Welcome to the Botany lab homepage!
Please understand that it might not be updated constantly; if there's nothing I need to add, it won't change.
You are strongly encouraged to FIND LINKS ON THE WEB to additional botany sites if you are having trouble with concepts in the lab or lecture.
For bonus points: There are five additional points available, out of the 90 for the lab. To earn these points, you need to bring in specimens and ID the division (ie, a liverwort, lichen, fern, cycad, etc); I may also give points for judging science fairs, and sometimes for donating blood or your botany texts/lab manuals for the next semester's classes. Bringing in a flower and telling me ovary and perianth positioning can also earn points.
The ninety lab points will consist of two exams, at 30 points each, 4 quizzes at 5 points each (I may make 5 and let you drop one) and a homework assignment on the phylogeny of the plant kingdom, worth ten points.
GRADES ARE COMPLETED, SEE LINK BELOW. CALL ME WITH ANY QUESTIONS.
GRADES
Please read the lab policies below, especially if you have
any complaints about the class/teaching style later in the semester.
CLASS HARASSMENT/DISCRIMINATION POLICY
email: [email protected] or
lab (Ebbole's lab): 862-2502 The lab (room 402) is on the fourth floor of the LF Peterson building. I'm usually at home, which is 695-7062. Please call only after 8 am and before 10 pm, except on exam nights (lab or lecture) at which you can call me at ANY time.
What's up in lab:
Week 1: Read the syllabus, study the microscope lab.
Week 2: Covers labs 2 and most of lab 3 (bacteria, blue-green bacteria, and green algae). Links: Blue-greens , pictures and lots of Blue-green links. Also, here is a link for Green Algae (chlorphyta). 4/2003--The Green Algae link is broken, please try here instead.
Week 3: Quiz over Labs 1, 2, 3. The last 3 specimens in lab 3 will be covered. All of lab 4 will be covered, please read it ahead of time. Lab 4 covers the Euglenophyta, Pyrrophyta, and Chrysophyta. The Euglenophyta link is for a more advanced course, please click on the Introduction to Euglenophyta for useful information. Here's an intro page to the Dinoflagellates, and another for the Golden-Browns.
Week 4: Lab 5 will cover the Brown and Red algae (Phaeophyta and Rhodophyta). Please note the pigments and types of chlorophylls present. I do have a set of lecture notes on the Browns available from a lecture in the fall.
Week 5: Quiz over labs 4 and 5, and at least one question off of lab 6. Lab 6 is over the Bryophytes and life cycles.
Week 6: Lab exam. Please bring the answer sheet from your lab packet with you. If you did poorly on the quizzes--missed more than one question each--it's your responsibility to contact me if you'd like extra assistance studying.
Week 7: Summary over Tissues, stems, cells, etc. from my old botany book. There is also a list of objectives from slides that might be shown to the class during lecture. There's an outline of roots, shoots, and meristems and a very long transcript from the slides about the Plant Primary Body. I also found a very good link for an introduction to stems and tissues, here.
Week 8: We're finally into honest-to-goodness plants! Now that you've covered plant tissues, it's time to actually see how those new tissues are arranged in an advanced plant. The eight stele types in your lecture text are arranged from the most primitive to the most advanced; you'll notice that as the plants are covered, you'll start off with the most primitive steles, and end on the most advanced. The first of the vascular plants are the Fern Allies; Lycopodium, Selaginella, Quillworts, etc. I taught Ferns in the same lab as the Fern Allies. Here's a link to Ferns and Fern Allies, with pictures here. Another link, also including pictures of extinct horsetails and whisk ferns, etc. is here.
Week 9: The Gymnosperms! This section covers the evolution of the seed; previous to this, the sporophyte and gametophyte were usually free-living. In Bryophytes, the sporophyte was dependent and grew on/in the gametophyte. In the gymnosperms, the gametophyte stays INSIDE the original sporophyte. This is a good reference for all the gymnosperms; follow the links in the text for more information. It might be good to use to clarify lecture notes as well as for lab. This link has several pictures of slides and is more basic.
Week 10: The Angiosperms! There are two types of angiosperms, monocots and dicots. Dicots can be woody (like an oak) or herbaceous (like a petunia). This is where the lab over plant tissues becomes important as you see the different arrangements of tissues, of stems/leaves/leaf arrangements, and FLOWERS. Here are some Angiosperm links here, here, and here, which compares Angio- and Gymnosperms as well as giving many pictures and life cycles.
Week 11: Fungi! There are five main types, and they have very interesting, um, private lives. Instead of being referred to as "male" and "female" the fungi can produce both male and female parts. Different fungi have different "types" that can mate. Some are called +/-, others are A/a, and some have 26 different "sexes." This link discusses each of the characteristics of the five fungal types. There's a great page here that discusses fungi and has links to some excellent pictures.
Last Week: Bring your answer sheet, and be prepared to fill out student evaluations! Have a GREAT summer!!!
If I attend lecture, I usually take some notes. These will be available for students to look at during lab time; if you let me know when you need them, I can usually meet to unlock the lab and lend them to you to copy. These are only available if I attended lecture on that day and if I decided to take notes, and I make no claims as to their completeness or accuracy; however, they can fill in any gaps you might have, or help you organize your own notes. I used to scan them in on the web, but that's a time-consuming pain in the butt, so you're stuck with the hard copy. If there's any conflict between my notes and yours, check with me before you assume mine are correct--I is human and I make mistooks.