207-304 Ecophysiology and Phytogeography

The objectives of the subject are to extend the student's ability to:

• define species and describe the processes of speciation and hybridisation;

• relate the concepts of continental drift to the evolution of the global and Australian flora;

• describe the types of natural selection including r- and k- selection;

• trace the origin of the Australian flora and assess the influence of humans upon the flora;

• discuss the major tenets of modern evolution theory;

• evaluate the status of fossils and their formation;

• relate the concepts of evolution to those of ecology and natural resource management;

• describe the major steps of human evolution;

• relate floral distribution to evolutionary, physiological and anatomical concepts;

• apply phytogeographical concepts to plant selection and horticultural management; and

• match plants to the landscape using their physiological and ecological adaptations.

The topics to be studied in the subject are:

• types of fossil formation, origins of life, the Precambrian, the first land plants, the fossil record of vascular plants, natural selection, r- and k- selection, species and speciation, continental drift and plate tectonics, Gondwana and the Glossopterids, the Carboniferous, the origins of the Australian flora, hybrids, isolating mechanisms, the Angiosperms, origin of plant parts, the Permian, the Gymnosperms, human evolution, speciation and hybridization;

• the relationship between continental drift and floral evolution;

• types of natural selection;

• matching plants to the environment and the environment to plants - management strategies and their scientific bases;

• flowering biology, hormones, stress, nutrients, ripening, senescence; and

• the effects of humans on the Australian flora; the relationship between the concepts of evolution and natural resource management.

A three-hour final examination (55%), a mid-semester test (25%) and an assignment equivalent to 2000 words (20%).