should lead to testable evolutionary hypotheses. 1-2 slides.
4. Describe an experimental study or studies that will allow you to distinguish among your
alternative hypotheses. 1-2 slides.
5. Describe potential outcomes and their interpretation. That is, if you think that X trait
difference between populations is due to local adaptation to Y conditions, show how data
consistent (and not) with that hypothesis would look. 1-2 slides.
6. Conclude / look forward/ describe broader implications. This will depend on your topic, but
it’s nice to reiterate key points and wrap things up with a broader statement. 1 slide.
You do not need a citations slide at the end, but should reference any specific research described
or pictured on the relevant slide, as well as verbally (" so & so, in a 1998 paper, found x y and
z"). Please don’t say only “people found y ” or “they think x” – be specific about who said what.
Presentations will be graded on both content and structure (Does the line of reasoning make
sense? Is appropriate background presented?), with clarity as the primary criterion.
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BIOL484: Plant Evolution
Week
Section 1: Broad patterns
Learning Outcomes
1
Overview of land plant
phylogeny and taxonomy
- characterize the order/timing of major transitions in plant evolution and
associations with plant species diversity
Major transitions
- describe the broad significance of key traits defining major plant groups for
their ecology and evolution
Week
Section 2: Population
Genetics
Learning Outcomes
2
mutation
- define the four evolutionary forces and qualitatively describe their relative
magnitudes, dependencies (i.e., drift depends on effective population size),
and general effects on population variation (i.e. drift decreases variation at all
loci)
drift and effective
population size
3
migration and population
structure
selection
mutation-selection,
migration-selection,
migration-drift balance
- qualitatively characterize the outcomes of interactions between evolutionary
forces
- describe the use of molecular markers to estimate population genetic and
ecological parameters in plants, often for conservation purposes
- describe the effects of inbreeding (and other forms of assortative mating)
on the distribution of genetic variation within and among plant populations
Inbreeding and assortative
mating
Week
Section 3: Quantitative
Genetics
Learning Outcomes
4
Narrow and broadsense
heritability
- understand why not all genetically-based phenotypic variation is heritable
Plasticity, GxE,
Correlations
5
- describe the conseqeunces of positive and negative genetic correlations
- apply experimental methods for characterizing genetic variances and
covariances
Phenotypic variation – Is it
genetic? Is it adaptive?
- apply methods for measuring selection
Phenotypic selection
- describe the molecular basis and evolutionary consequences of linkage
among loci
Linkage and linkage
disequilibrium
Genetic mapping
- describe how the genetic basis of current differences reveals the mode and
tempo of past evolution
- critically evaluate current research into plant variation and adaptation using
genetic and genomic approaches
Week
Section 4: Abiotic
adaptation
Learning Outcomes
6
Edaphic adaptation
-identify major axes of environmental variation shaping plant diversity
Life history variation
- define and provide examples of physiological and evolutionary tradeoffs
Phenology and climate
change
- describe major plant life history strategies and their environmental
distributions
Water stress and
- critically evaluate current research on plant abiotic adaptation, particularly
7
8
8
photosynthesis
with regard to responses to climate change
Week
Section 5: Biotic
adaptation and
coevolution
Learning Outcomes
9
Mating system evolution
-describe broad associations between plant ecology, floral morphology, and
pollinating taxa
Pollination syndromes
10
Seed dispersal
Herbivory and disease
11
Symbiosis
Competition and
cooperation with other
plants
-characterize the incidence, origins, and evolutionary/ecological
consequences of self-fertilization in plants
- characterize costs and benefits of propagule dispersal
- provide examples of both antagonistic and mutualistic coevolution in plants
- critically evaluate research on plant coevolutionary interactions with other
organisms
Week
Section 6: Speciation and
radiation
Learning Outcomes
12
Geographical context
-characterize both historical and current perspectives on the problem of
speciation
Reproductive isolation
13
14
Hybrid zones and hybrid
speciation
Chromosomal evolution
and polyploidy
Adaptive radiation
-describe multiple models, with examples, for the evolution of postzygotic
reproductive isolation
-understand the importance of karotypic evolution and polyploidy for plant
speciation
-explain major models for adaptive radiation in plants
-critically evaluate research on plant speciation
9