00074 - General Botany

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will acquire the basic concepts of plant biology such us the cellular organization of the plants and the histology, anatomy and morphology of the seed plants. Emphasis will be given to plant development, water balance and photosynthetic process and in plant relationships with the environment. The student will also be able to describe and recognize the anatomical structures of vascular plants and to carry out a microscope preparation from fresh plant.

Course contents

The student that follows the course of General Botany owns non-homogeneous cultural bases deriving from the high school. For this reason, the first part of the course is focused on basic aspects of biology and only later, the course enters into the core of the topic.

Theoretical lessons (36 hours)

1) Didactic unit: introduction (7 hours)

a) An introduction to Botany: short history of Botany. Autotrophy and heterotrophy. Importance of the plant in the natural ecosystem and for the man.The relationships between the pants and the other organisms (symbiosis, parastism, saprotrofism). Hints about evolutionary theory (3 hours).

b) Classification of living organisms. Hints about Archaebacteria and Eubacteria, Protists with reference to Algae, Fungi and Plants (Bryophytes, Pteridophytes and Spermatophytes) (2 hours)

c) Composition of living matter: water, inorganic substances and the main organic molecules of biological interest (2 hours).

Knowledge gained in didactic unit 1

The biological basis for course comprehension

2) Didactic unit: cytology (7 hours)

a) The cell theory. Comparison among procariotic and eukaryotic plant and animal cells. The vegetal cell wall: structure, form, dimension and chemical composition. Primary and secondary wall. Secondary modification of the wall. Biological membrane unit. Plastids: structure, function and localization of green (chloroplasts), colorless (leucoplasts) and colored (chromoplasts) plastids. Hints about the nucleus and the other organelles (5hours).

b) Mitosis  (2 hours)

c) Fungal cellular organization (1 hour)

Knowledge gained in didactic unit 2

Plant cell function and structure.

Differences between plant, fungal and animal cells and prokaryotic cells.

3) Didactic unit: histology (7 hours)

The most important plant tissues: meristematic, covering, conductive, parenchymatic, supporting and secretory tissues. Primary and secondary tissues.

Knowledge gained in didactic unit 3

Structure of corm plants, tissue functions and cellular structure.

4) Didactic unit: anatomy (10 hours)

a) Thallus and corm (1 hour).

b) Root: function, morphology and anatomy; root apex, primary and secondary structure; formation of secondary roots; root modifications. The mycorrhizas (3 hours).

c) Stem: function, morphology and anatomy; stem apex, primary and secondary structure. Stem modifications and in particular: bulbs, rhizomes, tubers morphology and function (3 hours).

d) Leaf: function, morphology and anatomy; unifacial, bifacial and equifacial leaves; simple and compound leaves; specialized leaves (3 hours).

Knowledge gained in didactic unit 4

Structure, function of the organs of the seed plants and in particular of the angiosperms having agronomic interest.

5) Didactic unit: physiology (6 hours)

a) Photosynthesis. The nature of light, the role of pigments. The light and the dark phases. Hints about the C4 metabolism and crassulacean acid metabolism (3 hours).

b) Hints on the plant hormones. Role of auxins, cytokinins, gibberellins, ethylene, and abscisic acid. Hint on tropisms (1 hour).

c) Water uptake and translocation, foliar evaporation and transpiration, stomatal role. Assimilate transport (2 hours).

Knowledge gained in didactic unit 5

Plant water balance and photosynthetic process; this will allow the comprehension of the role of autotrophic organisms as primary producers in the ecosystem.

Practical/applicative lessons (24 hours)

The practical/applicative lessons consist

a) of reviewing previous lessons with educational videos (4 hours).

b) of compiling written questionnaires on the topics discussed in the previous lessons (5 hours).

c) Optic microscope: its components, preparation and observation techniques of vegetal tissues. Observation hand-made thin sections obtained from fresh plants mounted in water. In particular the students will observe: chloroplasts, chromoplasts, ossalate crystals, the leaf structure, the corm and root primary and secondary structures of gimnosperms and angiosperms (13 hours).

d) specialistic seminars (2 hours).

Modifica Readings/Bibliography

Readings/Bibliography

The slides presented at lesson will be available in electronic format in internet. The students can obtain them by Insegnamenti on line  (iol):https://iol.unibo.it/  

The following test are recommended:

Mauseth J.D., Botanica Fondamenti di biologia delle piante Idelson-Gnocchi (2020 IV ed.)

Pasqua G., Abbate G., Forni C., Botanica generale e diversità vegetale. (2019 VI ed.)

Pancaldi et al. Fondamenti di Botanica generale. Teoria e pratica, McGraw-Hill (2019 II ed.)

Speranza A. & Calzoni G., Struttura delle Piante in Immagini, Zanichelli

For deepening:

Smith et al. Biologia delle piante. Evoluzione, Sviluppo. Metabolismo, 2011, Zanichelli

Teaching methods

The teacher stimulates the students with questions in order to understand their basic level of preparation and to solicit their interest and possible clarifying questions. The student general preparation will also assessed by simple written questionnaires. Moreover, students themselves must prepare the material to be observed at the microscope. Students must also draw an outline that will testify the comprehension of the observed structure.

Assessment methods

The assessment o the learning is carried out by a final examination that verifies the acquisition of the due knowledge through a written test that consists in 21 multiple-choice questions and 2 open questions regarding 1) introduction aspects, 2) plant citology, 3) histology, 4) anatomy and 5) physiology. The score ranges from 0 to 1 for each multiple-choice question and from 0 to 5 for the open questions. The final score (0 to 30L) derives from the sum of all the scores. The duration of the examination is 45 minutes. After three written exam failures the student can ask to make an oral examination.

Teaching tools

PC, projector, optical microscopy

Office hours

See the website of Alessandra Zambonelli