Field Botany for Natural Resource Professionals PBIO 369 - Fall 2012 Catherine A. Paris Elizabeth H. Thompson Department of Plant Biology Department of Plant Biology 308 Jeffords Hall 301 Torrey Hall [email protected] [email protected] Office: 656-0426 Office: 656-9571 Cell: 338-0312 Cell: 373-7597 Meeting Time and Place (08/29-11/07): Wednesday, 8:30 (9:00 most days) – 5:30, Room 100 James M. Jeffords Hall Course Description and Objectives This course, designed for graduate students in the life sciences and natural resources, has five principal objectives: 1) to provide students with the tools needed to identify plants anywhere; 2) to help students hone their observational skills related to plants; 3) to provide students with an intensive, hands-on introduction to the native flora of the Northeast; 4) to provide some of the skills needed to observe and make sense of patterns of plant distribution; and, more specifically, to 5) explore the relationship between substrate and plant distribution. With these general objectives in mind, we expect students to gain the following knowledge and skills: Flora: • Understanding of plant form and associated terminology • Ability to identify plants using the technical literature and appropriate field guides • Ability to recognize plant families common in the Northeast • Ability to recognize a set of species that characterize Vermont’s flora • Ability to prepare a museum-quality plant collection Community Ecology: • Understanding of the ecological and historical factors influencing plant distribution worldwide, regionally, and locally • Ability to discern differences in ecological communities and to describe those in terms of physical features and vegetation • Ability to recognize several natural communities that characterize northern Vermont Substrate: • Basic understanding of the geological history of Vermont as it relates to soil formation and development • Basic understanding of postglacial and recent geomorphological processes • Understanding of how soil texture, moisture, and chemistry influence plant distribution Course Materials Texts: • Magee, D. and H. Ahles. 2007. Flora of the Northeast. University of Massachusetts Press. (Required) • Newcomb, L. 1977. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Little, Brown. (Required) • Thompson, E.H. and E.R. Sorenson. 2000. Wetland, Woodland, Wildland: A Guide to the Natural Communities of Vermont. University Press of New England. (Required) • Zomlefer, W.B. 1994. Flowering Plant Families. University of North Carolina Press [ISBN 0807844705] or • Castner, J. L. 2004. Photographic Atlas of Botany and Guide to Plant Identification. Feline Press [ISBN 0962515000] (Recommended) Equipment: [Plant press (you put this together yourself)], 10X hand lens, mm ruler, waterproof field notebook, pocketknife Exams: A mid-term exam is scheduled for Monday, October 1, 6:30 pm, in Room 100, Jeffords Hall. The final exam will be given on Wednesday, November 7, 1 pm, in Room 100, Jeffords Hall. Plant Collection: An important component of your training in PBIO 369 is the independent collection and identification of a number of native plants. Typically, students present this work as a museum- quality pressed plant collection. The collection is to include herbaceous native plants, in flower or fruit, representing 15 different plant families. Alternatively, it can focus on a family of particular interest or challenge to you (e.g., the sedge family). The specialty family should be represented by at least seven specimens, with the remaining specimens each representing a different family. Specimens must be correctly identified, completely labeled, and attractively mounted. The collection is due on Friday, October 19. In some cases, we are willing to consider an alternative to the plant collection, such as a photographic essay or set of botanical illustrations representing the native flora. Please discuss your ideas with the instructors. Site Presentation: Each student, participating as a member of a small team, will present a site designated by the instructors to the rest of the class. Sites will be located within the boundaries of Camp Johnson National Guard Facility in Colchester. Presentations should be about two hours long, and should touch on important aspects of the geology, soils, and vegetation of the site, as well as land use history, ownership, and pertinent conservation issues. Presentations will be given on the last field day, Wednesday, October 31. Grading Quizzes (app. one per class meeting) 35% Mid-term exam 10% Final exam 15% Plant Collection 20% Site Presentation 20% Tentative Lab Schedule, Fall 2012 PBIO 369, Field Botany for Natural Resource Professionals Times Date Readings*† August 29 9 a.m. - Field Trip: Gleason Brook, Bolton WWW: 1-19, 22-23, 36-39, 58- 5:30 p.m. Natural Communities: Northern Hardwoods 75, 78-103, 129-137 Forest HO: Chapter 1, Brady & Weil Botany Topics: Keying in Newcomb’s HO: Guide to Plant Collecting Substrate Topics: Introduction to soil science Castner pp. 1-58 September 5 9 a.m. - Taxonomic Workshop: orientation to flowering WWW: 138-141 5:30 p.m. plant structure; keying in M&A HO: Liliaceae Field Trip: Gleason Brook, Bolton Castner: xxx-xxx or Natural Communities: Rich Northern Zomlefer: 270-282 Hardwood Forest Substrate Topics: Soil science, cont. 9 a.m. – September 12 Castner: 282-283 or Zomlefer: 5:30 p.m. Taxonomic Workshop: Cyperaceae & 345-350 Juncaceae HO: Sedges Field Trip: Ethan Allen Homestead, Burlington WWW: 237-259, 337-346 Natural Communities: Floodplain Forest; Cattail Marsh Substrate topics: alluvial soils; wetland soils 8:30 a.m. – September 19 WWW: 44-47, 287-292, 309- 6:00 p.m. Field Trip: Bliss Pond Cedar Swamp and 313, 327-336 Chickering Fen, Calais Natural Communities: Rich fen; Northern White Cedar Swamp Substrate topics: organic wetland soils, pH, groundwater 8:30 – 6:00 September 26 WWW: 203-208, 296-298, p.m. Field Trip: Alburg Dunes State Park 318-320 Natural Communities: Black Spruce Swamp; Black Spruce Woodland Bog; Lakeshore Sand Beach Substrate Topics: peat, human disturbances in wetlands; sand beach formation, lakeshore dynamics 6:30 p.m. October 1 (make-ups by arrangement) Midterm Exam October 3 Castner: 59-79 9 a.m. - Taxonomic Workshop: spore-dispersed vascular HO: Ferns of Vermont 5:30 pm plants HO: Phylogeny of the Seedless Field Trip: Smuggler’s Notch, Stowe Vascular Plants Natural Communities: Boreal Talus Woodland, WWW: 119-121, 125-126 Montane Yellow Birch-Red Spruce Forest Times Date Readings*† 9 a.m. - October 10 5:30 p.m Taxonomic Workshop: Asteraceae Castner: 245-249 or Field Trip: Williams’ Woods, Charlotte Zomlefer: 203-211 Natural Communities: Valley Clayplain Forest WWW: 152-154, 174-176 Substrate topics: Postglacial history of the Champlain Basin, clay soils, cation exchange capacity, more on pH October 17 9 a.m - 5:30 Taxonomic Workshop: Poaceae Castner: 284-285 or p.m Field Trip: Niquette Bay State Park Zomlefer: 350-356 Natural Communities: Transition Hardwoods WWW: 24-28; 171-173 Limestone Forest; Mesic Maple Ash Oak Hickory Forest Substrate Topics: Shallow-to-bedrock calcareous soils October 19 Plant collections due October 24 9 a.m - 5:30 Taxonomic Workshop: Families too good to be p.m forgotten WWW: 155-157; 160-162 Field Trip: Rock Point, Burlington Natural Communities: Red Pine Forest; Limestone Bluff Cedar-Pine Forest October 31 8:30 a.m. – Student Presentations WWW: 177-183 5:30 p.m. Field Trip: Camp Johnson, Colchester Natural Communities: Pine-Oak-Heath Sandplain Forest; White Pine-Red Oak-Black Oak Forest Substrate topics: Postglacial history of the Champlain Basin; coarse-textured soils 1-4:00 p.m. November 7 Final Exam Evening, November 10 TBA Good food and music in Jericho! *Readings: WWW = Wetland, Woodland, Wildland Castner = Photographic Atlas Zomlefer = Flowering Plant Families HO = Handout † - Please read the appropriate pages in Castner or Zomlefer as each new family is introduced .