UC Summer Course - Practical Field Botany

Learning to carry out Recce vegetation surveys is taught during this course. Photo: Jesse Bythell

Summer Course - Practical Field Botany  (University of Canterbury)

Venue: University of Canterbury - Cass Mountain Research Area, Canterbury
Dates: 20-28 January 2015

Practical Field Botany (BIOL305) is an intensive, short summer course designed to meet the need for training in the collection, preparation, and identification of botanical specimens.

This course 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.

how to prepare high quality voucher specimens of plants is an important skill taught during this course. Photo: Xin Cheng

Goals of the course:

  • To enable participants to become familiar with the plants of the central Canterbury mountains
  • identify and name plants correctly and accurately using online and hard-copy identification keys
  • carry out Recce vegetation surveys
  • take and edit scientific-quality plant photos
  • maximise usefulness and minimise environmental impact when collecting specimens
  • prepare high quality voucher specimens of plants
  • use scientific names to access detailed information about New Zealand plants
  • understand the patterns of variation within populations
  • appreciate unique and unusual aspects of the New Zealand flora.

Please see the Course Outline for more detailed information.

Enrolment starts 7 October 2015

For enrolment, please call 0800 VARSITY (827 748) or email [email protected]

For further enquiries and help with enrolling, please contact me
Dr Pieter Pelser, Senior Lecturer in Plant Systematics and Curator of the University of Canterbury Herbarium (CANU)

School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: +64-3-364-2987 ext 45605