BIOL 3336 Plant Ecology

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BIOL 3336 Plant Ecology

Course Description

In this course the relationship between plants and their environment will be discussed from various points of view. First, the relationship between type of vegetation and environmental factors such as climate, soils and human influences will be discussed, with an emphasis on vegetation in Canada, but including all major climate zones of the Earth. Vegetation influenced by humans, such as agricultural and urban vegetation, will also be included.

The second emphasis in this course is species as an ecological unit. How do species respond to different environmental conditions and how can species be classified in order to improve our ecological understanding. Growth-forms, growth strategies and types of regeneration will be discussed in the context of environmental factors.

Finally, co-occurrence of species in plant communities will be discussed, focusing on species richness and community dynamics.

Lectures 3, labs 3, credits 3

Prerequisite: BIOL 2356 (may be taken concurrently).

Outline

Introduction

Sudbury vegetation

Plant geography

Vegetation in Canada

Global vegetation

Vegetation zones of the Earth: Tropics, Meridional zone, Nemoral zone, Boreal zone, Arctic Tundra

Azonal vegetation: Wetlands, Agricultural vegetation, Urban vegetation

Species as ecological units: Raunkiaer's life forms, Grime's strategies, Relative Growth Rate, Tradeoffs, Intraspecific competition

Regenerative strategies: Vegetative regeneration, Regeneration by seed, Seed size, Seed dispersal, Seed banks

Plant Communities: Diversity, Succession.

Textbook:

John Laird Farrar

Trees in Canada

Fitzhenry & Whiteside limited and the Canadian Forest Service

and

J.H. Soper and M.L. Heimburger

Shrubs of Ontario

Royal Ontario Museum

Lab work

There will be five afternoon field-trips in Sudbury area during September and October, to see different vegetation types characteristic for our region. For each field-trip a report will be written.