PRINCIPLES OF ANIMAL AND PLANT BIOLOGY - PLANT MODULE

The course Principles of Animal and Plant Biology pertains to the disciplinary groups of biological and ecological sciences, one of the basic courses of the Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Sciences which aims at developing a scientific and holistic approach to the study of ecosystem structure and functions, in both natural and disturbed conditions. The course aims at providing students with the basic knowledge on the structure and functions of animal and plant organisms and the mechanisms at the basis of their diversity. In particular, the module Plant Biology aims at providing students with a broad, integrated overview of plant biology, plant diversity, and the relationships between plants and the environment, with a particular focus on higher plants. The assimilation of this basic knowledge will allow students to deal with further studies in plant biology and plant ecology.

Knowledge: assimilation of basic scientific language; knowledge of higher plants structure and functioning; understanding of main relationships between plants and the environment
Skills: ability to use the scientific language in describing plant structure and functions; capacity to differentiate different plant structures; capacity to link structure and function at the different levels of biological organisation; ability to apply acquired knowledge in understanding plant-environment relationships
Competence: to be able to understand, evaluate and discuss experimental analyses in the field of plant biology

Being a basic course, students are not requested to possess particular prerequisites. However, it is advisable that students have some basic notions in biology and scientific method acquired in the high schools.

The general areas covered are: (1) Plant diversity- the basic biology and evolution of the vascular plants; (2) Structure, function and development from the cell- to the whole organism level (cells, tissues, anatomical organization). Photosynthesis, internal transport, environmental controls will be included; (3) Ecology, adaptations to their environment, plant-animal interactions, biomes, biogeography and evolution.

Lessons notes and ppts (provided in the Moodle platform).
Pasqua G., Abbate G., Forni C. (2010) - Botanica generale e Diversita vegetale. Piccin Ed., Padova. (Parts I-IV).

Learning will be test through a written exam. The exam will consist of three open questions on topics treated during the course aiming at evaluating the ability to use the scientific language, the capacity to link structure and function and the ability to apply acquired knowledge in understanding plant-environment relationships. Some lessons will be devoted to the examination of previous tests. The exam aims at evaluating knowledge acquired during the course, the capacity to organize a brief and coherent text using a scientific language. The three topics should be developed and completed in ninety minutes.

To help students accomplish the learning goals, the course involves frontal lectures during which the topics are discussed using teaching modules (ppt slides), complemented by images, schemes and diagrams which help students visualize the concepts. Some arguments are presented through videos.

Italian

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Natural capital and environmental quality" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development