An Introduction to the

Science of Botany
 LEARNING OBJECTIVE 1

• Briefly describe the field of botany

• Give short definitions of at least five
subdisciplines of plant biology
• Briefly describe the history of botany
What is Botany?
• The study of plants ;
• also called plant biology

• The first people to specialize in the

study of botany were primitive
medicine men & witch doctors
• had to know the plants that could kill or
cure people.
• botany was closely linked with medicine
for hundreds of years.

•
 Branches

• Plant molecular biology

• Structures and functions of important
biological molecules (proteins, nucleic acids)

• Plant cell biology

• Structures, functions, and life processes of
plant cells
• Plant physiology
• How plants function (photosynthesis, mineral
nutrition) , metabolism

• Plant genetics
• Plant heredity and variation

• Plant Anatomy
• the structure of plants
Plant ecology
• Interrelationships among plants, and between
plants ands their environment studies of the
distribution of plants throughout the world, &
why certain species grow in certain places.

Paleobotany
• plant evolution & fossil remains.

Plant Pathology
• the study of plant diseases.
 Plants can be studied at many
different levels

• Cellular level

• Molecular level

• Ecological level
 History of Botany
• Prehistoric times No one knows where or
when plants first began to be used to treat
disease .
• Early evidence: the grave of a Neanderthal
man buried 60,000 years ago. Pollen
analysis indicated that plants buried with
the corpse were all of medicinal value
• Recorded history
4,000 year old Sumerian clay tablet
recorded numerous plant remedies

• Ebers Papyrus 1550 B.C. one of the oldest

most important and complete medical
papyrus recovered contains 700 magical
formulas and folk remedies
• Ancient China The Pun-tsao, a
pharmacopoeia published around 1600

• Ancient India Herbal medicine dates to the

Rig-Veda, the collection of Hindu sacred
verses This is the basis of a health care
system known as Ayurvedic medicine
• Foundations of western medicine

• Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.), the Father

of Medicine
• Theophrastus - Father of Botany
Roman physician
• Dioscorides (1st century A.D.) wrote De
Materia Medica
• During the Middle Ages Western
knowledge preserved in monasteries
Manuscripts were translated or copied for
monastery libraries

• Age of herbals Beginning of Renaissance

in the early 15th century saw a renewal of
learning in all fields Botanically
• WHO encourages the practice and
improvement of traditional medicine for 75
to 85% of the world’s people still rely on
traditional medicine to provide basic
healthcare
 LEARNING OBJECTIVE 2

• Summarize and discuss the features of

plants and other organisms that
distinguish them from nonliving things
 Atoms
Hydrogen Oxygen
Biosphere

Molecule
Water
Ecosystem
Macromolecule
Community
Chloroplast

Organelle Population

Epidermis Cell

Organism

Tissue
Organ

Fig. 1-3, p. 9
Plant Cells
CHARACTERISTICS OF PLANTS

A) Plants are Highly ORGANIZED

Biological Organization (Molecular Level)

ATOM (smallest particle of an
element)
MOLECULE ( 2 or more atoms of a
single element or different elements)
MACROMOLECULES (large biological
molecules)
Biological Organization (Cellular Level)
ORGANELLES( formed compartments
of association of macromolecules;
associate to form the cell)
CELLS(smallest unit , basic building
blocks; )
TISSUES( association of cells that
perform specific functions)
ORGANS (functional units that perform
specific roles)
ORGANISMS (distinct living entities)
Biological Organization (Ecological Level)
POPULATION( groups of members of
the same species that live together in
the same area at the same time)
COMMUNITIES ( all populations of
different organisms that live and interact
within an area)
ECOSYSTEM ( community together
with its nonliving environment)
BIOSPHERE ( all of earth’s ecosystem)
Biosphere

• The thin layer of

Earth’s crust with the
atmosphere & ocean
layers that support

LIFE that includes:

• All plant and animal life

• The things that sustain life: air, soil and water.
• It includes a variety of ecosystems that are connected by natural
cycles
• ATMOSPHERE – a light blanket of air
enveloping the earth, with more than half its
mass within 4 miles of the surface and 98%
within 16 miles
• HYDROSPHERE --- the surface and
subsurface waters in oceans, rivers, lakes,
glaciers, and groundwater,
• LITHOSPHERE --- the upper reaches of
the earth's crust containing the soils that
support plant life, the minerals that plants
and animals require for life and the fossil
fuels and ores that humans exploit
B. Plants takes in and use ENERGY
• PHOTOSYNTHESIS
• Biological process that includes capture of
light energy and its transformation into
chemical energy of organic molecules that are
manufactured from carbon dioxide and water

• CELLULAR RESPIRATION
• Cellular process in which energy of organic
molecules is released for biological work
• PHOTOSYNTHESIS
• Process by which plants & certain other
Organisms use solar energy to make
food
• by transforming carbon dioxide & water into
sugars (carbohydrates) that store chemical
energy.
• Also very important:

Oxygen is released in the process

All life depends on photosynthesis

• FOOD MOLECULES broken down in
the presence of oxygen ….example is
GLUCOSE.

• PLANTS obtain ENERGY via cellular

respiration
 C. Plants respond to STIMULI
a. Changes in direction
b. Color change
c. Changes in temperature
d. Orientation toward gravity
e. Chemical composition of the surrounding
soil, air or water
Root Growth and Gravity
Response to Stimuli
D. Plants undergo GROWTH and
DEVELOPMENT
GROWTH an increase in the size and mass
of an organism.
• An increase in the number of cells and size of cells

DEVELOPMENT the changes in plant from

the start of life through its immature stage
through its mature stage , to its death
Germination of a Seed
Mature Tree
 E. Plants form new individuals
by REPRODUCTION

Asexual Reproduction

Sexual Reproduction
Asexual Reproduction
 F. Plants transmits INFORMATION

• Genes
• Units of heredity (characteristics of an
organism are encoded)
• Composition:
• DNA molecules transmit genetic information
from one generation to the next in plants and
other organisms
G. Plant populations undergo
GENETIC CHANGES
EVOLUTION
• Plants and other organisms evolve from
generation to generation
• Populations change or adapt to survive in
changing environments

NATURAL SELECTION
• Mechanism of evolution (Charles Darwin)
• Tendency of organisms that have favorable
adaptations to their environment to survive
and become parents of next generation
Adaptation
 LEARNING OBJECTIVE 3

• Distinguish among the six kingdoms and

three domains, and give representative
organisms for each
 KEY TERMS
• KINGDOM
• A broad taxonomic category made up of
related phyla; many biologists currently
recognize six kingdoms of living organisms

• DOMAIN
• A taxonomic category that includes one or
more kingdoms
Euglena
 Six-Kingdom Classification

1. Archaea

2. Bacteria

3. Protista
• protozoa, algae, water molds, slime molds
 Six-Kingdom Classification

4. Fungi
• molds, yeasts

5. Animalia

6. Plantae
 Three-Domain Classification
• Archaea
• Kingdom archaea

• Bacteria
• Kingdom bacteria

• Eukarya
• All other kingdoms
Three Domains:
Bacteria Archaea Eukarya

Six Kingdoms:
Bacteria Archaea Protista Plantae Animalia Fungi

Prokaryotes (lack Prokaryotes; Eukaryotes; Eukaryotes; Eukaryotes; Eukaryotes;

membrane-bound unicellular; mainly multicellular; multicellular; most
organelles); microscopic; unicellular or photosynthetic; heterotrophic; multicellular;
unicellular; most live in simple life cycle with most move heterotrophic;
most are extreme multicellular; alternation of about by absorb
heterotrophic environments; maybe generations; muscular nutrients;
(obtain food by differ in heterotrophic cell walls of contraction; do not photo-
eating other biochemistry or photosynthetic; cellulose nervous synthesize;
organisms), and in cell wall include protozoa, system cell walls of
but some are structure algae, and slime coordinates chitin
photosynthetic or from bacteria molds responses to
chemosynthetic stimuli
Fig. 1-11, p. 14
• Carl Linnaéus
• father of the “2 name-
naming” system
(binomial nomenclature)
• He invented it in 18th
century
• It’s still used to give
scientific names to all
species, plant and
otherwise
• SPECIES
• A group of organisms with similar structural
and functional characteristics
• In nature, they breed only with one another
and have a close common ancestry
Classification (Binomial System)
 Life is dependent upon Plants
• Serve as primary food source
• Serve as fuel source
• Replenish oxygen supply
• Prevent soil erosion
• Cool the atmosphere
• Provide wildlife habitat
• Serve as drug source
• Beautify our surroundings
 Plant Life Cycles
• (1) Annuals complete their life cycle in one
year or
growing season (e.g., pansies, marigolds).
• (2) Biennials complete their life cycle in
two
years, typically dying after flowering in their
second year (e.g., carrots, foxgloves).
• (3) Perennials live more than two years,
often flowering many times. They can be
herbaceous or woody (e.g., milkweeds,
pines).

• Monocarpic plants flower once, then die,

whereas
Polycarpic plants flower many times in
their lifecycle (e.g., bamboos versus oaks).
 Plant Growth Forms
• (1) Herbs are erect plants that die back to
the ground at the end of the growing
season.
• (2) Shrubs are erect plants with several
main stems that persist aboveground and
are < 12 feet tall.
• (3) Trees are erect plants with a single
main stem (trunk) that persists
aboveground and are >12 feet tall.
• (4) Vines and lianas are plants with long,
trailing stems that may climb by various
means
 LEARNING OBJECTIVE 4

• Summarize the main steps in the scientific

method, and explain how science differs
from many other human endeavors
 The Scientific Method
1. Recognize a problem
• or an unanswered question

2. Develop a hypothesis
• to explain the problem

3. Design and perform an experiment

• to test the hypothesis
 The Scientific Method

4. Analyze and interpret the data

• to reach a conclusion

5. Share new knowledge

• with the scientific community
 KEY TERMS
• HYPOTHESIS
• An educated guess (based on previous
observations) that may be true and is testable
by observation and experimentation

• THEORY
• A widely accepted explanation supported by a
large body of observations and experiments