What is the importance of studying botany?

Introduction to Botany:

Botany may be defined as the science of plants. The word ‘Botany’ owes its origin from the greek words ‘bous (meaning cattle), ‘bouskein’ (making food for cattle i.e. fodder) or ‘botane’ (meaning herb or plant). Hence botany in general is the study of herbs plants.

Science was once considered to be ‘ organized knowledge’. It is a method of discovering facts applicable to the solution of problems. Science is also applied common sense. Two fundamentals of science are observation and experiment. Untrained and undirected observations have but little value in science. But observations that are specifically directed (when a student is asked to see, study, examine, draw, and describe in a laboratory) are on a slightly higher scientific level. When these observations are directed by the nature of the problem to be solved, their relationship to science becomes much more evident.

A botanist in his work may resemble a farmer and may seem to be doing similar work. But the essential difference is the purpose of their labour. While a farmer is engaged in the field in growing paddy, potatoes, tomatoes etc. to have a crop to sell, the botanist who may also be growing the same plants is interested in searching for informations about the behavior of these plants for solving the practical problems like yield increase, earliear or more abundant fruiting, disease resistance or responses of plants to environmental conditions etc.

The methodology of botany is that of science i.e. essentially it is a method of getting facts for solving problems or has arisen out of human curiosity about the plants combined with the need to survive. To solve the problems or obtain answers to questions concerning plant behavior, the botanist may have to work in the laboratory, field or farm.

He must also possess the techniques most likely to produce a solution to the problem. His existence depends upon his ability to recognize the plant he could use. There are about five lakhs species of plants and new species are being added every year. Each species is unique in its own way, whether or not it is of economic benefit to us. A scientific study of all these plants is the domain of botany.

In any scientific study the following steps are usually observed. The experimental method demands accurate observation, prediction or guess work, experiment, comparison and verification with a scope for correcting errors.

1. Observation-

Any enquiry must begin with direct or indirect observation. It is different from mere seeing. Observation can be repeated and critical observation requires training. Hand lenses, binoculars, microscopes etc. are some of the tools used in observing plants.

2. Defining a Problem:

Questions can be asked about ‘What’ ‘how’ and ‘Why’ concerning the observation.

3. Making a Hypothesis:

The possible answer to a question, from known facts and observations, involves a guess or prediction. The intelligent guess work that explains a possible solution to a problem or a group of interconnected statements is known as hypothesis. Experimentation is needed to test any hypothesis.

4. Experimenting or Testing:

A test or experiment is necessary wheather or not a prediction is correct. It is difficult to devise a suitable experiment, because if the experiment fails, the cause need to be analysed and experiment replanned. An experiment involves proper designing including control, suitable materials and accepted or established procedures, besides observation, analysis, interpretation of data and conclusion or inference.

Many biological problems have been solved by application of scientific methods. It is important to develop a scientific attitude to apply scientific methods to our problems of everyday life. These include a deep sense of curiosity, critical observation, keenness to reach the root of the problem and discover the truth, freedom from bias or prejudice, fearlessness and willingness to change on being convinced that change is necessary. All these constitute what is termed ‘scientific temper’.

The Methods of Science:

Anything capable of stirring human curiosity or imagination may serve as the starting point for scientific study. Therefore, recognition of a problem is the first step in science. The recognition of a problem entails not only observation of a phenomenon but also some prior knowledge that makes this observations significant to be observer.

While an artist walking through a potato field sees nothing but regular rows of green plants, a botanist in the same field is aware of many problems which involve the success or failure of the crop. The botanist may recognize the slight discoloration of some of some leaves as a symptom of disease. It is this combination of skill in observation and an awareness that comes from training which enables a scientist to recognize problems that may be solved by scientific methods.

There are two types of scientific methods:

a) Descriptive

And

b) Experimental.

The methods have one common characteristics i.e. wheather the details of the method, it is essential that another person of reasonable competence be able to repeat and check what has been done or observed. Conclusions are of no scientific value unless they can be verified.

a) Descriptive Methods:

Observation and description are the simplest, oldest and best known methods of science. In botany, direct observation and description are the applicable techniques. These involcve description, classification, identification etc. techniques have now been developed for sampling, observing and recording.

b) Experimental Methods:

Although botany originated as a descriptive science and now remains so to a large degree, it is making more and more use of experimental techiniques in the solution of both practical and theoretical problems. As the experimental approach has gained popularity., observational and descriptive techniques are looked upon with disfavor.

The facts of Science:

Scientific observations or experiments do not solve problems but provide verifiable facts that are applicable to their solution. An early step in scientific investigation is the formulation of a hypothesis or working theory or intelligent guess work. The question is analysed regarding the cause or relations of certain observed phenomena. When the hypothesis is supported by experimental or observational evidence, it becomes more firmly established and assumes the status of a theory. A theory that is substained by observational or experimental data over a period of time may become an established theory or natural law, which is accepted as being universally true.

Botany and all other sciences have made their progress through these methods of enquiry. Each step leads to some statement about natural phenomena, and it is expected that with each new statement the truth is more nearly approximated. Hence the growing body of organized varifiable knowledge thus accumulated till to-day constitutes the particular science in this case, botany. It is this growing knowledge that makes botanist aware of the many unsolved problems of plant life.

Botany and other Sciences:

Botanical knowledge is closely related to facts from many other sciences as all disciplines of science are interrelated. By probing deep into the mysteries of nature and the causes responsible for the occurrence of natural phenomena, increase of knowledge has been systematized. Nature comprises of two main components:

1) Living (biological)

And

(2) Non-living(Physical)

The word ‘biology’ is derived from the Greek word ‘bios’ means life and ‘logous’ meaning ‘discourse’ or ‘study’. Literally, therefore, biology means the science of living objects or life sciences to cover its wider scope. Hence biology is the science that studies life and living things, including the laws that govern the phenomena of life. Every aspect of life from the smallest sub-microscopic living particle to the largest and the most imposing of plant and animal species is included in the study of biology. Biology is a natural science because it is the study dealing with natural objects or phenomena.

There are two major divisions of Biology, namely

(a) Botany dealing with study of plants;

And

(b) Zoology (Greek, Zoon-Animal) dealing with the study of animals.

Physical sciences deal with study of non-living objects and energy, such as physics, chemistry, geology, etc.

A study of botany must include essential materials from the field of physics (on the physical nature of liquids and gases, on diffusion, laws of thermodynamics etc.); chemistry (nature of elements, compounds, colloids, catalyst, etc. ) and geology (fossils, plants of past and their evolution). Recognition of these inter-relationships among the biological and physical sciences have to the development of such combined fields of science as biophysics, biochemistry and paleobotany. Therefore, the approach to study biology has now become multidisciplinary and broad-based.