Bi6570 Plant microevolution, speciation and taxonomy

Faculty of Science
autumn 2021
Extent and Intensity
3/0/0. 3 credit(s) (fasci plus compl plus > 4). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
prof. RNDr. Petr Bureš, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Petr Šmarda, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. František Zedek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. RNDr. Petr Bureš, Ph.D.
Department of Botany and Zoology – Biology Section – Faculty of Science
Contact Person: Mgr. Petr Šmarda, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Botany and Zoology – Biology Section – Faculty of Science
Timetable
Wed 14:00–16:50 D31/238
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
At the end of the course, students will understand how the unique features of plants affect plant evolution. Students will adopt the basics of contemporary evolutionary thinking and, consequently, they will be able to assess seemingly self-evident phenomena of plant biology through the new optics.
Learning outcomes
Students will: • - understand the essence of the fundamental evolutionary mechanisms (natural selection and genetic drift) - learn how natural selection and genetic drift affect plant biology and ecology - understand mechanisms of plant speciation - be able to interpret plant traits on the level of genes, individuals, populations and species in the evolutionary context - be able to apply the aquired knowledge in their own research and formulate new evolutionary hypotheses
Syllabus
  • The discussed mechanisms and principles also apply for algae and fungi.
  • • 1. Diversity of life, biological evolution, (neo)darwinism, natural selection, genetic drift, the selfish gene. Evolutionary significant features of plants that differentiate them from animals (e.g., modular and indetermined growth, dormancy, seed bank, different distribution along fast-slow continuum axes).
  • • 2. Nature is continuous and its fuzzy boundaries contrast with a human tendency to think in categories. Difficulties with species concepts. What is a species? Taxonomic species vs Evolutionary species and their role in species concepts. Species in plant evolution.
  • • 3. Plant speciation. Prezygotic/prepollination and postzygotic/postpollination reproductive barriers. Bateson–Dobzhansky–Muller model (BDM).
  • • 4.-5. Hybrid speciation - homoploid and polyploid. The role of hybridization in plant speciation, its mechanisms and incidence in plants.
  • • 6. Plant breeding systems and their evolutionary consequences. Sexual and asexual reproduction and their pros and cons in small and large evolutionary scales.
  • • 7. Somatic mutations - the impact of intraindividual evolution of cell lines on plant microhabitat adaptations and evolution in general. Mechanisms of intraindividual evolution (transposon mutagenesis, mitotic cross-over etc.). Somatic mutations in breeding and agriculture. •
  • • 8. Life history and reproductive strategies of plants in evolutionary consequences. The effects of plant longevity, rate of reproduction, dormancy, seed bank etc. on plant demography and evolution.
  • • 9. Evolution of genome size and genomic GC content in plants (variability range in plants, their extremes, ecological and evolutionary consequences, nucleotype effect, intraspecific variation)
  • • 10. Classification of organisms - taxonomy (what it is about, relations to other disciplines, taxonomical ranks)
  • • 11. Species – the basic taxonomical category (botanical species concept, examples of species origin via different meachanisms in Czech flora)
  • • 12. Intraspecific taxa (subspecies, variety, form) and examples of their use in Czech flora
  • • 13. Taxonomical characters (morfology, molecular determination of morphological characters, taxonomical value of a character, examples of important taxonomic characters in Czech flora)
  • • 14. Nomenclature 1 – how plant names are formed (principles of names formation, priority principle, decsription of new taxon, typification)
  • • 15. Nomenclature 2 – how to correctly handle plant names (homonymy, horizontal and vertical names changes, names combination, synonymy)
  • • 16. Sources of taxonomical information – where to look for and why
  • • 17. Basics of cladistics and phylogenetics (phylogenetic princliples and terms, phylogenetic classification, phylocode)
Literature
  • ZRZAVÝ, Jan, Hynek BURDA, David STORCH, Sabine BEGALL and Stanislav MIHULKA. Jak se dělá evoluce : labyrintem evoluční biologie. Vydání čtvrté, v české. Praha: Dokořán, 2017, 479 stran. ISBN 9788025720790. info
  • FLEGR, Jaroslav. Evoluční biologie. 2., oprav. a rozšíř. vyd. Praha: Academia, 2009, 569 s. ISBN 9788020017673. info
  • DAWKINS, Richard. The selfish gene. 30th anniversary ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006, xxiii, 360. ISBN 0199291152. info
  • SILVERTOWN, Jonathan W. and Deborah CHARLESWORTH. Introduction to plant population biology. 4th ed. Oxford: Blackwell Science, 2001, viii, 347. ISBN 063204991X. info
  • On the origin of species by means of natural selectionor, The Preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. Edited by Charles Darwin. London: Electric Book Co., 2001, 419 p. ISBN 1901843491. info
  • BRIGGS, D. and S. M. WALTERS. Proměnlivost a evoluce rostlin (Plant variation and evolution). 3rd ed. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého, 2001, 531 pp. ISBN 80-244-0186-X. info
  • DAWKINS, Richard. The extended phenotype : the long reach of the gene. Edited by D. C. Dennett. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, viii, 313. ISBN 0192880519. info
  • Natural hybridization and evolution. Edited by Michael L. Arnold. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, xiii, 215. ISBN 0195099753. info
  • NIKLAS, Karl J. The Evolutionary Biology of Plants. The University of Chicago Press, 1997, 470 pp. ISBN 0-226-58083-0. info
Teaching methods
Lectures using powerpoint presentations as a guidline. The goal is to understand the core of the problem based on illustrative examples, not to memorize lists of rules and terms. Study materials include both research and review articles that are relevant to themes discussed.
Assessment methods
oral examination
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2016, Spring 2017, spring 2018, Spring 2019, Autumn 2019, Autumn 2020, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2023, Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (autumn 2021, recent)
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