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A residential field course focussing on the identification and sampling of plants, in practical (field) conditions.
Who should take this course?Practical Field Botany is an intensive, short summer course designed to meet the need for training in the collection, preparation, and identification of botanical specimens. It will be valuable for students who intend to seek employment in areas such as field ecology, conservation, biodiversity, and taxonomy or biosystematics. It will also be of interest to members of the workforce who need to acquire or upgrade taxonomic skills, e.g., from Crown Research Institutes, Department of Conservation, Local and Regional Councils, Botanic Gardens, horticulture, and teaching. The course is targeted at participants with various entry levels: from students with a limited plant knowledge to experienced career professionals. Timetable for course:Tuesday 20 January 2015 , afternoon: travel from UC campus to Cass.Wednesday 21 – Tuesday 27 January: field excursions and other course work.Wednesday 28 January, morning: final exam and handing in course work; afternoon: travel back to UC campus.(UC provides all transportation to, from, and at the Cass region)General contentThis is a technique-based course. Examples used are from the montane and alpine flora of the Cass region but focus is on general principles, so that most acquired skills are transferable to other regions and other groups of organisms.Student Feedback“Thanks for a great course – I got a lot out of it! - and am looking forward to putting my ID skills to use helping with DOC’s Tier One monitoring for most of Feb and March”: Sue Lake, Ranger Services, DOC.“Thanks for a great week, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and am still dreaming of plant families! I appreciate the effort put in by yourself, Matt, Julie, Laura and Reijel throughout the course. The concept of an intensive field based course was exactly what I needed to improve my botanical knowledge and confidence”: John Skilton, Park Ranger/Project Manager Travis Wetland, Christchurch City Council.“I'm totally hooked on botany now, I absolutely loved the course! I have my first botanical survey to do next week, great timing!”: Marcia Dale, Ryder Consulting Limited.“Thank you for a fantastic class! I just finished six days of tramping in Mt Aspiring National Park- it was great to be able to recognize most of the plants there”: Xin Cheng, Auckland.
At the end of the course, students are expected to be able to: Spot-identify c. 80 species that are commonly found in various ecosystems in the Southern Alps (assessment tasks: quiz and final exam) Use traditional and online taxonomic keys to identify plants and to confirm identifications using a herbarium collection, literature and online resources (assessment tasks: quiz and final exam) Carry out Recce vegetation surveys (assessment task: unmarked assignment) Construct taxonomic keys (assessment task: unmarked assignment during workshop) Collect and prepare botanical specimens for scientific purposes and to record associated ecological data (assessment task: voucher specimen preparation assignment) Independently prepare and develop a reference collection with notes about diagnostic characters and ecological characteristics that serves as a practical aid to plant identification and recognition (assessment task: field reference collection assignment) Make decisions regarding plant collecting that are in accordance with regulations and ethical considerations and that minimise environmental impact (assessment task: final exam) Find the currently accepted scientific name for a plant, understand classifications and name changes and use names to access information about New Zealand plants (assessment task: final exam) Taking and editing high-quality photographs of plants for scientific purposes and plant identification (assessment task: final exam and unmarked assignment during workshop) Understand basic ecological and systematic concepts and processes that are relevant to understanding patterns of botanical diversity in the Southern Alps (assessment task: final exam)Skills registerThe following skills are developed in this course: Collecting biological field data. Important for research and in governmental and non-governmental organizations. Plant identification. Essential in organismal biology, conservation, and biosecurity. Collecting, documenting, and preserving biological specimens. Key in, amongst others, ecology, systematics and conservation. Independent and self-motivated learning. A life-skill that is important in any career. Finding, understanding, and using information in literature and on the internet. These are very general skills that are essential in many careers. Verbal communication. Expressing yourself clearly and concisely is important when you are attending meetings, having a telephone conversation, giving presentations, or teaching/training. Written communication. Many employers require employees to have good written communication skills.
BIOL215 or BIOL270 or BIOL273 or subject to approval by the Head of the School of Biological Sciences
Pieter Pelser
Reijel Gardiner
All work submitted before leaving Cass.
Library portalCourse Outline Learn Site Plant ID Guidebook (2014 version, 3mb pdf)
Venue and areaThe venue for the Practical Field Botany course is the Mountain Biological Field Station at Cass, 105 km west of Christchurch in the mountains of the Waimakariri Basin.It is located near a wide range of habitats with a huge diversity of plants and animals.The field station provides comfortable accommodation, laboratory facilities, and internet access with the natural world at the doorstep.The course includes field excursions to the Waimakariri Basin, Southern Beech forest, West-coast forest, Otira Valley, and the Cragieburn Forest Park.
PlagiarismIt is essential that you are aware that plagiarism is considered a very serious offence by the Academic community, the University and the School of Biological Sciences. Plagiarism is defined as taking content from another work or author and presenting it, without attribution, as if it is your own work. Content here includes text (sentences or major parts of sentences), display items (graphs and tables), and overall structure (the detailed sequence of ideas). Plagiarism includes:• re-use of previous assignments (even if each individual sentence has been rephrased to say the same thing in different words, if the overall structure is re-used) • copying of another student’s work (with or without their consent)• the unreferenced use of published material or material from the internet e.g. cutting and pasting of paragraphs or pages into an essay.For most pieces of in-term assessment you will be given information concerning the use of direct and indirect quotes from previously published work. If you are in any doubt about appropriate use of published material, please speak with a member of academic staff. If you are still unsure what plagiarism is, then seek advice.It is a School policy that courses may request you submit work electronically for subsequent analysis of originality using Turnitin. Students agree that by taking courses in BIOL, required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. All submitted papers will be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers. Use of the Turnitin.com service is subject to the Terms and Conditions of Use posted on the Turnitin.com site.
A+ 90% or aboveA 85 – 90A- 80 – 84B+ 75 – 79B 70 – 74B- 65 – 69C+ 60 – 64C 55 – 59C- 50 – 54A restricted pass (R) may be awarded to those who are close to a pass (i.e. an overall score of 48-49.9%) AND who have achieved at least a 40% overall score in both in-course assessment and tests/exams. If an R grade is awarded you gain credit for the course but cannot continue into papers that require this course as a pre-requisite. NB. The R grade is only available at 100 and 200 level - it cannot be awarded for third year papers. Failing grades: D 40-49 E 0–39
What if i have written more than the word or page limit?If there is a word limit on an assignment, it is usually there to stop you doing too much work and to encourage you to write succinctly. It also makes things easier to assess. You can be up to 10% over without too much worry, but if the length increases beyond that your mark may suffer due to failure to follow the requirements. If you find yourself way over the word limit have a chat to the lecturer concerned about how to trim your assignment to an acceptable length.
What if I can’t get it finished in time?Reports and assignments should be handed in on time. Extensions may be granted if you have a valid reason. If you require an extension, you should request one from the course co-ordinator (or the lecturer responsible for marking the work), with as much notice as possible. Please do this BEFORE the deadline for the assignment. If you have been given an extension you should hand the work DIRECTLY to the course coordinator (do not put it in the drop box as it may not be cleared after the due date).If an extension has not been granted:• work must be handed in by the due date to gain full credit• work handed in up to 7 days after the deadline will be marked, but the marks will be discounted 25% before they are recorded to the student's credit• any work handed in more than 7 days after the deadline date will not be marked or earn credit.
If you feel that illness, injury, bereavement or other critical circumstances have prevented you from completing an item of assessment worth 10% or more of total course assessment or have affected your performance in a test or exam, you should visit a doctor within 24 hours and submit the application form within 7 days. The application form is available on-line or from the Student Health Centre. You should also notify the course co-ordinator. For further details on aegrotat applications, please refer to the University’s website - http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/exams/aegrotats.shtml). The aegrotat provisions are intended to assist students who have covered the work of a course but have been prevented by illness or other critical circumstances from demonstrating their mastery of the material or skills at the time of assessment – they do not excuse you from doing the assessment. If the examiner cannot assess your aegrotat application because of lack of other evidence, you may be asked to sit a special assessment if you miss a final exam. You should also expect to be required to submit additional work if you miss a major assignment (e.g. a field trip for which a major write-up is required). Please note: acceptance of the grounds for an aegrotat application does not simply excuse you from completing items of assessment if you are requested to do so. You will be given reasonable time to complete any such work.
In rare cases you may not be able to sit a test or exam, or attend a field trip, because of involvement in international or national representative sport or cultural groups. In such cases see the course co-ordinator, and a course of action (usually the sitting of an equivalent test or exam at a different time, or submitting an equivalent piece of written assessment) will be arranged. This should be done well in advance of the set date for a missed exam/test/assignment. Please note – holiday trips, weddings, birthday parties etc. are not given special status in the University policy, so please do not ask for special consideration in these circumstances.
In BIOL, we require a satisfactory level of achievement in both the theoretical aspects of the discipline and in practical activities. This means you must attend all class activities and submit all items of assessment unless you have a very good reason not to (e.g. medical reasons). A student must attain an average score of at least 40% for in-course assessment and average score of at least 40% in the course exam/test, AND score at least 50% overall for the course, to be awarded a passing grade.
We welcome constructive feedback at all times – help us to make this a valuable course for you. We endeavour to remain approachable at all times. If you would rather give feedback anonymously, please use the on-line course survey or talk to lab demonstrators, or your class rep (who will all report back to the staff-student liaison committee that includes a representative from each of the undergraduate classes). Class representatives will be selected from each class at the start of course.
If you feel you have not been fairly treated during this course, please raise the issue with the lecturer or course co-ordinator in the first instance. Other avenues include your class rep., who can raise issues anonymously, or the UCSA education coordinator.
All assignments should be handed in before leaving Cass Field Station.Teaching staff will endeavour to return work as soon as possible, and should contact you if there are likely to be any delays that will prevent return within the maximum 4-week timeframe.
Domestic fee $808.00
International fee $3,638.00
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
This course will not be offered if fewer than 10 people apply to enrol.
Maximum enrolment is 25
For further information see School of Biological Sciences .