Evolution of Green Plants
EEB 280 (3 cr, new #3320)
EEB 280W (W, 4 cr, new #3320W)
EEB 380 (graduate, 3 cr, new #3220)
Spring 2008
Lectures: T/TH 12:30-13:45 PM
Lectures are in Atwater 001
Download a general course Syllabus (requires password)
Download EEB280W instructions (requires password)
To lab home page.
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 Associate Professor
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
office: 300 Pharmacy/Biology Building
voice: +1 860-486-5290
email: bernard.goffinet@uconn.edu
Textbook and readings
There is no official text book. Instead, you will be assigned readings from the primary literature to go with the lectures.
Schedule
Notes: downloads require password; best viewed in Adobe Reader (some problems with the MAC "Preview" program).
Date | Topic | Assignment | Prof. |
---|---|---|---|
Tu 22 Jan | Introduction to course; importance of a land flora; paleoclimate | Assignment #1 (due 07 Feb) |
LL |
Th 24 Jan | Aquatic green algal diversity, phylogeny, and photosynthetic physiology | Reading: Chapters 1&2 in Graham (1993) Origin of Land Plants -- provided in class at 1st meeting | LL |
Tu 29 Jan | Land plant lineage: history and diversity | Reading: McCourt et al. 2004 Optional Reading: Overview of CCM in algae |
LL |
Th 31 Jan | Algal and land plant life cycles | Assignment #2 (due 12 Feb) Reading: Graham et al. 2000 |
LL |
Tu 05 Feb | Phylogeny of green plants (phylogeny, tree features, characters, homology, homoplasy, etc.) | GO VOTE! |
LL |
Th 07 Feb | Continued. Thanks to Dr. G for covering while I nursed a broken toe. If you have questions about this lecture feel free to ask. | Assignment #1 due at start of class Reading: |
LL |
Tu 12 Feb | Groups present results of Assignment #2 | Assignment #2 due | |
Th 14 Feb | Land plant physiology (carbon acquisition in an oxygen-rich world) | Reading: Sage 2004 (some of this is too detailed but it presents a good summary) | LL |
Tu 19 Feb | Land plant physiology (desiccation tolerance) Dr. Lewis' Exam Hints |
Reading: Alpert 2000 | LL |
Th 21 Feb | Embryophyte past and present diversity | Reading: Taylor et al. 2005 | BG |
Tu 26 Feb | Fossilization | Reading: Graham et al. 2004 | BG |
Th 28 Feb | timing the transition to land | Reading: Heckman et al. 2001 | BG |
Tu 04 Mar | Phylogeny of land plants | Reading: Qiu et al. 2006 | BG |
Th 06 Mar | character evolution: stomata | Reading: catch up with previous papers, and then enjoy the break | BG |
Tu 11 Mar | SPRING BREAK | ||
Th 13 Mar | SPRING BREAK | ||
Tu 18 Mar | Midterm Exam (through 04 March material) | ANSWER KEY, PART A | |
Th 20 Mar | Evolution of characters: stomata and conducting cells (part I) | Reading: in preparation of next week: Edwards 2003 | BG |
Tu 25 Mar | Evolution of characters: conducting cells | Reading: Make sure you read Edwards2003 | BG |
Th 27 Mar | Further innovations in land plants I sent out an email announcing that Part B of the midterm will be repeated next Thursday. Any questions? Contact BG |
Reading: Kenrick 2004 and Beerling et al. 2004; Kenrick provides a summary and commentary of Beerling et al. | BG |
Tu 01 Apr | Setting the stage for the evolution of seeds: heterospory | Reading: None this week | BG |
Th 03 Apr | A primer on the developmental tool kit | Reading: Bowman et al. 2007 | BG |
Tu 08 Apr | Plant-fungi interactions | Reading: Selosse & LeTacon 1998 | BG |
Th 10 Apr | Genome evolution 1 | Reading: Turmel et al. 2007 | LL |
Tu 15 Apr | Genome evolution 2 | Reading: Bungard 2004 | LL |
Th 17 Apr | 380 students meet with Dr. Turmel during class in Bamford Conference Room, TLS. EEB 280 students can attend the EEB 380 meeting, but you must go to the EEB Seminar, 4 PM, BPB 130. "Probing the evolution of green algae using a chloroplast genomics approach" Dr. Monique Turmel (Univ. Laval) |
Assignment #3: All students attend the seminar and write short summary; | |
Tu 22 Apr | Land plants return to water and algae move to land (again) | Reading : Schneider & Pryer 2002 | LL |
Th 24 Apr | Graduate student presentations: Karolina's Significance of Fossil Gymnosperms and Juan Carlos' Development and Origin of the flower |
Assignment #3 due |
|
Tu 29 Apr | Graduate student presentations: Steven's (modified 4/30) Stomatal Density and Michael's evolution of insect pollination |
||
Th 01 May | Graduate student presentations: Molly and Lori | ||
Tu 06 May | Final Exam 3:30-5:30 PM | 125 points (100 new material, 25 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.