Plant Biology and Systematics

The educational objective of the teaching is to provide basic information on the organization of higher plants (Spermatophytes) by referring to the peculiarities of plant cells and to the specific characteristics that make it possible to distinguish the different types of tissues and how these are organized to form the plant organs. Furthermore, topics concerning the reproduction methods of the different plant groups (non-vascular and vascular plants), as well as some aspects of their plant biology, will be studied in dept.

At the end of the teaching the student must demonstrate that he has acquired theoretical and practical skills in reference to the biology of plant organisms. In particular, the student must demonstrate that he has understood the cytological, anatomical, physiological and functional characteristics of plants and be able to correlate structure and function. Moreover, he will have to know the reproductive mechanisms and be able to interpret the great variety of biological cycles of the treated organisms.
The activities that contribute to the development of these abilities are represented above all by the laboratory activities during which the student can begin to develop manual skills, preparing the samples to be analyzed with an optical microscope in order to deepen the main anatomical aspects of higher plants.