Biodiversity

Catalog description

Earth contains a tremendous diversity of photosynthetic organisms. This course examines the diversity of modern land plants, with an eye toward a basic understanding of why studying plant diversity is important in our society and how plants contribute to the overall biodiversity and sustainability of the ecosystem from a local to global scale. We first define biodiversity and consider the traditional and modern classification of plants, including phylogenetic analysis. We then examine the basic structure (morphological and anatomical) of plants and understand the diversity of land plants (from Bryophytes to Angiosperms) and their ecological and economic importance. We will take a multidisciplinary approach to understand the relationships between plants and humans: historical and modern use of plants (e.g., fibers, building materials, crops, beverages, medicines), poisonous plants, modern agriculture and biotechnology, important crops, and social benefits of plants (e.g., recreation and tourism) to humans and society. The course also covers energy and trophic structures, evaluates biodiversity loss and its impacts on human welfare, and delves into perceived threats to biodiversity, including climate change, pollution, fire, invasive species, overexploitation, and diseases. Finally, we turn to evaluate the existing regulations and lawns on biodiversity conservation.