Botanist
?Job overview
?The term "Plant" covers a wide array of living organisms, including flowering plants, mosses, ferns and fungi, but also bacteria, algae and gymnosperms.
?What do people do in this profession?
?There are various careers in botany, each one centred on a specific sub-discipline:
?They work in herbaria where the collected plants are kept, but also collect plants in the field and work in laboratories or greenhouses where the systematics (chemistry, structure, population genetics and reproductive behaviour) of plants are studied.
?They study the different ways in which people make use of plants, whether for food, fibre, medicine etc.
?They are often involved in discovering plants and collecting economically profitable plants, re-vegetating exploited areas and conserving rare and endangered species.
?This often sheds light on the historical background of a certain region and can provide useful information for archaeology, ecology and systematics, of which palynology is a highly specialised branch.
?The pollen is identified through analysis with light- and electron microscopes.
?Sometimes palynologists are involved in forensic medicine and criminology because they can identify pollen on clothes, shoes and the body.
?Such studies are increasingly important because of the pressure placed on the provision of food by the growth of the human population.
?Plant physiologists play an important role in agriculture where drought-resistance, crop production, nutritional value, quality of food crops and germination, as well as the storage of seed and the production of fruit, are studied.
?Physiologists mainly work in laboratories, but also conduct growth studies on farmlands.
?Fungi play a significant role in food cycles in the various ecosystems.
?They cause decay in food and other natural products and are also important in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.
?Fungi often live in symbiosis with higher plants and play an important role in the ecology of the environment.
?The work is mainly done with the use of microscopy.
The first sub-discipline involves the? cultivation of crops.
?New plant varieties are developed and selected for productivity and resistance to diseases. The work involves both field experiments and laboratory work.
The second sub-discipline involves? plant population and evolutionary genetics.
?Research is done on plant systematics and conservation biology where the relations between different populations or species must be determined genetically.
?A thorough knowledge of the different insects used for the biological control of weeds is necessary.
?These scientists are involved in projects to rehabilitate areas taken over by weeds.
?Knowledge of ecology is also necessary.
?After weeds are destroyed mechanically or chemically, the area must be managed ecologically in order to prevent soil erosion and to ensure that another weed does not replace the one eradicated.
?Knowledge of ecology makes it possible to understand why weeds invade certain areas.
?What kinds of people are suitable for this career?
?People who have an interest in nature, an inquiring mind and who care for bio-diversity and conservation
?What qualifications are needed?
?A BSc with emphasis on botany is a basic requirement with, in addition, postgraduate studies in one of the areas indicated above.
