Postgraduate Course: Evolution & Biodiversity of Cryptogams (PLSC11005)
Course Outline
| School | School of Biological Sciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course focuses on three major groups of cryptogams - bryophytes, algae and fungi. These often small and overlooked organisms make up important parts of Earth¿s biodiversity and perform critical ecosystem functions, from the carbon-sequestration of peat-forming mosses and pelagic algae to the fungal plant symbioses that dominate the earth. |
| Course description |
The course aims to present several of the major groups of cryptogamic plants and fungi, allowing students time to explore their morphology and evolution in workshop-style settings. The focus for the course will be algae, bryophytes and fungi including lichens, with practical and theoretical work interspersed to ensure students get time to see and understand exemplar taxa from each group and have time to explore the diversity of the groups for themselves in field or microscope work with a focus on understanding life-histories as a means to identification and ecosystem roles. Practical microscope work and field trips are integral to the course. The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has a long legacy of taxonomic and conservation work in these taxon groups.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Describe algal and fungal diversity at the phylum level, including lichen symbioses, and discuss key adaptations in heterokont algae and basal land plants.
- Evaluate critically different sources of phylogenetic information (e.g., DNA sequence data, ultrastructure and morphology) and their uses in understanding algal, fungal and protist evolution.
- Recognise representatives of the major taxonomic groups of cryptogams and fungi from their morphological characters, relate the morphological characters of the group to its ecology, and evaluate the effect of taxonomy on research applications.
- Describe the major differences between life-cycles and dispersal mechanism of groups within fungi, algae and cryptogams and discuss how these can affect conservation strategies.
- Make field collections of cryptogams including all the notes required for identification.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Analysis
Evaluation
Critical analysis
Problem solving
Communication
Numeracy
IT skills
Autonomy
Teamwork
Accountability |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Alex Twyford
Tel: (0131 6)50 5455
Email: Alex.Twyford@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Claire Black
Tel: (0131 6)50 8649
Email: Claire.Black@ed.ac.uk |
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