Systematische Botanik

After having successfully passed this course, the students are familiar with the theoretical and practical fundamentals of systematic botany and the evolutionary development in the plant kingdom. They have a fundamental knowledge of the applied methods and an overview of the classification and diversity in the plant kingdom, especially with regard to higher plants. To this aim, important plant families are introduced along with their characters as well as examples of indicator species. This allows the students to quickly recognize these plant families. The acquired knowledge of the processes of reproduction (1. pollination, 2. fertilization, 3. seed formation) establishes the understanding of the diversity of life processes and serves as a basis for the explanation of variability and fitness in the plant kingdom.
The students know the basic terms of taxonomy and are able to employ the technical terms for the description of plant morphology as a basis for systematic classification. Thereby, the students acquire the basic preparation for the practical courses 831.102 “Practical courses and fieldwork in systematic botany” (all parallel courses!) and are able to use these knowledge of technical terms as a basis in the practical courses in plant determination.
The overview over the systematics of higher plants enables the students to describe evolutionary trends and to understand these trends with regard to the selection factors (environment). The survey of the floristic regions of the world brings forward the understanding of diversity in the plant kingdom as well as the reasons for the distribution of plant species on earth.