Reference no: EM133148073

Literature Review

Learning outcome 1: To gain an understanding of Australian plant diversity, speciation and evolutionary relationships

ASSESSMENT ITEM  DESCRIPTION

This assignment will test how well you can access the appropriate literature. It should be well constructed and appropriate to the topic chosen. Between 2000 and 2500 words are required. Don't forget to use Google Scholar - it is very useful for specific papers. Google for Guidelines of how to do one - there are a number on the web and there is one on your site.

Choose ONE (1) of the following topics:
- "Plants and pollinators have evolved over millennia", statement from T.H. Fleming et al. (2020) American Scientist, 108(6): 362-369. Discuss the evidence supporting this statement. To get you started here are a few papers. You do not need the paper as you are discussing the statement.
Toon et al. 2014 -- BMC Evolutionary Biology.doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-14-43
Science 2019 - doi.10.1126/science.aav6962 Science 2020 - doi.10.1126/science.aay3662 Hopper, S - A number of papers since about 1984 on W.A. flora and pollination.
- OR
Speciation concepts - numerous references, try both Google and Google Scholar start with "plant speciation concepts", 'plant' must be included because plant and animal concepts are not necessarily the same. A place to start could be the American Journal of Botany volume 101, issues 7 and 8, (2014) as well as any others you can locate . Try New Phytologist also as new papers are coming out all the time I want to see old and new references so I know you have scoped the literature.
- OR
- Choose a plant family in a local area and discuss the variation that occurs between different species and genera (This will require you to collect some material). Either from observation or literature searches or both, speculate on the ecological adaptations enabling a number of species and genera to occupy a given area. What are the niche requirements for each species. As a starting point, Google "Cunninghamia" and search for Volume 3(4) Plants of the Sydney District, by Benson D. & McDougall L., this is the last paper in this issue, you could also look at Volume 4(4) etc. - this will give you some idea of the differences you may find between species/genera etc.