Unit Code: FES502

Unit Name: Forest Dendrology

Description: This unit will provide information about dendrology, principles and systems of classification of plants, plant nomenclature, international code of botanical nomenclature, common names versus scientific names, tree morphology, tree keys, general form of woody trunk and deviations, barks of common trees, leaf characters and types of leaves, reproductive morphology with reference to description and identification of reproductive parts, and tree architecture. The unit will further expose the students to the thallophtes, bryophytes, pteridophytes, angiosperms and gymnosperms of Fiji and the Pacific. History of genetics and hypothesis-theories, physical basis of heredity; Introduction and Concepts of Heredity. Nucleic Acids, Genes, Chromosomes; Concepts of genetics: inbreeding, heterozygous, homozygous, hybrids, genotypes and phenotypes; plant cell structure and cell organelles; cell division ? cell cycle, mitosis and meiosis; principles of heredity I:- Mendelian Inheritance; principles of Heredity II: Non Mendelian inheritance-threshold characters, co-dominance, multiple alleles, quantitative inheritance; chromosome theory of inheritance. Linkage and crossing over; molecular basis of genetic material, history of genetic material, DNA is genetic material, one gene one enzyme concept; structure of heredity material: DNA organization, nucleosomes, nucleotides, double helix structure; DNA replication- DNA polymerase, requirements of DNA replication, steps of DNA replication; genetic variation in plants: mutagen, mutant, mutation, classification of mutations; ploidy in plants: significance of Triploidy, Polyploidy, Anueploidy and Haploid.

Learning Target Outcomes:

Prerequisite: N/A

Prerequisite Sentence: Student must be enrolled in the programme.

Credit Point: 15

Offered In: Semester 1