Back to: Carlos Biology SCSU

BIO 514 Urban Botany

Spring 2007

Carlos R. Ramirez, Ph. D.

Jennings Hall 226 Tel: 2-6217

E-Mail: ramirezc1@southernct.edu

Meeting Time: Tuesday 5:00-7:30 pm JE 232

Room: JE 232

Tentative Textbook:

Urban Forestry: Planning and Managing Urban Spaces. Robert W. Miller.  1997.  Prentice Hall.  Upper Saddle River, CA.

Course Description: Urban Botany is a course that introduces graduate and upper level undergraduate students to the relationship of plants in urban environments.  The issue of climate change and the introduction of exotic invasive species is an integral part of this course.  Basic ecological concepts will be applied to populations and communities of plants, their interactions with themselves, other organisms and with the environment will allow us to understand how they adapt to human-altered or human-made ecosystems.  Case studies from will be analyzed to illustrate topics. 3 credits.

Modes of Instruction:  Students attend a three-hour lecture once each week to learn theory and basic concepts of Urban Botany.  Each student will read, present and lead s discussion on a chosen journal article dealing with plants in urban environments. 

Students with Special Needs:  Students that have special needs must register with the Disabilities office.  Once your needs are identified and established, please tell me and I will do everything I can do to help you.

Course Requirements / Learning Outcomes: Students that complete Urban Botany with a grade of “B” or better will likely be able to

• indicate the importance of plants to the urban environment and to humanity
• understand the importance of
• understand the latest accomplishments in the plant sciences
• be familiar with the scientific literature dealing with plant sciences
• understand the behavior, growth, reproduction and adaptation of plants
• be able to design a study dealing with plants found in cities

Attendance policy:

Students are expected to attend all sessions during the semester.

Make Up Work: any missed work may only be made up if:

• Permission to make up the work from the appropriate Dean.
• Arrangement made with the instructor at least two days prior to the examination.
• Sickness verified by a written medical excuse from an MD.

Grading Policies: The Final Grade will be based on student presentation (25%), participation (25%) and attendance (30%), and Term Paper (20%).

Student Presentation: each student will chose a journal article no older than ten years from any of the leading scientific journals on Plant Sciences.  A copy of the abstract has to be submitted to me at last four days before the presentation to make it available for the entire class.  This could be e-mailed to me or distributed in class (the week before).  An oral presentation (20 minutes) highlighting the most important points and a critique of the study and a follow up discussion will be done during the first half of the session.  The presentation may include a power point or transparency component to illustrate the contents of the article chosen.

Examples of journals that include articles, reviews, and invited papers dealing with Urban Botany:

American Journal of Botany

The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society

Applied Ecology and Environmental Research

Journal of Applied Ecology

Journal of Arboriculture

Conservation Biology

Selected Bibliography

Applleton, B., J. Koci, S. French, M. Lestyan, and R. Harris.  2003.  Mychorrhyzal fungi inoculation of established street trees.  Jurnal of Arboriculture 29(2): 107-110.

Bartness, Mark, D. P. J. Ewanchik, and B. R. Silliman.  2005.  Anthropogenic modification of New England salt marsh landscape.  Preceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 99(3): 1395-1398.

Karlik, J. F. and A. M. Winer.  1999.  Comparison of calculated and measured leaf masses of urban trees.  Ecological Applications 9(4): 1168-1176.

Kennedy, C. W. and J. F. Bruno.  2000.  Restriction of the upper distribution of New England cobble beach plants by wave-related disturbance.  Journal of Ecology 88:856-868.

Putz, F. E., M. Holdnak, and M. Niederhofer.  1999.  Controlling invasive exotics: a tallow tree replacement program campaign in Florida.  Journal of Arboriculture 25(2): 99-101.

Robinson, G. R. and S. N. Huckel. 1993.  Forest restoration on a closed landfill: rapid addition of new species by bird dispersal.  Conservation Biology 7(2): 271-278.

Tentative Lecture Schedule