Skip to main content
Biology LibreTexts

1.1.6: Chapter Summary

  1. Last updated
  2. Save as PDF
  • Page ID
    37036

    • \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    Biology is the science that studies living organisms and their interactions with one another and their environments. Plant biology is the study of plants and their interactions with their environment. Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning “knowledge”) can be defined as knowledge of the physical or natural world through observation or experimentation. Science attempts to describe and understand the nature of the universe in whole or in part by rational means. Science has many fields; those fields related to the physical world and its phenomena are considered natural sciences.

    Scientists seek to understand the world and the way it operates. To do this, they use two methods of logical thinking: inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning uses particular results to produce general scientific principles. Deductive reasoning is a form of logical thinking that predicts results by applying general principles. The common thread throughout scientific research is the use of the scientific method, a step-based process that consists of making observations, defining a problem, posing hypotheses, testing these hypotheses, and drawing one or more conclusions. The testing uses proper controls. Scientists present their results in peer-reviewed scientific papers published in scientific journals.

    Science can be basic or applied. The main goal of basic science is to expand knowledge without any expectation of short-term practical application of that knowledge. The primary goal of applied science, however, is to solve practical problems.

    A scientific research paper consists of several well-defined sections: introduction, materials and methods, results, and, finally, a concluding discussion. Review papers summarize the research done in a particular field over a period of time.

    Plants are vitally important to the world. Plants start the majority of food and energy chains, they provide us with oxygen, food and medicine. Most plants are what you typically think of: multicellular eukaryotic organisms that are ancestrally terrestrial and photosynthesize. They have a haplodiplontic life cycle, which alternates between two multicellular life stages: the haploid gametophyte and the diploid sporophyte. Fungi, photosynthetic prokaryotes, algae, and some heterotrophic "protists" are also commonly studied as part of botany.

    The history of life on Earth goes back more than three and a half billion years. A unifying theme that can be employed throughout this course to boost biology from an overwhelming sea of facts to a coherent study of life is the theory of evolution. Evolution explains both the diversity and unity of life. Through time, some species evolved adaptations that increased their ability to survive and reproduce in their environment. This gave them an evolutionary advantage to other species. Natural selection, the most dominant evolutionary force, is a main mechanisms that is responsible for the diversity of species on Earth today.

    A few examples of subfields of plant biology are ethnobotany, agriculture science, phytochemistry, systematic botany, and plant ecology.

    After completing this chapter, you should be able to...
    • Identify the shared characteristics of the natural sciences.
    • Summarize the steps of the scientific method.
    • Compare inductive reasoning with deductive reasoning.
    • Describe the goals of basic science and applied science.
    • Describe the importance of plants in the study of botany and list other organisms that typically included in the study of botany.
    • Describe the role of evolution in the history of life.
    • Describe the role of natural selection in evolution.
    • Describe the role of ploidy in the haplodiplontic (alternation of generations) life cycle of plants.
    • Compare and contrast gametophyte and sporophyte generations.
    • Describe the various subdisciplines of plant biology.

    This page titled 1.1.6: Chapter Summary is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Melissa Ha, Maria Morrow, & Kammy Algiers (ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative) .