NNMK14006U Plant animal interactions. An evolutionary approach.

Volume 2015/2016
Content

A survey of the role of plant-animal interactions in the evolution of biodiversity, either by antagonistic means, including herbivory and seed predation, and their subsequent physiological and chemical arms race, or mutualistic ones, including pollination, seed dispersal and plant protection.

The course will cover the following subjects from an evolutionary approach and use examples from recent and ongoing research:

  • Antagonistic and mutualistic types of plant-animal interactions.
  • Generalisation vs. specialization.
  • Evolutionary approaches to study plant-animal interaction.
  • Herbivory and grazing from both plants and animals perspective.
  • Pollination ecology of for example orchids
  • Attractants and rewards.
  • Seed predation and dispersal.
  • Plant protection for example by ants.
  • Arms race and co-evolution for example the fig-wasp mutualism.
  • Physical and chemical plant defences.
  • Evolution and lead discovery of medicinal plants
  • Plant-plant and other interactions for example parasitic mistletoes.
  • Grazer–algae interactions in the marine environment
  • Community level interactions including plants as habitat and food webs.
Learning Outcome

Learning outcomes:

After completion of the course students will have gained:

Competences:

  • Understand the role of plant-animal interactions in the evolution of biodiversity.
  • Evaluate the evolutionary and ecological impact of plant-animal interactions.
  • Discuss the correlation between plant chemical defense, evolution, and lead discovery of medicinal plants.
  • Present her/his own work (in oral and written form) at a level approaching the scientific standard.
  • Extract, present and critically discuss in detail the results of a scientific article about plant-animal interactions
  • Identify and explain strengths and weaknesses in scientific articles and suggest further enquiries.
  • Outline future research.

Skills:

  • Identify and classify types of plant-animal interaction.
  • Describe examples of plant-animal interactions.

Knowledge:

  • Theory and examples of plant animal interactions in an evolutionary perspective including subjects described in the course content.
  • Examples of recent and ongoing research on plant-animal interactions using an evolutionary approach.
  • Basic knowledge of evolutionary approaches to study plant-animal interaction.
Literature

Herrera and Pellmyr (2002). Plant-Animal Interactions. An Evolutionary Approach. Blackwell Publishing. 312 pages. 

Supplemented by primary literature.

Basic understanding of plant biology and evolutionary biology recommended, for instance obtained by following the courses "Diversity of the organisms", "Origins", and "Evolutionary biology", recommended.
Each block of 3-4 hours lectures will present general topics from the book supplemented by specific examples, primarily taken from active research themes of the teachers, and small in class exercises, both hands on activities, visits to the gardens, and literature based discussions.
Students will choose a plant-animal interaction and write an individual essay in the form of a scientific article (in review form) using primary literature.
Students will prepare a 15 min presentation to a scientific or popular audience (after their own choice) of their essay individually or groups (given the sum of time for presentations). A lecture on presentation techniques will be given as inspiration.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Colloquia
  • 8
  • Exam
  • 2
  • Preparation
  • 74
  • Project work
  • 50
  • Seminar
  • 72
  • Total
  • 206
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Portfolio
Combination of two written multiple choice midterm exams, an individual 5-page essay, and oral presentations and discussions of essays. The final grade is based on the grades in the four subparts, irrespective of whether individual subparts are passed or not.
• 60 minutes written midterm exam I (20%)
• 60 minutes written midterm exam II (20%)
• 5-page essay (40%)
• 15 min presentation (20%)
Aid
Written aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Several internal examiners.
Re-exam

Part-examinations of the first exam can be reused in the re-examination - also in different exam-periods. New part-examinations must be passed for all the part-examinations that were not passed in the original exam.

Criteria for exam assesment

In accordance with the learning outcomes.