I think that’s on the right track. I’ve always thought of the trend away from “botany” as a product of our trend away from an organismal approach to biology. We focus much more now on training students to be geneticists, molecular biologists, or ecologists, instead of botanists, zoologists, or microbiologists. We still have departments of “plant biology” but I think the number of majors in “plant bio” or “botany” are declining, while the number of majors in “Biology” is increasing. And, I bet many of those who are majoring in “plant biology” are now largely being trained in a more specialized manner than the classic botany degree.
-- Christopher R. Dolanc Assistant Professor of Biology Mercyhurst University 501 East 38th Street Erie, PA 16546 Phone: 814-824-2540 email: cdol...@mercyhurst.edu From: "Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news" <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU<mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU>> on behalf of Chris Elvidge <chris.k.elvi...@gmail.com<mailto:chris.k.elvi...@gmail.com>> Reply-To: Chris Elvidge <chris.k.elvi...@gmail.com<mailto:chris.k.elvi...@gmail.com>> Date: Thursday, November 19, 2015 at 12:21 AM To: "ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU<mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU>" <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU<mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU>> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] plant science vs. botany Hi all, Just throwing this out there - "botanist" and "zoologist" imply to me that one claiming the title is familiar with the full range of taxa within their domain. I call myself a "fish ecologist" instead of an "ichthyologist" because while I know some species very well, I wouldn't claim to know them all - even at a family level. Chris K. Elvidge, PhD NSERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow Department of Biology Carleton University 1125 Colonel By Drive Ottawa ON K1S 5B6 www.fecpl.ca<http://www.fecpl.ca> Office: CTTC 4440K (613) 520-2600 ex. 8313 Mail: 209 Nesbitt Biology Building On 18 Nov 2015 10:31 pm, "Jeff Davis" <jnda...@ucsc.edu<mailto:jnda...@ucsc.edu>> wrote: The Apple (computer) Dictionary defines botany as "the scientific study of plants, including their physiology, structure, genetics, ecology, distribution, classification, and economic importance.” Sounds about right to me. But presumably for matters of perception, most universities seem to have abandoned Botany in favor of Plant Biology or Plant Science when it comes to naming departments, majors, and courses. Should we anticipate a similar fate for Ecology? Ecological Sciences anyone? Jeff Davis UC Santa Cruz On Nov 18, 2015, at 4:30 PM, Alexandra Thorn <m...@alexandrathorn.com<mailto:m...@alexandrathorn.com>> wrote: It's an interesting question. I think of "botany" as being specifically about phylogeny and characterizing how different plant species are different from one another and why. Other plant sciences have other domains in my mind, e.g. "plant physiology" is about the functional attributes of plants that might translate among species (just as in animal physiology humans and mice have basically the same organs), and "plant ecology" is about the relationships among plant species and between plant species and other organisms. My biology doctorate drew heavily on plant physiology and I feel fine saying that my degree was in plant biology, plant ecology, or plant physiology, but if somebody calls me a botanist I tend to think they're attributing credentials to me that I really don't have. Alexandra P.S. I am bothered by how the term "botany" is used in the novel "The Martian." I'm pretty sure that "horticulture" would be a better job description, but I haven't looked up whether words are just used differently by NASA and friends... On Wed, 18 Nov 2015 16:26:04 -0500 Thomas Wentworth <twen...@ncsu.edu<mailto:twen...@ncsu.edu>> wrote: Hi Chris, Our Department at NC State University changed its name from Botany to Plant Biology (not Plant Science) a number of years ago. We did so primarily because of a perception that the public sees "botany" as an antiquated term, not inclusive of the vibrant programs in our department, which cover the plant realm from molecules to ecosystems. We also believed that prospective student searching for "botany" programs were more likely to use keywords like "plant" and "biology." We avoided "Plant Science" because we thought that too inclusive of ALL plant studies, given that at NC State (a Land Grant university) we still have departments of Crop Science, Horticulture, Plant Pathology, Forestry, etc. Tom Wentworth On 11/18/2015 1:00 PM, Christopher Graham wrote: Hi Malcolm, Interesting question. I studied in the plant biology department at the University of Georgia, which until recently had been the botany department. My understanding (and I think this was corroborated by certain faculty members) was that the change reflected the gradual shift from "traditional" botanists, who studied plants at a macroscopic or organismal level and thus were facile with (at least some members of) the regional flora; to academics who focused at the cellular or molecular level to such a degree that many of them do not particularly know or care about the real, wild plants growing around them. I don't doubt that these plant scientists do important things, but it's a shame to me that the former type, the traditional botanist, has been largely displaced by them. chris ----- Original Message ----- From: "Malcolm McCallum" <malcolm.mccallum.ta...@gmail.com<mailto:malcolm.mccallum.ta...@gmail.com>> Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2015 12:52:32 PM Subject: plant science vs. botany Over the past several years I have noticed a trend that plant-focused vacancies will refer to the vacancy as plant science and less frequently what used to be typically referred to as zoology will be instead referred to as animal science. When I was an undergraduate, agronomy, pomology, forestry, and course related to agriculture were designated plant science. Agricutlure courses like dairy science, feedlot management, swine management, animal nutrition and the like were designated animal science. The current widespread lack of distinction between zoology vs. animal science, and botany vs. plant science creates a lot of confusion, and doesn't really make any sense to me. Is there a reason that people have stopped using the term zoology/botany and in its stead began using animal science/plant science? It seems like an inappropriate muddying of the academic waters to me. A Plant Scientist and a Botanist are not the same thing, nor is an animal scientist and a zoologist the same thing. Although some people might cross these fields (a ruminant ecologist might cross these areas for example). I know most people probably couldn't care less about this, but I feel it is a pretty important issue. If we are not consistent with terminology, why should we expect students and others to take it seriously? Please feel free to contact me off list because some members of the ECOLOG discussion list get annoyed when it actually involves discussion, so be it.
