Introduction to the morphology, development, physiology, reproduction, and importance of the fungi, including the isolation and laboratory manipulation of various species. Introduction to the fundamental concepts of plant physiology, including plant-water relations, mineral nutrition, intermediary metabolism, and morphogenesis. The laboratory includes instrumentation and techniques useful in assessing plant growth and development with special emphasis on the process of scientific investigation and data collection. Examples of adaptive morphology in flowering plants, chosen by class members from a list of possible topics and treated in seminar format. Team research projects, involving work with primary literature, oral presentations, and written reports.
Laboratory includes a wide variety of modern molecular biology techniques.
CHEM 260 and 261 are recommended. Also listed as ZOOL 351. Laboratory consists entirely of experiments dealing with the cloning and expression of recombinant DNA in lambda virus and plasmid pBR325 in E.coli. An opportunity to pursue independent research in selected botanical or microbiological fields. May be repeated.