Laboratory includes one weekend field trip, laboratory and greenhouse experiments, and an introduction to ecological problem solving. Van Volkenburgh Laboratory experiments on the growth, nutrition, and metabolism of plants. Review of the techniques used in cellular and molecular biology such as tissue culture, cell fractionation, nucleic acid characterization, genetic engineering, and genome mapping. Comai Covers genetic aspects specific to plants and algae, including chromosome structure, genome mapping, transposon biology, genes for floral and vegetative development, genetic engineering, ploidy levels, and cytoplasmic genetics. Derivation of morphological structures and basis for current classification schemes examined using living and fossil organisms.
Laboratories emphasize live plants native to the Pacific Northwest.
Three required weekend field trips. NW Cattolico, Waaland Study of major algal groups emphasizing form, function, reproduction, and distribution. Topics include evolution, phylogeny, and classification. Economically useful and ecologically important algae emphasized. Intertidal, subtidal, geographical, and seasonal distribution of marine algae.