Human Uses of Plants

BIO 364 - Human Uses of Plants

Homework Assignments

PLANT PRODUCTS IN YOUR LIFE

Objectives:

(1) to increase awareness of the many uses of plant products in our daily lives;
(2) to increase awareness of the specific uses of various plant products;
(3) to recognize the dependency of the human species on plants for survival.

Assignment:

You will be required to bring in ten examples of plant products over the course of the semester. Chapters 4-19 of your text discuss specific categories of plant products. These examples may be food ingredient lists, product labels, advertisements, or other items of evidence approved by the professor. You may bring in your labels or news articles or other evidence of plant use related to topic being covered during or before those chapters are covered in class. You may also bring in news items or scientific articles relating to topics of Chapters1 Plants and Their Manipulation by People, 2 Origins of Agriculture and/or Chapter 19 Uses of Plants in the Future. Items must cover at least five different categories (chapters) of plant products. No more than two items may be selected for any single chapter, and no more than 2 news or journal articles can be submitted (total).

For plant products in an ingredients list, the item of interest may not be the primary item or first item listed. For example, you may not bring in a label from canned corn to show corn in a product. You may, however, bring in a beverage label that includes corn syrup (used as a sweetener) as one of the ingredients.

Bring in ONLY the label or the empty container. I will not accept samples that still have the product present.

For each item that you bring to class, you must also bring a 3 X 5 index card with the following information printed neatly thereon in the following order:

Your name
Item number (1-10)
Chapter number and title to which the item relates (no more than 2 cards per chapter)
Item brought
Primary ingredient of interest
Other plant ingredients (single item products not acceptable)

If what you turn in does not meet the above criteria, it will be returned or discarded with no credit received. If you have questions about this assignment, feel free to e-mail, or speak to me in class.

DUE DATE: Students whose last name begins with A-H must turn in their cards and items on or before 11-03-08, and students whose name begins with I-Z must turn in their cards and items on or before 09-29-08.

VALUE: 5 percent of semester grade

KNOW THY ORGANISM

Objectives:

(1) to learn about a plant species in depth, including its taxonomy, ecology, and utilization;
(2) to become familiar with a variety of sources of information;
(3) to practice technical writing skills.

Assignment:

Select a plant species from one of those listed in the text chapter lists. Write a paper of not less than 3 pages and not in excess of 5 pages (not including title page) about that plant. The paper must be typed in a 12 point font, double-spaced, with one inch margins on all sides. The paper must be stapled in the top left corner. The specific topics to be addressed in the paper and the scoring rubric are listed below. Please follow the specified order of topics and make sure that you dedicate at least one paragraph to each topic.

INFORMATION TO INCLUDE IN PAPER POINTS

title page with title, your name, date 5

scientific name with author citation,
plant family, and all common names you can find 10

native range if known,
cultivated range if in cultivation, 10

any wild or domestic relatives 10

habitat: environmental conditions,
longitude, latitude, altitude,
rainfall distribution, temperature pattern,
physical geography, geology and soil types 10

associated species, plant communities,
importance to wildlife if known,
bacterial or fungal symbionts or associates 10

diseases, insects or other pests,
how plant pests are controlled by chemical, physical, or biological means 10

economic importance of plant (crop value),
economic distribution (exports) 10

botanical description of part of economic importance
how plant parts are processed prior to sale 10

spelling and grammar 5

works cited
(at least five references, and must include at least one book other than the course textbook,
one primary journal, one government document and one internet reference)
10

DUE DATE:Students whose last name begins with A-H must turn in their paper on or before 09-29-08, and students whose name begins with I-Z must turn in their papers on or before 11-03-08.

VALUE: 10 percent of semester grade

INFORMATION TO INCLUDE IN PAPER	POINTS
title page with title, your name, date	5
scientific name with author citation, plant family, and all common names you can find	10
native range if known, cultivated range if in cultivation,	10
any wild or domestic relatives	10
habitat: environmental conditions, longitude, latitude, altitude, rainfall distribution, temperature pattern, physical geography, geology and soil types	10
associated species, plant communities, importance to wildlife if known, bacterial or fungal symbionts or associates	10
diseases, insects or other pests, how plant pests are controlled by chemical, physical, or biological means	10
economic importance of plant (crop value), economic distribution (exports)	10
botanical description of part of economic importance how plant parts are processed prior to sale	10
spelling and grammar	5
works cited (at least five references, and must include at least one book other than the course textbook, one primary journal, one government document and one internet reference)	10