Plant Biogeography

Students in Botany 422- Plant Geography tour the Botany Garden and Greenhouses three times throughout the semester to see living plants which demonstrate concepts in biogeography. Students in the course will:

• Understand how features of earth’s rotation, revolution, and
  seasonality, of atmospheric and oceanic currents, and of latitude and elevation drive the
  patterns of vegetation and associated animals seen across the globe today
• Understand the linkage between climate, geology, and geography in determining the major
  biomes of plants and animals across the globe and in causing the remarkable convergence
  in vegetation in different parts of the world despite different floras
• Become familiar with the evolution of earth and of life and its impact on the distribution of
  floras and faunas through time
• Acquire insight into the history and assembly of the North American, and specifically Great
  Lakes, biota from the Cretaceous through the Pleistocene and Holocene
• Develop appreciation for how present accelerated changes in climate, land use, and
  invasive species affect distribution patterns of native flora and fauna