Where is botany

There are MS degrees in botany at the major universities in most states and botany graduates can enter many fields and with its popularity in decline while still requiring the skills, graduates with a BS should experience little difficulty obtaining employment in their chosen field. Botany graduates enter a diverse range of fields from science communication to agriculture , weed control to soil science , and landscape studies and conservation to teaching biology in our high schools 1.

As with most research roles, a Master's Degree is typically expected. It includes anything that could be considered a plant, including flowering plants, algae, fungi and vascular plants such as ferns. It generally includes trees 2 but more often than not and increasingly, this is a specialised area. Today, it is part of a wider study of ecology and all the attributes of natural science that that implies 6. Botany is surprisingly useful in areas we wouldn't automatically consider it to have applications.

Many of our early medicines come from plant extracts; aspirin developed as a result of the study of rotting tree bark and penicillin came from mould 3. With the effects of climate change expected to have a profound effect on our the world around us, especially on plants as we rely on them to provide carbon sinks amongst other things, the need to study botany is as important today as it ever was 4.

Learn more about how to become a botanist. Sponsored Content History of Botany Though the science botany as we understand it today starting out during the period of European colonialism as an area of study by landowners of the plants and trees on their land and the exotic specimens they would bring back from their travels, human interest in plants goes back much further. Arguably, it is the dawn of the Neolithic Revolution some 12, years ago and even beyond that when humans sought to identify plants with healing properties, their growing seasons, those that could or could not be eaten, how to selectively breed them for hardiness or larger yields, fruits and vegetables have all been vital to our social development.

Even before there was science as we understand it, humanity has studied plants scientifically and it was this knowledge that drive the Agricultural Revolution 5 in developing crops amongst other things.

Civilisation means surplus society, and when we refer to surplus we usually mean crops - through the near Middle East, civilisation spread out and it is mostly due to developing farming methods of the Neolithic.

Ancient Greece and Rome were periods of great learning and it is no wonder then that there are prominent figures that drove the science forward as best they could. Nor is study limited to western civilisation, Chinese civilisation made about the same sort of progress as Greek civilisation around the same time and there may have been some trade of knowledge thanks to The Silk Road.

For the next years, there would be little development and most botanical studies were limited to places of learning such as universities and monasteries. Physic gardens were popular at some of the largest monasteries in the Christian world and these were vital for what limited research went on into the medical attributes of plants - most of this knowledge though was what had been passed on from Greek and Roman civilisation 7.

As with many sciences, the Renaissance and Reformation and the dawn of the Enlightenment opened up plant study. The microscope was invented in the late 16 th century which allowed us to study plants like never before 6 - including the smaller parts such as phytoliths and pollen.

Not only could we learn about the plants themselves, but also study their reproduction, metabolism and other aspects that had until then, been closed off to us. Not only were researchers interested in the science, but average people were starting to enjoy plants in themselves rather than purely for functional reasons.

Public gardens were founded all over the western world and rich landowners turned over vast tracts of land for parks and gardens 7.

When originally opened, most botanic gardens were dedicated to classification, labelling and the trading of seeds. Today, these are vital research centres often tied to universities. The BSA Botanical Society of America was founded in and though at the time the organisation accepted members from USA and Canada, today it is one of the foremost botanical organisations with members all over the world 8. It is during this century that many other countries established botanical societies thanks to the growing interest in plants and the gaining momentum of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

Botany has seen resurgence in the last few decades thanks to a growing awareness of the effects of climate change. We may have learnt much about most individual plants but in the coming years they will be vital in teaching us about the ecology of the future 7. Botany today is such a large and varied area and has many important uses in a wide variety of disciplines, that it has evolved several niches and offshoots.

The most notable are as follows, but this list is not exhaustive:. It is often tragedy that drives scientific discovery and the Irish Potato Blight of the 19 th century is the one period where most advances in research of plant diseases were made - many researchers put their efforts into plant pathology - the reasons should be obvious, if disease wipes out a large proportion of a staple crop then people starve.

With Potato Blight, the tuber or the roots rot, rendering the whole crop useless. The mass spread of this disease caused one of the greatest famines anywhere in the western world and has never been seen since. Today, plant pathology is still a vital component of botany as we attempt to adapt crops to the changing climate and keep one step ahead of evolving diseases. An ongoing research problem for plant pathologists is how to tackle the many diseases that threaten bananas.

The limited genetic make-up and the seedless nature of modern cultivars means that several types have already gone extinct and several others remain under threat Plant pathology is vital to understanding disease as well as the potential problems caused by climate change. Plant ecology differs from botany in that it is more concerned with how plants interact with their environment - with and in soils, with animal species, how it reacts to ecological change such as climate change and many more issues of the wider landscape This is vital in a world understanding and adapting to climate change in working out how to breed or otherwise alter our staple plants to survive and adapt to changing environments.

Each has its own ecological profile, and balanced plant and animal life and how these interact is as important as each plant's profile in order that we can understand their evolution.

Botany Bay is located in the county of Greater London, London, three miles east of the town of Potters Bar, 11 miles south-east of the major city of St Albans, and 11 miles north of London. Botany Bay lies just south of the Hertfordshire border, and was historically in the county of Middlesex.

It is in the EN2 postcode district. The post town for Botany Bay is Enfield. Botany Bay is in the ceremonial county of Greater London, the historic county of Middlesex, and the administrative county of Greater London. Botany Bay is situated towards the northernmost extremity of Greater London, and roughly centrally between the easternmost and westernmost extremities of Greater London.

Botany Bay is situated roughly centrally between the southernmost and northernmost extremities of the EN2 postcode district, and towards the westernmost extremity of the EN2 postcode district. Botany Bay is in the EN2 postcode district, which corresponds to the post town of Enfield. The centre of Botany Bay is located at position Position of Botany Bay relative to nearby towns. Distance is measured from the centre of Botany Bay to the centre of the town.

Position of Botany Bay relative to nearby cities. Distance is measured from the centre of Botany Bay to the centre of the city. By accessing our site you agree to us using cookies, and sharing information about your use of our site, in accordance with our privacy policy.

This site uses cookies to analyze traffic and for ads measurement purposes. Botany Bay Where is Botany Bay? Botany Bay on a map Bounding box showing extent of Botany Bay. Location of Botany Bay within the UK. Source: Ordnance Survey Open Names. Licence: Open Government Licence. Source: Ordnance Survey County Boundaries. Location of Botany Bay within Greater London.