This is a 200-level course. Make sure you have the necessary background.

The prerequisite for this course is an introductory college biology course such as Biology 105, The Facts of Life, as taught at Rutgers University-Camden. This means I am assuming you know some basic information about living organisms in general so that we can focus on plants in particular. That is, even though the textbook we are using (Introductory Botany: Plants, People & The Environment by Linda Berg) has chapters dealing with basic college biology, we will omit that information in this course because I will assume you already are familiar with it (of course you can always consult that information to refresh your memory).

Here is a list of the "background" topics with which you should be familiar.

The chemical composition of cells:
Atoms, ions, acids, bases, pH, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, DNA, enzymes, and ATP.

Cell structure and function:
Eukaryotic versus prokaryotic cells, organelles, membranes, and the ways in which materials are transported into and out of cells, such as diffusion, osmosis, facilitated diffusion, and active transport.

Cell metabolism:
Aerobic respiration (i.e., glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, and the electron transport chain), and fermentation.

The molecular basis of inheritance:
DNA, chromosomes, genes, protein synthesis, and mutations.

Mitosis and meiosis:
Haploid versus diploid cells, asexual versus sexual cell division.

Patterns of inheritance:
Mendelian genetics, monohybrid and dihybrid crosses.

Evolution:
Charles Darwin, natural selection, origin of species, and extinction.