Mar 28, 2024  
2022-2023 Catalog 
    
2022-2023 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

BI 124 - Western New York Flora


Credit Hours: 3

This course deals with plant taxonomy including plant collection, identification and herbarium preparation. Some work will be done in the lab and field trips will be arranged to nearby wilderness areas. This course does not satisfy the science requirement for liberal arts/ science majors.

Fulfills SUNY General Education – Natural Sciences.

Course Outcomes
Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to:

INTRODUCTION TO PLANT TAXONOMY

  • define taxonomic terms;
  • become familiar with the terms associated with the classification of plants; and
  • explain interrelationship between allied sciences.

HISTORY OF PLANT CLASSIFICATION

  • describe the history of plant classification;
  • explain classification of plants based on habitat, numbers and phylogeny; and
  • describe other contemporary systems.

PRINCIPLES OF TAXONOMY

  • distinguish between major and minor categories of classification; and
  • describe the morphological criteria used to determine taxonomy.

PHYLOGENETIC CONSIDERATIONS

  • explain the significance of phylogeny to taxonomy;
  • describe the phyletic concepts; and
  • discuss contributions to phyolgenetic knowledge.

CURRENT SYSTEMS OF CLASSIFICATIONS

  • describe the classification system developed by Bentham and Hooker;
  • describe the classification system developed by Engler and Prantl; and
  • describe the classification system developed by Benale, Weinstein, Pulle, Skottsberg, Besey, Haller and Hutchinson.

FIELD AND HERBARIUM TECHNIQUES

  • Describe how to prepare a specimen for collection;
  • Describe how to collect specimens;
  • Explain how to store specimens; and
  • Discuss how specimens are typed.

FIELD AND PLANT COLLECTIONS

  • describe the various locations where field trips will be made to collect specimens including Zoar Valley, Botanical gardens, Bog/ecosystems, Forest/ecosystems, Meadow/ecosystems; Sculpture Park - Ashford;
  • discuss the plant identification procedures; and
  • explain the final stages of herbarium preparation.

HERBARIUM COLLECTION

  • Collect 100 native plants; and
  • Properly identify and label the collected plants including genus and species.


Concurrent Registration: BI 125
SS (C, N, S)