794-202 Plant Science III

Plant Science II.

The objective of this subject is to extend participants' ability to:

• describe the major characteristics of the divisions of the plant kingdom;

• 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;

• trace the origins of Australian floral elements;

• assess the effects of human activity on the Australian flora;

• discuss the major tenets of modern evolution theory;

• evaluate the status of fossils and their modes of formation;

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

• describe the major steps of human evolution.

The content includes the types of fossils, fossil formation, origins of life, the Precambrian, the Devonian, 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 plants parts, the Permian, the gymnosperms, human evolution, and human impact on the Australian flora.

Two examinations of 1 and 2 hours (30% and 60%); group assignment of 2000 words (10%).