Field Botany

Subject 606-310 (2009)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2009. Search for this in the current handbook

Credit Points: 12.50
Level: 3 (Undergraduate)
Dates & Locations:

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

January, - Taught on campus.
Pre-teaching Period Start not applicable
Teaching Period not applicable
Assessment Period End not applicable
Last date to Self-Enrol not applicable
Census Date not applicable
Last date to Withdraw without fail not applicable

Lectures, practical work and fieldwork

Timetable can be viewed here. For information about these dates, click here.
Time Commitment: Contact Hours: This subject is offered full-time over the first two weeks of February. Total contact is 62 hours, comprising 36 hours fieldwork (one 7-day excursion), 8 hours lectures, 18 hours practical work
Total Time Commitment: 120 hours total time commitment.
Prerequisites:

Plant Biodiversity or Flora of Victoria or 606-204 (prior to 2009)

Corequisites: None
Recommended Background Knowledge: None
Non Allowed Subjects: None
Core Participation Requirements: It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study and reasonable steps will be made to enhance a student’s participation in the University’s programs. Students who feel their disability may impact upon their active and safe participation in a subject are encouraged to discuss this with the relevant subject coordinator and the Disability Liaison Unit.

Coordinator

Dr Andrew Drinnan
Subject Overview:

This subject is structured around the fieldwork excursion in early February and covers the basic skills that are required to undertake a field-based botanical activity such as a flora survey or an environmental impact assessment, or to proceed to research in a field-based botanical discipline. Topics to be covered include:

  • taxonomy of the Australian flora;

  • field identification of major families and genera of plants;

  • collection and preservation of plant specimens; mounting and cataloguing specimens; curatorial skills; nomenclature;

  • techniques for description and classification of vegetation; structural types, floristic associations, measures of abundance (cover, density, basal area, biomass), sampling techniques (quadrats, line transects, plotless methods), sampling scale and species-area relationships, profile diagrams, life-form spectra;

  • soils; and

  • vegetation mapping.
Objectives:

At the end of this subject, students should have the skills for:

  • identification, description and quantification of plants and plant communities in the field;

  • collection, cataloguing and preserving plant specimens; and

  • constructing a vegetation map.
Assessment:

A written report of a maximum of 2000 words due at the end of the semester (40%); curated collection of up to 20 plants due at the end of the subject (20%); assessment of field activities during the subject (20%); a 2-hour practical examination in the summer semester examination period (20%).
Prescribed Texts: None
Breadth Options:

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

Fees Information: Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date
Notes:

Students enrolled in the BSc (pre-2008 BSc), BASc or a combined BSc course will receive science credit for the completion of this subject.

An enrolment quota of 36 students applies to this subject this year.

Related Majors/Minors/Specialisations: Botany
Conservation and Australian Wildlife

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