Botany 402: Dendrology

Learn to Identify Trees - Online and Outside!

Summer 2019 -2 credits

Download syllabus as PDF

Instructor:  Dr. Catherine Woodward, B239 Birge Hall, 608-263-9020, cwoodwar@wisc.edu

Reach me via email or phone (Mon.-Fri. during business hours), or to set up an on-campus appointment.              

 

TA:  Kevin Barrett, 338 Birge Hall, (608) 682-225-9258, kdbarrett2@wisc.edu

Office Hours:  TBA.  Reach me in person, by email or phone.

 

Course website:  http://canvas.wisc.edu

The course content, assignments, syllabus, maps, species lists, and links to web resources are all posted here. 

 

Course Dates:   July 1 – July 28, 2019

Field Trip 1:  Tuesday, July 9, 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. (UW Arboretum)

Field Trip 2:  Tuesday, July 15, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Baraboo Hills)

Field Trip 3:  Tuesday, July 22, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. (St. Dunsten’s and other location TBA)

Field Final Exam:  Saturday, July 27, 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. (Location TBA)           

 

IMPORTANT!  Field trips take place rain or shine. Be prepared with good shoes and appropriate clothes.  Bring water, a lunch, notebook, hand lens, tree key, rain gear, and mosquito repellant!

 

Required materials:

1. Woodward, C.   Key to Woody Plants of Wisconsin. Get the iPhone App or download the print version on Canvas.  Contact the instructor for access to the new app beta version.
2. A hand lens or small magnifier (10X) - located in Art Supplies at UW Bookstore, or from Forestry Suppliers (www.forestry-suppliers.com)
3. A field notebook (waterproof is best) or clipboard with paper.
4. A small pocketknife can also come in handy.

Other useful resources:

• Barnes, B. & W. Wagner, Michigan Trees: A guide to the trees of the Great Lakes region.  University of Michigan Press.

• Cope, E. A. Muenscher’s Keys to Woody Plants. Cornell University Press.
• Smith, W.R. Trees and Shrubs of Minnesota. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

• Additional useful links posted on the Canvas course website.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this course you should be able to:

• identify all native Wisconsin trees, common shrubs and vines, and some important woody exotics by common and scientific name.
• use appropriate botanical vocabulary in describing plants.
• demonstrate the use of dichotomous keys and other resources for identifying plants.
• describe the morphology, distribution, habitat, ecology, and economic importance of Wisconsin plant species.
• name some characteristic tree taxa of the world’s major forest types.
• explain how morphology, life history, and ecology are related to habitat and distribution of woody plants.
• identify the major factors affecting the composition, structure and economic value of tree communities.

 

Course Content:

There will be 3-4 online presentations each week designed to give you the needed background on identifying plants, on the major taxa of trees and how to identify them, and on the various forest types in Wisconsin and the species that characterize them.  We expect you to view content for each week prior to each Monday field trip. 

There are also weekly online quizzes.  Online quizzes are available each week from Thursday at 12:01 a.m. until Sunday at 11:59 p.m.  Their purpose is to test your understanding of the concepts and species presented in online lectures, as well as associated vocabulary and readings, and prepare you for the field trips. 

There will be three field trips (held every Tuesday; see above for dates) and a field final exam.  Attendance on field trips is mandatory.  The purpose of the field trips is to become proficient at identifying trees in their natural setting.  The field exam will test you on tree identification. There will be no make-ups for field trips or the field exam.  If you can’t attend a field trip, it is best to drop the course.  Field trips are held rain or shine – please be prepared! 

Each week there are assignments, activities, and readings.  The assignments involve a research and/or written component. Activities involve going outside to identify and photograph trees.  All are graded and have due dates.  The activities count toward your participation in the course.  Required readings are fair game for the quizzes, and there are a number of supplemental readings and resources designed to enrich your learning but upon which you will not be tested.

While the online format allows for some flexibility in scheduling, it is best to keep up with the content each week, as there are deadlines for taking each quiz.  This is a 2-credit class compressed into 4 weeks so plan the workload accordingly.  It is your responsibility to view the online content relevant to each quiz before the quiz period closes!  The reason for this limitation is that I want everyone to be more or less on the same page by the time we go on each field trip.  See the schedule at the end of the syllabus or on the Canvas site for quiz and assignment deadlines.

Evaluation and Grading:

There will be several short assignments, graded quizzes, and a field final exam.  You will also be evaluated on your participation online and during the field trips.

Grade item	% of grade
Assignments	30%
Quizzes	30%
Final Exam	25%
Participation	15%

Grading scale:  92-100% = A; 92-88% = AB; 88-82% = B, 78-82% = BC; 70-78% = C; 60-70% = D; <60% = F

A Word about Participation:

Assessment of your participation will be based upon your consistent engagement in online materials and timely completion of assignments, as well as your level of effort in learning to identify trees, both through involvement in the field trips and outside of class. Since learning to identify trees requires physically looking at trees, attendance on field trips is mandatory, but you are also expected to dedicate your own time to learning to identify trees.  There are trees in your neighborhood, local parks, and even your own backyard…you should be able to identify pretty much all of them (except horticultural ornamentals), so spend time doing so.  Your ability to identify trees will be assessed on each field trip; thus think of field trips as a way to review the tree species learned during the week prior and ask questions to clear up any confusion.