Entry requirements

Completed courses worth 60 credits in biology including 1) The Evolution and Diversity of Organisms (15 credits, course completed), Molecular Biology and Genetics (10 credits, course completed), and the courses Cell Biology (15 credits, course taken) and Physiology (15 credits, course taken), or 2) Biology A: Patterns and Processes (22.5 credits, course completed), or Biology A: Patterns, Processes and Science Education (22.5 credits, course completed), and the courses Cell Biology (15 credits, course taken) and Physiology (15 credits, course taken).

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, the student should be able to:

* Give examples of several evolutionary innovations essential for the terrestrial plants possibilities to establish and diversify in different environments

* Account for fundamental physiological/functional, genetic/developmental and phylogenetic/biodiversity aspects of these innovations

* Describe how we, from different perspectives, can illustrate and contribute to a more general understanding of the origin of evolutionary innovations and their underlying genotypic and phenotypic mechanisms

* Describe

- fundamental aspects regarding phylogenetic relationships, morphology, anatomy and physiology of plants

- the principles behind historical analysis of relationships and character evolution

- molecular mechanisms behind important morphological and physiological innovations

- the principles of inference for evolutionary mechanisms based on genomic variation

- the principles for analysis of DNA sequences and gene expression

* Independently make use of phylogenetic trees to describe evolutionary patterns and analyse evolutionary causalities

* Perform and show practical skills in microscopy and genetic analysis

* Discuss and communicate principles, problems and research results for questions within the framework of the contents of the course

Content

During evolution, different morphological, structural and physiological innovations have had central importance for the possibility of plants to establish and diversify in different environments. The course focuses on some of these innovations, for example the origin of vascular tissue and flowers and how different plants adapt to their environment. The course provides a deep understanding of these evolutionary innovations from different perspectives. The subparts include:

• Physiological/functional aspects of the evolutionary innovations covered by the course
• Genetic-developmental biological aspects of evolutionary innovations covered by the course
• Phylogenetic-biodiversity aspects of evolutionary innovations covered by the course
• Project work: in connection to one of the involved research disciplines, and related to one or more of the learning outcomes, a practical or literature-based independent project is carried out.

Instruction

The teaching consists of lectures, seminars, project work, study visits, and laboratory sessions. Participation in seminars, laboratory sessions, and project work are compulsory.

Assessment

Parts of the course: Theory 8 credits, projects 3 credits, laboratory sessions 4 credits.

The theory part is examined by written exams, written and oral presentations of parts with PBL character. The project work is examined through a written and an oral presentation including peer-review on another project. Laboratory sessions and seminars require active participation.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the disability coordinator of the university.