BOTANY LECTURE

INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY

BOTANY: The scientific study of plants; also called plant biology.

Importance of Botany
 Green plants form the basis for all life on earth. Plants are the most important larger
autotrophs.
 Plants are our primary food sources all food is dependent on plants (animal protein mostly comes from
domesticated animals that are fed plant materials).
 Green plants form the basis for all life on earth. Plants provide the primary source of
building materials-lumber cellulose for paper fibers for clothing.
 The fuel we use to power our cars, homes, and industries (natural gas, oil, and coal) is the
product of fossilized ancient deposits of plants.
 All medicines and drugs originally came from plants and many still do.

History of Botany
 Early humans were hunter/gatherers, they had no domesticated crops or animals.
 Early humans in North America (13,000-9000 B.C.) hunted large game, such as giant ground sloths.
 For various reasons (climate change, overhunting of big game animals, increased food supply),
agriculture developed around 8,000 b.c.
 Agriculture involves the selection of certain plants, the propagation of those plants, and the selection of
desired traits in those plants.
 An example is the wild relative of wheat. The wild relative of wheat in the middle east has a seed coat
that does not separate from the grain very easily. Modern varieties of wheat are easily separated,
suggesting that the ease of harvest, especially by manual labor, was a trait that was selected for by early
humans.
 Another wheat trait that varies is shattering of the seed head-the wild form shatters easily, the cultivated
form does not
 Early scientists Aristotle, 384 B.C., a Greek philospher, was also a botanist. Founded the
first botanical garden of historical record.
 When he died, Theophrastus continued to studied plants and wrote many articles including History of
Plants and Causes of Plants.
 In the 2nd century A.D., Pliny Historia naturalis listed known medical uses of plants
 Dioscorides- Materia medica was the first book with illustrations of plants.
 These books are known as herbals, as they deal primarily with the medical use of plants.
 During the dark ages, there was little new knowledge added about plants.
 The herbals were studied by herbalists, who developed a theory that held that a plant part
that resembled a human part should be used to treat associated diseases.
 The development of the microscope led to the modern exploration of plant structure and
function.

Fields of Botany

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).
Plant genetics: Plant heredity and variation.
Plant ecology: Interrelationships among plants, and between plants and their environment.
Plant taxonomy and systematics: Oldest branch of botany. It is concerned with the naming of species and
describing the evolutionary relationship of species to each other.
Plant geography: Study of the geographic distribution of plants.
Plant morphology: Form and structure of plants.
Cytology: Cell biology (cell structure and function).

Plant breeding and Genomics

 Developing plants that are resistant to pests, droughts, and pollution using plants to produce
pharmaceutical chemicals through genetic engineering (biopharming)
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 This will be from both traditional breeding programs where certain traits are selected and from genetic
engineering.
 Plants may be used in removing pollutants from water and soil

Future roles of botany and botanical scientists

 New medical uses of plants may be developed from studying native peoples uses of wild plants.
 Plants will be an important component of space exploration for both oxygen generation and food
supply.

LEVELS OF BIOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION

Characteristics of Living Things

1. Organization
Plants and other organisms are highly organized with cells as their basic building blocks .
2. Energy
Plants and other organisms take in and use energy.
 Plant Cells -the basic functional and structural building block of living things.
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 • All living
things get the energy they need to live from a chemical reaction called respiration. This process needs
glucose as a starting point.
• respiration and photosynthesis are opposites.

Importance of Photosynthesis
The process is as important for the humans and animals as it is for plants. Other than glucose,
which is an important source of carbohydrates, even proteins, fats, and water-soluble sugars are the
products of photosynthesis. We cannot produce these nutrients on our own, and hence have to depend
BOTANY LECTURE
directly on plants, or other animals (which feed on these plants) to derive them. Plants, being the only
producers, have a crucial role to play in any food chain.
3. Interaction with environment
Plants respond to stimuli in their environment • Plants undergo growth and development.
4. Reproduction
Plants form new individuals by asexual or sexual reproduction.
Root Growth and Gravity
Response to Stimuli
Germination
Asexual Reproduction
5. Heredity
DNA molecules transmit genetic information from one generation to the next in plants and other
organisms.
6. Evolution
Plants and other organisms evolve.
7. Populations change or adapt to survive in changing environments
Adaptation

KEY TERMS:
DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID (DNA)
A nucleic acid present in a cell’s chromosomes that contains genetic information
EVOLUTION
Cumulative genetic changes in a population of organisms from generation to generation
NATURAL SELECTION
Mechanism of evolution (Charles Darwin)
 Tendency of organisms that have favourable adaptations to their environment to survive and become
parents of next generation.

Six-Kingdom Classification
1. Archaea
2. Bacteria
3. Protista (protozoa, algae, water molds, slime molds)
4. Fungi (molds, yeasts)
5. Animalia
6. Plantae
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Three-Domain Classification
1. Archaea (Kingdom archaea)
2. Bacteria (Kingdom bacteria)
3. Eukarya (All other kingdoms)

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
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.