People are becoming “disconnected from the botanical world” at a time when plants could help solve global environmental problems, warn a group of research scientists.
People are becoming “disconnected from the botanical world” at a time when plants could help solve global environmental problems, warn a group of research scientists.
In a scientific paper published in the journal Ecology and Evolution, they say the problem has been exacerbated by schools and universities reducing their teaching of basic plant science, including plant identification and ecology.
They describe a self-accelerating cycle which risks “the extinction of botanical education,” where biology is taught predominantly by people with research interests in animal science.
One of the authors says postgraduate students starting master's courses in the biological sciences lack basic plant identification skills.
Read more at: University of Leeds
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