AGROSTOLOGY, BIOL 434 and PSPP 454, Fall Semester 2009 (if not already, log into the Desire to Learn system for full course access)

Instructor: Matt Lavin, 339 Plant Bioscience Building

Lecture: Friday, 12:00 to 12:50 PM, 307 Lewis Hall

Labs: Friday, 1:10 to 5:00PM, 307 Lewis Hall

Office hours: Friday, 9AM to 12N, 408 Lewis Hall, or schedule office visits by email

Goals of the course:

·         Develop a personal collection of grasses and grass-like plants of over 120 species, which will assist you with future identification of grass and grass-like species.

·         Develop an ability to identify grass species using taxonomic keys.

·         Develop an ability to sight identify the four common North American grass and grass-like plant families, Cyperaceae, Juncaceae, Poaceae, and Typhaceae), the 15 common North American grass tribes, and about 70 common grass genera that are of economic or ecological importance in North America. These tribes and genera include:

Tribe Triticeae: Agropyron, Elymus, Eremopyrum, Hordeum, Secale, Taeniatherum, and Triticum.

Tribe Aveneae: Agrostis, Alopecurus, Avena, Beckmannia, Calamogrostis, Deschampsia, Helictotrichon, Hierochloe, Holcus, Koeleria, Phalaris, Phleum, Polypogon, Trisetum, and Ventenata.

Tribe Stipeae: Stipa and Oryzopsis.

Tribe Meliceae: Catabrosa, Glyceria, and Melica.

Tribe Poeae: Bromus, Cynosurus, Dactylis, Festuca, Lolium, Poa, Puccinellia, Schedonorus, and Vulpia.

Tribe Andropogoneae: Andropogon, Sorghum, and Zea.

Tribe Paniceae: Cenchrus, Dichanthelium, Digitaria, Echinochloa, Panicum, Paspalum, Pennisetum, and Setaria.

Tribe Chlorideae: Bouteloua, Buchloe, Cynodon, Eleusine, Schedonnardus, and Spartina.

Tribe Aeluropodeae: Distichlis.

Tribe Eragrosteae: Calamovilfa, Eragrostis, Muhlenbergia, Monroa, and Sporobolus.

Tribe Aristideae: Aristida.

Tribe Arundineae: Arundo, Cortaderia, and Phragmites.

Tribe Danthonieae: Danthonia.

Tribe Oryzeae: Leersia, Oryza, and Zizania.

Tribe Bambuseae: Arundinaria.

Prerequisites: a background in general botany including some plant anatomy, morphology, physiology, and basic plant identification (or a high degree of interest in grasses).

COURSE SCHEDULE (please wait until the evening before each lab for the final grass list)

4 September lecture: general introduction

4 September labs: no labs

11 September lecture: introduction to the grass spikelet and other basic morphology and terminology; the cool-warm season distinction

11 September labs: introduction to cool season grasses (indoor and outdoor lab at Peets Hill, meet at the parking lot of Church and Story)

18 September lecture: introduction to the grass spikelet and other basic morphology and terminology

18 September labs: introduction to cool season grasses (indoor and outdoor lab behind the Museum of the Rockies, meet at the end of south 7th Ave between the Museum of the Rockies and the Bobcat Stadium)

25 September lecture: tribe Triticeae

25 September* labs: tribe Triticeae (quiz answers)

2 October lecture: tribes Aveneae and Stipeae

2 October* labs: tribes Aveneae and Stipeae (quiz answers)

9 October lecture: tribe Poeae

9 October* labs: tribe Poeae (quiz answers)

16 October lecture: tribe Meliceae and review

16 October* lab: tribe Meliceae and review of the main cool season grass tribes (quiz answers)

23 October lecture: none

23 October labs: 1st comprehensive lab test (exam answers)

30 October lecture: introduction to warm season grasses

30 October lab: tribes Andropogoneae and Paniceae

6 November lecture: subfamily Chloridoideae: tribes Chlorideae

6 November* labs: Chlorideae (quiz answers)

13 November lecture: subfamily Chloridoideae: Aeluropodeae and Eragrosteae

13 November* labs: Aeluropodeae and Eragrosteae (quiz answers)

20 November lecture: arundinoids, bamboos, and rices

20 November* labs: arundinoids, bamboos, and rices

27 November lecture: Thanksgiving holiday: no class

27 November labs: Thanksgiving holiday: no labs

4 December lecture: grass-like plant families in Montana

4 December lab*: grass-like plant families in Montana

11 December lecture-lab: begin 2nd comprehensive lab test at noon in Lewis Hall room 307

14 December lab: 2nd comprehensive lab test from 8:00-9:50 AM in Lewis Hall room 307

*Lab quiz. Each of the 8 lab quizzes will involve the sight identification of about 15 grass specimens. Any of the species presented during previous labs are candidates for quiz specimens. The lab quizzes will form one-third of your grade (see below).

Grading: Grades will be derived from 2 comprehensive exams each worth one-third of your grade and 7 of the 8 quizzes, which are collectively worth one-third of your grade. The exams and quizzes will comprise short answer questions. The comprehensive exams will each involve the sight identification of about 75 specimens. Primary emphasis will be placed on sight identification of the 4 graminoid families, the 15 grass tribes, and the approximately 70 grass genera listed above. Additional emphasis will be placed on the ecological and taxonomic characteristics of the graminoid plant families, tribes, and genera. Success in this class will be achieved by spending time in the lab and elsewhere looking at as many grass species and specimens as possible and working them through taxonomic keys. The taxonomic keys provided in the lab manual (Grasses of Montana) can be utilized during all tests.

Agrostology labs. Specimens of grass and grass-like species will be provided at a rate of about 12 per week. Important morphological and ecological features of the families, tribes, genera, and species will be emphasized. You have the option of preparing these specimens on 'botany' paper (e.g., taping or gluing them to sheets of paper and making notes with each specimen). You can finish this Agrostology course with a set of 120+ of the most common graminoid species, which can serve as a future reference collection for identification. These collection will not be graded and you can arrange these collection in any manner your see fit. Ideally, you should mount related species on the same page in order to compare species-specific as well as genus-specific diagnostic traits.

Lab manual (please bring to each lab): Grasses of Montana (Cards & Copies now has this PDF on file for those of you who would prefer them to produce your hard copy). Recommended books at the MSU Bookstore: 1) Vascular Plants of Montana, by Robert D. Dorn. Mountain West Publishing.  2) How to Identify Grasses and Grass-like Plants, by H. D. Harrington. Swallow Press.

Recommended lab items for indoor lab sessions:

1. 10X hand lens

2. cutting instrument (e.g., knife, scalpel, razor-blade), dissecting needle, or fine-pointed forceps

3. 15 cm ruler

4. 100+ sheets of 8-1/2" X 11" heavyweight "Botany" notebook paper for mounting lab specimens with scotch tape or Elmers Glue

Useful websites:

  • Yahoo (including Flickr) and Google (including Picasa) and have excellent image search engines. A Flickr set, grasses of Montana (wait for it to load), can be browsed alphabetically by genus (put the cursor on the photo so that the scientific name appears on the screen. It is best, however, from the Flickr homepage to search for a combination of taxon and morphology, such as fescue ligule or Bromus leaf sheath or Aegilops cylindrica.
  • USDA/NRCS Plants Database – look up species by typing a scientific or common name in the search box.
  • Texas A & M, University of California Berkeley and Missouriplants.com contain excellent photos of grass and grass-like species that occur in Montana.
  • Interactive Key to the Grasses of the Columbia Basin provides access to information for the common grass species inhabiting the Columbia River Basin in southeastern British Columbia.

Departments of Ecology and Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology