Dear colleagues, There are still a few places available on this workshop. Please distribute widely. Best wishes, Louis Ronse De Craene and Julien Bachelier Berlin Summer Course in Flower Morphology and Systematics3-14 June 2024 This is the second version of a highly successful two-week workshop held in 2023. The course is based at the Biological Institute of the Freie Universität Berlin and the Berlin Botanical Garden, which offer extensive facilities, including functional microscopy laboratories and a huge plant collection of more than 20,000 species. The course is set up as lecture-based, laboratory taught, and interactive visits of the living collections. FORMAT: 2-week workshop, lectures and hands-on practical sessions. INTENDED AUDIENCE: Final year undergraduate students, PhD students, post-doctoral and advanced researchers, professionals (but no formal restriction). A basic knowledge of botany is preferred but not essential. The course will run with a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 20 participants. REGISTRATION FEE: euro 800 ( euro 600 for Undergraduate and Master students) (Registration includes coffee breaks, daily lunches with snacks, and visits, but does not include travel and accommodation). HOW TO APPLY AND SECURE A PLACE: Please contact Dr. Louis Ronse De Craene (l.ronsedecraene@gmail.com) to request an application form. Payment to be made by May 1st2024. COURSE INSTRUCTORS AND CONTACT: Dr. Louis Ronse De Craene, Research Associate Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (l.ronsedecraene@gmail.com) Prof. Julien Bachelier, Freie Universität Berlin (julien.bachelier@fu-berlin.de) PROGRAMME: Course Description and outline: This short course will introduce students to the structure and development of flowers, with a focus on floral diversity and evolution and the significance of flowers for systematics. Major plant families will be identified within the framework of the main lineages of seed plants to understand their evolution and diversification. Additionally, students will learn to analyse, describe, and study the structure of inflorescences, flowers, and fruits, and based on their observations, to identify the main evolutionary patterns underlying their tremendous morphological diversity, as well as their potential pollination and dispersal mechanisms. Course objectives and learning outcomes: Through this course students will acquire the following skills: - a guide to identifying plants using morphological characters in the context of the molecular classification system. - a better understanding of the origin and evolution of floral structures, including their importance for classification, and of the main developmental patterns and evolutionary trends which underlie the tremendous diversity of reproductive structures. - an ability to observe and recognise key characters through the study of live floral material and the building up of floral diagrams. Course outline: Daily activities will be in the following format: 9-12 Lecture, seminar and discussion of paper. 12-13 Lunch break 13-18 Plant collecting and observation. Monday 3 June: Student presentations - introduction to morphology of vegetative structures and flowers, inflorescence and flower structure (floral diagrams and formulas). Tuesday 4 June: Overview of major groups of flowering plants; major characteristics of Flowers and special attributes (phyllotaxis, aestivation, merism, symmetry, floral tubes and hypanthia). Wednesday 5 June: Floral evolution from the ANITA grade to Mesangiosperms I Thursday 6 June: Floral evolution from the ANITA grade to Mesangiosperms II Friday 7 June: Monocot evolution: variations on a theme Saturday 8 June: Basal eudicots and rise of the core eudicots Sunday 9 June: Visit of the paleontological collections of the Museum of Natural Sciences Monday 10 June: Rosid diversification I Tuesday 11 June: Rosid diversification II Wednesday 12 June Rosid-Asterid transition Thursday 13 June: Asterid diversification I Friday 14 June: Asterid diversification II - Conclusions and wrap-up Recommended Textbooks and Reading: Please note that this list is not exhaustive, and that these books will be available in class: Endress, P.K. 1996. Diversity and evolutionary biology of tropical flowers. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Leins, P. & Erbar, C. 2010. Flower and fruit: morphology, ontogeny, phylogeny, function and ecology. Schweizerbart Science Publishers, Stuttgart. Ronse DeCraene LP. 2022. Floral Diagrams: An Aid to Understanding Flower Morphology and Evolution. 2nd Edition. Cambridge University Press. Simpson MG. 2019. Plant systematics. 3th Edition. Elsevier. Soltis DE, PS Soltis, PK Endress, MW Chase, S Manchester, W Judd, L Majure, E Mavrodiev. 2018. Phylogeny and evolution of angiosperms. Revised and updated edition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Disability Accommodation and dietary restrictions: If you have any special request due to any condition that may interfere with your access to the course, please let us know. Let us also know if you have any food allergies. Who we are: We are both experts in floral morphology and evolution. Louis has a strong expertise in the evolution of flowers within the framework of the most recent plant classification. He has developed a strong intuitive teaching method linking the understanding of floral evolution with the use of floral diagrams. He is particularly focused on developmental processes that influence the shape and diversity of flowers. Julien has a strong understanding of the origin of flowering plants and their relationship with other seed-plants by the study of early-diverging angiosperms and eudicots. He is especially interested in evolutionary processes underlying recurrent evolutionary convergences in structure and functions in plants, and the question of homology. The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is a charity registered in Scotland (No SC007983) | Support Us This notice applies to this email and to any other email subsequently sent by anyone at RBGE and appearing in the same chain of email correspondence. References below to "this email" should be read accordingly. This e-mail and its attachments (if any) are confidential, may be protected by copyright and may be privileged. If you receive this e-mail in error, notify us immediately by reply e-mail, delete it and do not use, disclose or copy it. Unless we expressly say otherwise in this e-mail, this e-mail does not create, form part of, or vary, any contractual or unilateral obligation. No liability is accepted for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan attachments (if any). Where this e-mail is unrelated to the business of RBGE, the opinions expressed within this e-mail are the opinions of the sender and do not necessarily constitute those of RBGE. RBGE emails are filtered and monitored. Louis Ronse De Craene (to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to golding@mcmaster.ca)