Undergraduate Teaching in Botany

Why Choose Botany?

Why conserve tropical rain forests? Which plant is the ancestor of the flowering plants? What can the DNA tell us about plant systematics? How did ancient Irish forests react to climate change? What will happen to Irish grasslands as carbon dioxide concentrations rise and the climate changes over the next century? How do soil organisms contribute to soil fertility and structure? How do you explain patterns of vegetation? Is it safe to use genetically modified crops? How can we conserve Irish bogs? Why do some plants grow faster than others? Why some plant families have more species than others? These are all questions for the modern Botanist and the Botany course should help you to provide some of the solutions. Click here for more information about the scientific study of plants.

The Department has eight teaching staff, who all contribute to mandatory courses in the JS year, and optional courses in both JS and SS years. Their main areas of interest are as follows:

• Dr. Trevor Hodkinson - Plant Molecular Biology & Systematics
• Prof. Mike Jones - Plant Ecophysiology
• Dr. Daniel Kelly - Plant Ecology
• Dr. Fraser Mitchell - Quaternary Ecology
• Prof. John Parnell - Plant Taxonomy
• Dr. Jane Stout - Plant-Animal Interactions
• Dr. Steve Waldren - Conservation Biology & Biometry
• Dr. Mike Williams - Plant Cell Biology