Botany

• Why study botany?

  Human and Animal Dependence on Plants
• Human and Animal Dependence on Plants

  • Food
  • Oxygen
  • Medicine
  • Industrial Uses
• Food - Plants are used in Agriculture
• Oxygen - Humans and animals depends on plants for oxygen
• Medicine - Traditional and modern medicine
• Industrial uses- Non-food products, renewable fuels, Structural materials and clothing
• Botany - the scientific study of plants
• Science - search for knowledge of the natural world
• Botany as a Science - The term Botany came from the three Greek words, botanikos (botanical), botane (plant or herb), and boskein (to feed)
• Botany as a Science - The first interest in plants were mostly practical and centered around how plants might provide food, fibers, fuel, and medicine.
• Botanists - are scientists who study plants.
• Diversification of Plant Study

  • Plant Anatomy
  • Plant Physiology
  • Plant Taxonomy
  • Plant Geography
  • Plant Ecology
  • Plant Morphology
  • Economic Botany
  • Ethnobotany
• Plant Anatomy - internal structure (strucutre of roots, stem, and other parts)
• Plant Physiology - function of the parts
• Plant Taxonomy - invovle of classifiction, naming, and describing
• Plant Geography - how and why plants are distributed as they are.
• Plant Ecology - interaction of plants with the environment in one another.
• Plant Morphology - form and structure of plats (external)
• Economic Botany - interaction of people with plants
• Ethnobotany - practical uses and community and region how they utilize the plants. (specific population)
• Composition and Structure - All living things have a complex organization
• Cell – the smallest unit that can perform all the activities associated with life
• Growth - an increase in mass accompanied by an increase in volume
• Reproduction - the process through which one organism give rise to a similar organism of its own kind
• Response to Stimuli - All living things are able to respond to stimuli in the external environment
• Metabolism - the collective product of all the biochemical reactions taking place within an organism
• Metabolism - The most important activities include respiration, photosynthesis, respiration, digestion and assimilation
• Movement - most plant movements, when compared with those of animals, are slow and imperceptible and are mostly related to growth phenomena
• Adaptation to the Environment - Living organisms respond to the air, light, water, and soil of their environment