Evolution of Green Plants
Spring 2012
EEB 3220 (3 cr)
EEB 3220W (W, 4 cr)
EEB 5220 (graduate, 3 cr)
Spring 2010
Lectures: T/TH 12:30-13:45 in Engineering II 323
Labs: T 14:00-17.00 in TLS 181
EEB3221 students: To lab home page.
Contents
Instructor Contact Information
Louise A. Lewis Associate Professor
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
office: 200 Pharmacy/Biology Building
voice: +1 860-486-6723
email: louise.lewis@uconn.edu
Bernard Goffinet Professor
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
office: 300 Pharmacy/Biology Building
voice: +1 860-486-5290
email: bernard.goffinet@uconn.edu
Syllabus
Download EEB3220 course Syllabus (requires password) for info on grading and course policies.
EEB3220W students Download instructions (requires password) prior to our first meeting
Textbook and readings
Textbook: Willis and McElwain (2002): The evolution of plants. Oxford University Press. Additional readings from the primary literature will be assigned to some lectures through links in the schedule below. This material (textbook and papers) is considered part of the lecture material and must be read for the midterm and exam .
Announcements
- Watch This: Moss helps chart the conquest of land by plants
- Learn more about the Rhynie Chert at http://www.abdn.ac.uk/rhynie/intro.htm</br>
Schedule
Notes: downloads require password; best viewed in Adobe Reader (some problems with the MAC "Preview" program).
| Date | Topic | Assignment | Prof. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tu 19 Jan | Introduction: "plants?", "photosynthesis", "emerging from the water", ... Lecture1.pdf |
Reading: Assignment 1: Life cycles (due Jan. 26) |
BG |
| Th 21 Jan | The context for the evolution and subsequent diversification of land plants Lecture2.pdf |
Reading: |
BG |
| Tu 26 Jan | Life cycles of green plants, meiosis, mitosis; Phylogenetic trees Jan26 |
Reading: McCourt et al. 2004 Assignment 1 due |
LL |
| Th 28 Jan | Phylogenetic trees (continued) Jan28 |
Reading: Baum & Offner 2008 |
LL |
| Tu 02 Feb | Aquatic ancestors to embryophytes Feb02 Feb02b (2 modified slides) |
Reading: Graham et al. 2000 Assignment 2: phylogenetic trees (due Feb. 9) Assignment 2 groups |
LL |
| Th 04 Feb | Bryophytes, Ferns and other seed-free vascular plants Feb04 |
Reading: |
LL |
| Tu 09 Feb | Ferns and Gymnosperms Feb09 |
Reading: Pryer et al. 2001 Assignment 2 due |
LL |
| Th 11 Feb | Angiosperms Feb11 |
Reading: Pennisi 2009 |
LL |
| Tu 16 Feb | Developmental tool kit: genome evolution Feb16post.pdf |
Reading: Bowman et al.pdf. For graduate students only: read intro and discussion at least of |
BG |
| Th 18 Feb | Genome reduction Feb18 note: EEB seminar 4 PM - Doug Soltis |
Reading: Bungard 2004 Bock & Timmis 2008 (optional) Assignment 3: seminar today Assignment 3 guidelines |
LL |
| Tu 23 Feb | Desiccation tolerance Feb.23 |
Reading: Alpert 2005 Assignment 3 due (Soltis summary) |
LL |
| Th 25 Feb | Plant:fungal interactions 12Feb25SM.pdf |
Reading: Selosse&LeTacon.pdf For EEB5220 only: Selosseetal2006.pdf |
BG |
| Tu 02 Mar | Fossilization | Reading: |
BG |
| Th 04 Mar | Fossil evidence for the transition to land to lecture notes | Reading: Wellman&Gray.pdf |
BG |
| Tu 09 Mar | SPRING BREAK | ||
| Th 11 Mar | SPRING BREAK | ||
| Tu 16 Mar | Midterm Exam (100 points) (through 04 March material) | ||
| Th 18 Mar | Polysporangiophytes: origin of branching and distribution of sporangia 18March30.pdf or download from here |
Reading: |
BG |
| Tu 23 Mar | Origin and evolution of water conducting cells to lecture notes | Reading: |
BG |
| Th 25 Mar | Early diversification of Tracheophytes to lecture notes | Reading: |
BG |
| Tu 30 Mar | Origin of the seed and early diversification of seed plants to lecture notes | Reading: Taylor1982.pdf |
BG |
| Th 01 Apr | EEB seminar: Paul Strother / Q&A on his paper | Reading:Assignment 4: seminar today Assignment 4 guidelines |
BG |
| Tu 06 Apr | Origin of the flower and early diversification of flowering plants to lecture notes | Assignment 4 due (Strother summary) </br> Reading: Soltis et al.pdf |
BG |
| Th 08 Apr | READ Schneideretal2004.pdf for class Supplementary Info EEB seminar @ 4 PM: Kathleen Pryer |
Reading: Assignment 5: seminar today |
|
| Tu 13 Apr | Photosynthesis in an oxygen-rich world April13.pdf |
Reading: Sage.pdf |
LL |
| Th 15 Apr | Photosynthesis in an oxygen-rich world, continued Hormones April15.pdf |
Reading: Cooke et al. 2002 Assignment 5 due (Pryer summary) |
LL |
| Tu 20 Apr | Hormones, continued April20.pdf |
Reading: Friedman 2009 |
LL |
| Th 22 Apr | Graduate student presentations: Rachael Grenon, Colin Carlson |
||
| Tu 27 Apr | Graduate student presentations: Alexander Defrancesco, Guillermo Kopp |
||
| Th 29 Apr | Time tree of evolution of land plants, wrap up 27April29.pdf |
Reading: Qiu2008.pdf Magallon2009.pdf |
BG |
| Th 06 May | 10:30-12:30 - Final Exam (100 points on new material, 25 points comprehensive. Will include questions about the graduate student presentations.) |
Links
- Watch This: movie of bryophyte gametes
"Whitish smoke in the movie are small droplets containing smreps (deliberate misspelling of word for male gametes).
The smreps in the droplets are still un-motile. When touch the
water, they begin to swim. In our experiments, misting with water is
trigger of the explosion. If antheridia were mature, the explosion
begin within few minutes. The event continued about for 10 min.
Intense light for video recording also seems to accelerate the
phenomenon. Each antheridia is deeply sunk in a cavity of
antheridiophore and there is a very small pore on the top of each
cavity. Swollen cells of surrounding tissue might cause the pressure
force. Cavers (1903) and Muggoch & Walton (1942) also discussed about the mechanism, but, I think no one examined about the detail mechanism of the phenomenon.
In Hiroshima, the season of mreps dispersal is Spring (April to May).
In our field observation, we detected many airborne smreps in the
sunny day after rain shower.
I do not have detail data about how many species of liverworts have
airborne mreps. At least, Asian species of Conocephalum (C.
japonicum) do in the same manner." M. Shimamura
Shimamura, M., Yamaguchi, T. & Deguchi, H. 2008.
Airborne sperm of Conocephalum conicum (Conocephalaceae). J. Plant
Res. 121: 69-71.
