Botanists and their assistants must have an understanding of plant structure, function, and classification as well as how plants are impacted by humans and how humans can use plants and plant products. Entry-level botanists must have earned at least a bachelor’s degree. Higher-level botany professionals generally require a higher degree, such as a master’s degree or Ph.D. Educational institutions higher botanists as teachers or researchers and their assistants. Botanists may specialize in plant anatomy, biochemistry, biophysics, cytology, ecology, genetics, molecular biology, morphology, paleobotany, plant physiology, systematic, systems ecology, or taxonomy. They may also work in fields such as agronomy, biotechnology, plant breeding, economic botany, food science and technology, forestry, horticulture, natural resource management, and plant pathology. Botanists may also specialize in the type of organism they study. Specifically, this badge demonstrates the earner's ability to explain how water moves through a plant and transports nutrients, explain the various metabolic processes that occur in plants, describe the requirements and processes allowing plant growth and development including associated terms processes, hormones, nutrients, and responses to the environment, explain the plant meiosis and alternation of generations.
