BIOL 120 - Plants and People

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the scientific process and its importance to botanical investigation.
2. Explain the philosophy and methods of plant classification and nomenclature.
3. Describe the fundamental morphology and life histories of the major groups of seedless and seed-bearing vascular plants.
4. Conduct a literature search and make an oral presentation of the findings.
5. Demonstrate the knowledge of the ways in which select local desert plants were utilized by indigenous peoples.
6. Appreciate the fundamental role of plants for all life on earth, including a basic understanding of photosynthesis and the ecological services that plants provide.
7. Understand the cultural significance of man’s changing relationship with plants, including: hunter-gatherer cultures, domestication of plants and the development of agricultural cultures, large-scale agriculture and the attendant demographic shift from an agrarian lifestyle to a modern, urban technological culture, and the development of gene technology and its possible applications in the future.
8. Understand the importance and history of plants in industry, including the major plants used in the food, pharmaceutical, and beverage industries.
9. Become acquainted with the religious and intoxicant uses of plants and their effect on human cultures.