Course Description
The purpose of IB103 is to give students a broad but solid introduction to the roles plants play in global ecology while at the same time considering the mechanisms by which individual plants grow, respond to their environments and reproduce. So IB103 goes beyond the narrow focus of traditional botany courses with their emphasis on plant diversity, structure and physiology. Think of 103 as more of a general biology course presented from the viewpoint of plants.
Such a broad perspective means that we cannot treat any one topic especially deeply in this one-semester, three lecture per week course. Therefore, many details and additional topics are provided through hands-on laboratory exercises. The lab meets for three hours every week and is a required, not optional, part of the course. We try to coordinate lab and lecture topics as best we can.
In IB103, the semester's lecture topics are divided into three sections: (1) Ecology & Energy, (2) Life Cycle & Growth; and, (3) Genetics & Evolution. We begin with a look at how plants have become evolutionarily adapted to vastly different environments on Earth and how they interact with other organisms with whom they share these environments. The focus soon shifts to photosynthesis and the central role plants play in energizing planetary ecosystems. We look at how photosynthesis works at the sub-cellular level, then follow its products through the plumbing of the plant and back into the atmosphere through respiration.
In the second part of the semester, we look into the functioning of individual plants, their growth, development, physiology, reproduction and responses to the environment. We follow this with a unit centered on genes. Here, we talk about how we can track genes from generation to generation, the structure and function of DNA, and with that preparation, plant genetic engineering. We conclude the semester by examining the central process of evolution. We save evolution for last because understanding it (and therefore appreciating its awesome power) requires a working understanding of the genetic mechanisms that underlie it.
A textbook, Lecture Companion and Laboratory Manual are recommended. The Lecture Companion contains most of the illustrations used in lecture and provides a convenient format in which students can take notes during lecture and study from them afterward. The Lab Manual describes the detailed methods and procedures for every week's lab.
The three lecture exams in IB103 are multiple choice (two mid-terms and a final). Students are also required to visit the online Phytness Center once a week and take quiz over recent lecture material. The questions in these quizzes are drawn from previous exams, so they help prepare you for upcoming exams. There are no comprehensive laboratory exams, but exercises and quizzes in lab count for 30% of your overall course grade. Many opportunities are made available for earning extra credit, especially later in the semester. Read more information about grading procedures here.
Our goal in IB103 is for every student to get an A and come away with a significantly enhanced appreciation for, and curiosity about, plants, from their deepest molecular mechanisms to their role in sustaining the global ecosystems upon which we, and all forms of life, depend.
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