Admission requirements
BSc-courses Biodiversity 1 & 2 and Training flora are advantageous
Description
The tropics comprise the hottest hotspots of global biodiversity. They contain more than two thirds of the vascular plant species worldwide with a density 10 times higher than the European flora. Many well-known and economically important plant taxa such as bananas, cocoa, coffee, and sugar are of tropical origin.
The identification of tropical plants is a crucial aspect in conservation biology, systematic, ecological, evolutionary and ethnobotanical research. Because of the high species diversity, the poor exploration of many tropical regions, and the unavailability of regional floras and identification tools, identification is often problematic.
The botanical diversity of the tropics is being explored and documented by the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in international projects such as Flora Malesiana and Flora of the Guianas, involving numerous experts with an in-depth knowledge of the plants and habitats of the tropics. One of the aims of Naturalis Biodiversity Center and Hortus botanicus Leiden is the knowledge transfer of plant diversity. This course has been set up to provide an overview of the most commonly encountered tropical plant families, and the knowledge and tools needed for their identification.
Specialists working at Naturalis and botanical gardens in Amsterdam, Leiden and Utrecht will give the participants an overview of the most commonly encountered tropical plant families, including their key features, characteristic genera, and ecological and economic importance. General introductions to plant morphology, identification tools, plant collection techniques, tropical vegetation types, biogeography and ethnobotanical research will be given.
The course will mainly be housed in the Leiden Hortus botanicus.
Course objectives
After completion of this course, students can:
Recognize and identify the most common tropical plant families.
Apply descriptive plant terminology when identifying plant families.
Recognize and name the function of the various plant organs.
Generate an overview of the characters or combinations of characters needed to identify the tropical plant families.
Apply different identification tools (dichotomous and multi-access keys).
Evaluate various collection techniques for plant material (e.g. suitability of different methods).
Outline and exemplify the ecological and economic importance of tropical plant taxa and their biogeography.
Timetable
Details will be communicated on Brightspace, participants also receive the course schedule of the course via email.
You will find the timetables for all courses and degree programmes of Leiden University in the tool MyTimetable (login). Any teaching activities that you have sucessfully registered for in MyStudyMap will automatically be displayed in MyTimeTable. Any timetables that you add manually, will be saved and automatically displayed the next time you sign in.
MyTimetable allows you to integrate your timetable with your calendar apps such as Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and other calendar apps on your smartphone. Any timetable changes will be automatically synced with your calendar. If you wish, you can also receive an email notification of the change. You can turn notifications on in ‘Settings’ (after login).
For more information, watch the video or go the the 'help-page' in MyTimetable. Please note: Joint Degree students Leiden/Delft have to merge their two different timetables into one. This video explains how to do this.
Mode of instruction
Through lectures, extensive hands-on practicals and excursions to various botanical institutions in the Netherlands, the participants will learn to identify more than 40 tropical plant families based on generative (flower and fruit) and vegetative (leaf and bark) characters. The participants will learn to use both identification keys in traditional Floras and interactive on-line keys. During the practical the participants will be able to examine living, herbarium and alcohol preserved material, and during excursions to the tropical greenhouses of botanical gardens in Amsterdam, Leiden, Utrecht and Burgers' Bush special attention will be paid to collection techniques, biogeography and field characteristics.
Assessment method
Examination: Several open questions (max. 10; 40% of result) to test knowledge and 30 plant families that have to be identified (60% of result) from dried or fresh material, thereby mentioning the characters on which the identification is based.
Inspection and feedback on the examinations:
After the examination a course evaluation, including attention to the answers and discussion of the exam, will be given, followed by a handout of certificates to those with sufficient marks. Re-examination will be on individual basis and mainly orally (identification) next to the written open questions; preferably as soon as possible after the course.
Minimum grade:
Courses require a minimum, unrounded 5.5 grade to complete.
If a course has 2 or more written partial exams, the minimum grade only applies to the weighted average of the exams.
For partial grades from components other than exams (e.g. practicals, seminars, writing assignments), the bottom grade does apply to the individual components.
Please refer to the Student Charter for an overview of regulations.
Reading list
Compulsory book: Utteridge & Bramley, the Kew Tropical plant families identification handbook (2014), which can be bought with a discount during the course.
Registration
All students have to register for courses with the new enrollment tool MyStudyMap. There are two registration periods per year: registration for the fall semester opens in July and registration for the spring semester opens in December. Please see this page for more information.
Please note that it is compulsory to both preregister and confirm your participation for every exam and retake. Not being registered for a course means that you are not allowed to participate in the final exam of the course. Confirming your exam participation is possible until ten days before the exam.
Extensive FAQ's on MyStudymap can be found here.
Exchange and Study Abroad students, please see the Prospective students website for more information on how to apply.
Contact
Coordinator: Sylvia Mota de Oliveira
Email: sylvia.motadeoliveira@naturalis.nl
Remarks
It is important to register in time, because there is a maximum of 15 students from Leiden University. Students from other Dutch universities, international students and staff of the botanical gardens will compete for the remaining 15 positions.
The course will mainly be housed in the Leiden Hortus botanicus.