Botany
Botany (sometimes referred to as plant science(s) or plant biology) is the branch of biology concerned with the scientific study of plants. It covers a wide range of scientific disciplines that study the growth, reproduction, metabolism, development, diseases, and evolution of plant life.
Scope and motivation of botany
As with other life forms in biology, plant life can be studied at a variety of levels, from the molecular, genetic and biochemical level through to organelles, cells, tissues, organs and the biodiversity of whole plants. At the top end of this scale, plants can be studied in populations, communities and ecosystems (as in ecology). At each of these levels a botanist might be concerned with the classification (taxonomy), structure (anatomy), or function (physiology) of plant life.
Historically, botanists studied all organisms that were not generally regarded as animal. Some of these "plant-like" organisms include: fungi (studied in mycology); bacteria and viruses (studied in microbiology); and algae (studied in phycology). Organisms in these three groups—most algae, fungi, and microbes—are no longer considered to be in the plant kingdom. However, attention is still given to them by botanists; and bacteria, fungi, and algae are usually covered, somewhat superficially, in introductory botany courses.
So why study plants? Plants are utterly fundamental to life on earth. They generate the oxygen, food, fibres, fuel and medicine that allow human and other life to exist. A good understanding of plants is crucial to the future of our society as it allows us to...
Feed the world
Virtually all of the food we eat comes from plants, either directly from staple foods and other fruit and vegetables, or indirectly through livestock we eat which in turn rely on plants for food. In other words, plants are at the base of nearly all food chains, or what ecologists call the first trophic level. Understanding how plants produce the food we eat through reactions like photosynthesis is therefore important to be able to feed the world and provide food security for future generations. Not all plants are beneficial to humans, weeds are a considerable problem in agriculture and botany can provide the basic science in order to understand how to minimise their impact.
Understand fundamental processes
Plants are exceptionally convenient organisms in which fundamental processes (like cell division and protein synthesis for example) can be studied, without the ethical dilemmas of studying animals or humans. The genetic laws of inheritance were discovered in this way by Gregor Mendel who was studying the way pea shape is inherited. What Mendel learnt from studying plants has had far reaching benefits outside of botany.
Utilise medicine and materials
Many of our medicinal and recreational drugs come from the plant kingdom. Aspirin, which originally came from the bark of willow trees, is just one example. There may be many novel cures for diseases provided by plants, waiting to be discovered. Popular stimulants like coffee, chocolate and tea also come from plants. All of the alcoholic beverages in their many forms, come from fermenting plants.
Plants also provide us with many natural materials. Cotton, wood, paper, linen, some types of rope and rubber are just a few examples that we often take for granted.
Understand environmental impact
Plants can also help us understand our impact on the environment in many ways. Disciplines such as plant systematics and taxonomy help to ensure that, when we discuss environmental problems like endangered species and possible solutions, we literally know what we are talking about. Other environmental issues such as the ozone hole can be monitored by understanding plant responses to ultraviolet radiation. Research into climate change is partly dependent on plants, through pollen analysis which can help scientists to reconstruct past climates and predict future ones. So in many different ways, plants can act a bit like the miners canary, alerting us to our impact on the environment.
In addition to the practical reasons above, plants are extremely valuable as recreation for millions of people who enjoy gardening, horticultural and culinary uses of plants everyday.
History
Early Botany
Among the earliest of botanical works, written around 300 BC, are two large treatises by Theophrastus: On the History of Plants (Historia Plantarum) and On the Causes of Plants. Together these books constitute the most important contribution to botanical science during antiquity and on into the Middle Ages. The Roman medical writer, Dioscorides, provides important evidence on Greek and Roman knowledge of officinal plants.
In 1665, using an early microscope, Robert Hooke discovered cells in cork; a short time later in living plant tissue. The German Leonhart Fuchs, the Swiss Conrad Gessner, and the British authors Nicholas Culpeper and John Gerard, published herbals that gave information on the officinal uses of plants.
Modern Botany
A considerable amount of new knowledge today is being generated from studying model plants like Arabidopsis thaliana. This mustard weed was one of the first plants to have its genome sequenced. Other more commercially important plants like rice, wheat, maize and soybean are also having their genomes sequenced, although these are more challenging because they have more than one copy of their chromosomes, a condition known as polyploidy. The "Green Yeast" Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (a single-celled, green alga) is another plant model organism that has been extensively studied and provided insights into cell biology.
See also
- Biology
- Agriculture, horticulture, forestry and soil science
- Ethnobotany, paleobotany and dendrochronology
- Plants, trees, fruit, and vegetables
- Herbs and spices
- Seeds, stratification and germination.
- List of vegetables
- List of flowers
- List of botanists
- List of botanical gardens
- List of plant science research institutions