PLANT-ANIMAL INTERACTIONS

BIOL 442/542   SPRING 2009



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General Information

Course Information - Syllabus

Lecture Schedule (Revised 12 January 2009)

SAMPLE EXAM 1

Schedule, Lecture Notes and Readings

Monday          12 January     Introduction
Wednesday     14 January     Lecture 1 - Ecology and Evolution of Plant-Animal Interactions
                                             large, color version of Lecture 1

Monday          19 January     Martin Luther King Day Holiday - NO CLASSES
Wednesday     21 January     Lecture 2 - Coevolution: Definitions and Detection
                                             large, color version of Lecture 2

Monday          26 January     Discussion 1 - Floral Evolution and the Structure of a Scientific Paper

                        Galen, C. 1996. Rates of floral evolution: adaptation to bumblebee pollination in an alpine wildflower, Polemonium viscosum.
                                            Evolution 50:120-125.
                                                                        Questions for Discussion on this paper

Wednesday     28 January     Lecture 3 - Herbivory I: How do herbivores choose their food? Herbivory by insects and vertebrates
                                             Large, color version of lecture 3

Monday          2 February     Discussion II - How do herbivores choose their food?
                                             Dearing, M.D., A.M. Mangione, and W.H. Karasov. 2000. Diet breadth of mammalian
                                                    herbivores: nutrient vs. detoxification constraints. Oecologia 123:397-405.
                                              Questions for small-group discussion

Wednesday     4 February     Lecture 4 - Herbivory II: How do plants defend themselves against herbivores?
                                                        Plant anatomy and secondary chemistry
                                             Large, color version of lecture 4

Monday          9 February     Discussion III - How do plants defend themselves against herbivory?
                                             Young, T.P., and B.D. Okello. 1998. Relaxation of an induced defense after exclusion
                                                    of herbivores: spines on Acacia drepanolobium. Oecologia 115:508-513.
                                              Questions for small-group discussion

          Wednesday    11 February    Lecture 5 - Herbivory III: Plant defense theory (assign Paper 1)
                                                         
Large, color version of lecture 5

          Monday         16 February    President's Day Holiday - NO CLASSES
          Wednesday    18 February    Lecture 6 - Herbivory IV: Role of herbivory in structuring plant populations and communities
                                                          Large, color version of lecture 6
<>          (Paper 1 due)                                           

Monday         23 February    Discussion IV - Plant defense and multiple interactions
                                             Hamilton, E.W. III, and D.A. Frank. 2001. Can plants stimulate soil microbes and their own
                                                    nutrient supply? Evidence from a grazing tolerant grass. Ecology 82:2397-2402.
                                              Questions for small-group discussion

MATERIAL FOR EXAM 1 ENDS HERE
Sample Exam 1

          Wednesday    25 February    EXAM I - in class (hand out take-home portion)

          Monday         2 March         Lecture 7 - Ant-Plant and Multitrophic Interactions (Take-home exam due)                                                             
                                                           
Large, color version of lecture 7

Wednesday    4 March         Discussion V - Ant-Plant Interactions (2 short papers on different types of interactions)
                                             Howard, J.J. 2001. Costs of trail construction and maintenance in the leaf-cutting ant
                                                 Atta columbica. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 49:348-356.
                                             Sagers, C.L., S.M. Ginger, and R.D. Evans. 2000. Carbon and nitrogen isotopes trace nutrient
                                                 exchange in an ant-plant mutualism. Oecologia 123:582-586.

Monday          9 March        Lecture 8 - Frugivory and Seed Dispersal
                                                 Large, color version of lecture 8

       Wednesday     11 March        Discussion VI - Ecology of Frugivory and Seed Dispersal                
                                                         van Ommeren, R.J., and T.G. Whitham. 2002. Changes in interactions between juniper and mistletoe
                       mediated by shared avian frugivores: parasitism to potential mutualism. Oecologia 130: 281-288.
                                                        Questions for discussion

          Monday        16 March        Lecture 9 - Ecological and Genetic Consequences of Seed Dispersal
                                                        Large, color version of lecture 9

          Wednesday   18 March       Discussion VII - Ecological-Genetic Consequences of Seed Dispersal
                                                        Smith, J.F. 2001. High species diversity in fleshy-fruited tropical understory plants. American
                                                            Naturalist 157:646-653.
                                                          Questions for discussion 

                                                                                    (Final Paper Topics Due)

       23-28 March                Spring Break - NO CLASSES

Monday        30 March       Lecture 10 - Pollination I: The Plant Perspective - Color version
Wednesday     1 April         Discussion VIII - Pollination I: The Plant Perspective
                                           Pauw, A., J. Stofberg, and R.J. Waterman. 2009. Flies and flowers in Darwin's race. Evolution
                                              63: 268-279.
                                           Questions for discussion

Monday          6 April          Lecture 11 - Pollination II: Animal Foraging Behavior - Color version
Wednesday     8 April          Discussion IX - Pollination by Animals: Animal Foraging Behavior
                                            Mitchell, R.J., J.D. Karron, K.G. Holmquist, and J.M. Bell. 2004. The influence of Mimulus ringens
                                              floral display size on pollintor visitation patterns. Functional Ecology 18:116-124.
                                           Questions for discussion

Monday        13 April          Lecture 12 - Pollination III: Plant Mating Systems
Wednesday   15 April          Discussion X - Pollination III: Plant Breeding Systems
                                            Motten, A.F., and J.L. Stone. 2000. Heritability of stigma position and the effect of stigma-anter
                                              separation on outcrossing in a predominantly self-fertilizing weed, Datura stramonium (Solanaceae)
                                              American Journal of Botany 87: 339-347.
                                             Questions for discussion

Monday        20 April          Lecture 13 - Pollination IV: Conservation of Plant-Pollinator Interactions
Wednesday   22 April          EXAM II - in class (hand out take-home portion)

Monday        27 April          Graduate Student Final Paper Presentations (take-home exam due)
Wednesday   29 April          Graduate Student Final Paper Presentations

Monday         4 May            Final Papers Due

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Literature Links
This page has links to journals pertinent to the course; some including searchable
databases, abstracts, and full-text downloads.

 

Links to Other Botanical Sites

University of Wisconsin Herbarium and Systematics Collection
This site has Class, Subclass, Order and Family descriptions
and many photos of genera within each family

California Academy of Sciences Photo Collection - Calfornia Plants
This site is searchable by common and scientific names

Botanical Society of America
Information about the Society, electronic journal (American Journal of Botany),
and links to many botanical sites

Discover Life - Polistes Society
This site has online keys and other resources for identification

Tree of Life Project
The project assembles the phylogenetic relationships of all living things into a single Tree of Life

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