"BIODIVERSITY OF TROPICAL PLANTS"

Instructors: P.B. Tomlinson, National Tropical Botanical Garden
W.L. Stern, University of Florida, Emeritus
Possible garduate teaching fellow

Graduate level course: Accreditation from Harvard Summer School or some other institution.
Enrollment: 12 maximum
Time: 4 weeks c. June 12 - July 8, 2005
Facilities: The Kampong of the National Tropical Botanical Garden, Coconut Grove, Florida
Prerequisites: Preferred introductory Botany at the undergraduate college level.
Selection: To be based on the prior experience of the student and the suitability of the course for graduate advancement.
Course objectives: The course is directed toward students already enrolled or about to be enrolled in a graduate program and will introduce the diversity of tropical plant types. Study will be based on the living collections of The Kampong, supplemented by those at other South Florida institutions (e.g., Fairchild Tropical Garden, Montgomery Botanical Center) and on plants in natural environments (e.g., Biscayne Bay, Everglades National Park and the Florida Keys). This is an enormous teaching resource of some 10,000 plant species representative of all tropical groups.
Emphasis is on the biological attributes of plants that adapts them to tropical environments. This involves the study of whole plant morphology (e.g., tree architecture) and the anatomical adaptation of plants to contrasted tropical ecosystems (e.g., mangroves versus seagrasses). Further study emphasizes tropical plants of distinctive habit and habitat (e.g., palms, cycads, epiphytes, climbing plants). This information is presented in a systematic context, but the objectives are not primarily systematic.
The work involves some laboratory and classroom demonstration together with frequent outdoor presentations and excursions. The final week of the course requires each student to prepare and present an original individual research project leading to a written and graded report.
The course is designed to develop an approach to the study of plants that will broaden general biological understanding of plant diversity and facilitate the thesis research of graduate students.
P. Barry Tomlinson
Crum Professor of Tropical Botany
National Tropical Botanical Garden
May 2004