Botanist
Planting life for posterity
Botanist can be described as professionals who strive to make this earth a better place’ quite literally! These persons devote extensive time to gathering depth knowledge about the ‘plant kingdom,’ like the variety of plants, their utility to animals and mankind, their life cycle of growth, reproduction and aging. It is the Conductive climatic conditions and places where they thrive, besides other facets. It is using their botanical research or findings that botanical research for findings that botanists help increases the quantity and better the quality of medicines, foods, fibres, building materials, and other plant products. In addition their efforts also assist conservationist to maintain parks and forests and aid environmental experts to solve environmental issues, better!
Qualities
Since Botany is a specialized subject with in Biology, it is important that within Botanists have a keen interest in biology. This part a knack for chemistry and mathematics is sure to be useful. Other necessary requisites include being passionate about nature, being fascinated by plants, having a scientific bent of mind, being objective, and having good communication skills. These apart being observant, meticulous, methodological, physically tough, curious, and mentally sharp and being an outdoor person, who is fond of traveling are important!
Qualification and training
As the saying goes, well begun is half done! So part early on your Botanical career. Cultivating hobbies like camping, photography and gardening participating in science exhibitions and being a member of the school/college nature and science clubs are good ways to begin. Other ways to train early are getting in touch with the botanical society or Horticulture society in your city, from where you can contact prominent Botanists and seek their guidance. Using the school or college library get to know which institutions offering the course are really good and which scholarships proves later. Having a good base in subjects like mathematics, chemistry, physics, and biology, English and social language is important. A simple graduation degree in Botany does not adequately equip a youngster for jobs higher that of a laboratory technician or technical assistants, however, with a master’s followed by a Doctorate degree greater opportunities for teaching, research and higher industry positions open up. While doing higher studies in the subject it is vital to simultaneously learn hands on work, that can done by doing internships at parts, plant nurseries, farms, experiment stations and laboratories.
Job profile and career prospects
The sphere of botany with its multifarious dimensions is one that offers tremendous scope for specification and research hence botanists can often be found specializing in diverse aspects of the subjects, from becoming ecologists, conversations, foresters, biophysics, pant pathologists to Horticulturists, besides other things . Botanists or plant Biologists as they are often called find work opportunities in high schools, colleges, universities, government agencies as teacher, professors, researchers and administrators. Employment avenues are also open to them in public and private sector companies dealing in medicines, chemicals, paper, growing fruits and flowers, breweries, extracting oil and biotechnology. These are a part opportunities also exist in union and state government, departments like agriculture, forestry, Environment, and nature conservancy.
Pros and cons
The pros of this field is that is has a lot of potential for growth and it is a constantly evolving one with individual freedom, opportunity to travel and be involved with greenery. The scope for research is also immense here with options to specialize. The working conditions whether in the outdoors or laboratory are pleasant. Here, one also gets to learn about the mysteries of the plant world, be one with nature, sometimes in exotic and beautiful outdoors. In addition people from diverse backgrounds with different kinds of inclinations, aptitudes, skills and interest find fulfilling careers in plant biology. Among its cons is the fact that work is sometimes physically strenuous and time taking especially in the case of research.
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