PLBIO 2301

Field Lab in Global Plant Biodiversity and Vegetation

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2015-2016.

An intensive three-week field course in Latin America over winter break (most years taken in Patagonia) studying local vegetation and flora and the relationship of vegetation to climate, geography and geology. In the field, students will receive lectures on the vegetation, learn to identify dominant plants, and undertake a directed set of vegetation transects that record species diversity and ecological parameters. The field course is followed by a 7-week course in the spring semester where each student will write a reflection and give an oral presentation, and students will assemble and analyze field data and as a group write a scientific report. In addition, the students will produce a report on the trip, detailing places visited and illustrating the trip with color images.

When Offered Spring.

Course Attribute (CU-ITL, CU-UGR)

• Understand and be able to interpret the distribution of vegetation in relation to climate and soils. Observe carefully in the field, take precise and easily interpretable field notes, conduct collaborative scientific data collection and analysis. Learn capabilities for the identification of plant species in the field. Learn specific methods of data collection using ecological transects.

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