Plant Biology

Plant Biology is a Natural Science class taught by Larry Winship.

Course Description
From tiny seeds plants grow to enormous size, capturing and transforming energy and nutrients, avoiding predation and disease, finding mates and adapting to environmental extremes. We share a common evolutionary and biochemical heritage with plants and are utterly dependent on plant growth for our survival. Our species have the same basic environmental "problems" to solve, yet plants stand upright with wood instead of bones, they move with water pressure instead of muscles and they "feed" with roots instead of teeth and stomach! In this course we will explore the structures, life histories, and chemical mechanisms that allow plants to grow and adapt to an incredible variety of habitats. Based upon field and lab observations, our work in this course will emphasize whole plant biology in ecological context. The main work for the course will be a series of field and lab investigations, including detailed research paper write-ups.