Summer Intensive Lecture 2022 #1: Dr. Diego Vasques from the University of Tokyo

Dr. Diego Tavares Vasques from the University of Tokyo gave a summer intensive lecture, "Introduction to Plants Systematics and Taxonomy" on August 8th and 9th. Here is the comment from Dr. Vasques.

In the Special Lecture in Biology “ Introduction to Plants Systematics and Taxonomy “, students learned basic key-concepts of evolution and plants diversity (important to understanding many other subfields in Biology) connecting it to practice experiences in this field. This year, the two-days lecture covered various topics in Plants Taxonomy, starting with a historical overview of the field of study. After studying the history of Taxonomy, students learned how to describe and measure morphological features in plants, using a virtual herbarium designed for this course. With the morphological data in hands, we had a demonstration of how data is sorted and compared for phylogenetic studies. On the second day, we had a visit to the Makino Herbarium, where important plants collections are deposited and available for research. At the end of the course, students worked in groups on designing an original research project in Plants Systematics and Taxonomy. The two days of course were very intense, but students showed great commitment and interest on the studies.