2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013

Questions and Answers: 2022

Question: Hi, my name is Chloe and I'm here to ask questions for my high school research project. The first question …

• Question

  Hi, my name is Chloe and I'm here to ask questions for my high school research project. The first question is what kind of work do you do as a botanist? The next is what do you like and dislike about your work? The last question is what is your advice for future botanists? Thank you!

  Answer

  Dear chloev, good afternoon. I am a plant taxonomist, so I study plant identification and classification. As part of this work, I teach people how to identify plants and use that skill to locate and survey for rare species. I'm fortunate as there isn't much that I actually dislike about this work. Sometimes we have to work in difficult conditions (e.g., precipitation, heat, biting insects), but I don't mind these things. Future botanists should be aware that as apps and technology increases for identification help, people are losing their skill at identifying plants. With this comes a loss of detailed knowledge of plants and their morphology--which also impacts our ability to interact with plants in other ways (such as for food and medicine). Intimate knowledge of plants comes from many years of study--not the newest smartphone app. I hope this helps.