Blog - Regrowing plant science

Dr Andrea Paterlini, from our Institute, recently wrote an opinion piece for The Biologist, the Royal Society of Biology Magazine. This a copy of the article available online.

When you looked out of your window this spring, you would have seen fresh growth emerging after the winter cold, and buds sprouting from trees and shrubs, colouring the landscape. Plant science education, however, has not experienced a similar period of growth. An ever-decreasing number of university students are receiving specialist training in this important branch of biology [1].

Without enough people with an appreciation and knowledge of plants we face a bleak future. Plants, the ultimate enablers of life on our planet, are facing multiple threats, from climate change to habitat loss. A dark winter lies ahead if we fail to equip people with the appetite and the skills to address global challenges ranging from climate change to food production.

In the most recent application cycle fewer than 10 UK higher education providers offered undergraduate degree programmes containing ‘plant science’ or ‘plant biology’ in their names. Multiple programmes have been discontinued in the last few years alone, including the recent suspension of the plant science degree at the University of Nottingham. This is part of a global trend and a critical loss of botanical knowledge will inevitably accompany this process.

While some plant science teaching will be retained in generalist biology programmes, the subject depth and breadth required to create well-rounded plant biologists are unlikely to be achieved. The difference between the number of students who take up plant science degrees compared with other biology disciplines is stark: fewer than 0.05% of biology students have picked named plant science programmes in the last two decades.

Rising demand

Low enrolment in plant science programmes, however, is not driven by poor career prospects. Plant scientists are needed more than ever to address key modern challenges. Developing more environmentally resilient (and nutrient efficient) crop varieties is a pressing priority, and protecting forests and restoring ecosystems is critical to maintaining biodiversity and the carbon sinks that offer a buffer against climate change. A 5% increase in career opportunities related to plant science is forecast in the US alone.

This trend is also likely to apply to the UK, with plant science jobs being pivotal for green policy targets around sustainable agriculture, carbon sequestration, biodiversity and biosecurity. The ambitious UK Pesticides National Action Plan (2025) will require expertise in plant pathology and breeding, as well as ecological interactions between pests and plants.

However, despite these appealing career prospects, plant scientists are retiring more quickly than they are being replaced, jeopardising our collective ability to respond to pressing problems.

Perceptions of plants

The cause of low enrolment in plant science courses seems to be the perception that students (and the population at large) may have of plants. People frequently fail to notice and identify the different plants in their natural surroundings. [2].

Despite growing enthusiasm for houseplants and gardening, people tend to overlook the key importance of plants’ role in natural ecosystems, ignore many of their unique biological features and erroneously conclude that they are less worthy of consideration beyond mere aesthetics. Different technical terms have been coined over time to describe this situation, such as ‘plant blindness’ and ‘plant-awareness disparity’.

We seem to be uniquely forgetful that we owe our existence to photosynthetic bacteria, algae and plants. Without their production of oxygen on a large scale two to three billion years ago, our planet would be altogether different. Rather than a green planet, there would likely be a barren, hot and harsh terrain, battered by UV rays (as the ozone layer would be absent) and devoid of complex life as we know it. Oxygen, by providing the energy for larger bodies and more active metabolisms, instead fuelled a diversification of life. We – and most other organisms – would not have evolved if photosynthesis had not preceded us.

Our debt to plants is not just historical, but present and continuous. About a quarter of the drugs prescribed worldwide are derived from plants and the value of agriculture cannot be overstated. The broader ecosystem services provided by plants are similarly fundamental for our planet and the organisms within it. Estimates place the overall value of terrestrial ecosystem services (to which plants are key contributors) at one-and-a-half times the size of global gross domestic product – well beyond the material supplies traditionally accounted for in economic metrics. Plants ultimately enable, enrich and protect the quality of our lives, as well as that of most other organisms.

Concerningly, two in five plant species across the world are currently threatened with extinction, rising to a higher estimate of three in four species at risk of extinction among yet-undiscovered plants – many of these may disappear before we even get to describe them.

Some biases in our attention might be cognitive and evolutionarily hard-wired in our brains, with the human visual system likely adapted to prioritise visible motion as a proxy for potential threats. Similarly, we may be somewhat drawn to focus on objects around the midline of our field of vision (at the expense of tall trees and smaller herbs above and below that).

Even in the presence of these potential biases, effective education should still be able to instil interest in and positive attitudes towards plants. However, they are underrepresented in introductory textbooks, both at school and university level. Where they are found, limited and unengaging representations are widespread. Content taught in curricula has also been deemed ineffective in stimulating appreciation of plants.

Finding the narrative

How we tell the story of plants matters – our brains use narratives to process information and create meaning. The conquest and reshaping of land masses that plants achieved could rival epic poems, and the unique developmental plasticity of our plant heroes – something profoundly different from our own biology (that is, we change in size, not in shape) – is also more likely to capture the imagination of students. Assimilation and retention of plant information are more likely to happen in the presence of emotional connections. It is crucial that we embed plants in exciting and identifiable stories that span different biological scales: from molecular to organismal, from cellular to ecosystem.

Narratives of this type are not necessarily new. Plant awareness initiatives and campaigns have made use of them before, but they have perhaps not sufficiently permeated school curricula. Supporting teachers in finding and embracing plant stories and skills will be important. Without this we risk creating problematic loops, reinforcing biases about plants and ultimately diminishing enrolment in plant science programmes. For plant science to play its full part in delivering a sustainable future, its teaching must receive immediate attention, scrutiny and investment.

A compounding issue is the fragmented nature of plant science communities. In the UK, while specific interest groups and initiatives exist, including within the RSB (see ‘Growing plant science at the RSB’, p23), we suffer from a lack of an obvious and unified outlet. Many plant scientists across the UK are teaching-focused staff members, passionately dedicating their time to forming the next generation of biologists, but they are largely disconnected from each other. While well-networked communities benefit from resource and information sharing, individual plant science educators may feel isolated – a minority within institutions more focused on other domains. Using plants in teaching requires infrastructure and resources. Their absence can represent insurmountable barriers, especially if senior management displays limited awareness of the core importance of plants in any biology curriculum.

Plant science manifesto

To address this lack of natural outlets for gatherings and discussion, a community of educators joined forces last year to organise ‘Plant Biology Education: Creating a Vision for the Future’, which we believe was the first meeting of its kind in the UK.

We realised that, in addition to providing an opportunity for individuals to connect and share their practice, we needed to facilitate a reflection on the overall status of plant science education. Just as planning and investment in plant science research are recognised as essential and urgent to tackle global challenges, so too is a concerted and sustained commitment to plant science education at all levels. A defined strategy or roadmap for this was needed.

The response from the community was beyond our expectations. In January 2025, at Lancaster University, we hosted a gathering of plant science educators representing more than 10 countries and 30 institutions. Participants analysed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing plant science education, from primary school through to postgraduate research.

From these discussions we identified a forward-looking vision to enable plant science educators to meet the challenges and opportunities described here. We have since formalised these recommendations in a ‘manifesto for plant science education’[3].

Five interlinked themes stand at the core of this document. First, and foremost, plants must be at the front and centre of an education addressing global challenges. Articulating the key roles of plants in the past, present and future of our planet is a prerequisite to capturing students’ interest and attention. Emphasising the profound connections between plants and our cultures is also an important strategy to improve perception.

Plant science education must do this by using effective pedagogies. The methods, strategies and theories we use to facilitate learning must be innovative, engaging and student centred. Our teaching must be better than that delivered in other subjects if we are to compete and boost recruitment. We must therefore be willing to engage with pedagogy (for effective delivery, practice and assessment in our field) and to align our training with the skill sets required by today’s and tomorrow’s job markets.

It has been shown that teams that bring together diverse mindsets and experiences are more innovative and productive, and if we are to solve the global challenges that threaten us, equity, diversity and inclusion principles must be embedded in our practices. Plant science in the UK is currently one of the least diverse undergraduate programmes in terms of ethnic student composition. This must be rectified as a matter of urgency.

Partnerships will also be required to strengthen plant science education. This may be between academic institutions, and industrial and charitable entities, not to mention local communities and their elected representatives. Resource sharing, mutual support, dialogue and advocacy can build strength and robustness in our sector.

Last but not least, plant science educators must be provided with resources and opportunities to develop and connect. Our voices are louder when we gather. We view the manifesto as a demonstration of this, and we refer readers to it for detailed suggestions and recommended interventions.

Our manifesto provides a framework for change, but its impact depends on the tangible steps that follow. To that end, we use this outlet to urge colleagues in education, institutions, policymakers, publishers, funders, industry representatives and broader partners to directly enact, enable and lobby for the recommendations made.

For our part, we have started preparations for a second plant science education meeting in 2027 – focused on partnerships between different actors in the plant science sector – and we hope that many attend to continue these discussions. We encourage the broad community to reach out and share views.

Collectively, we can and should regrow plant science education.

References

Stroud, S. et al. The botanical education extinction and the fall of plant awareness. Ecol. Evol. 12(7), e9019 (2022).

Amprazis, A. & Papadopoulou, P. Primary school curriculum contributing to plant blindness: assessment through the biodiversity perspective. Adv. Ecol. Res. 3(11), 238–256 (2018); and Kletečki, N. et al. Plants are not boring, school botany is. Educ. Sci. 13(5), 489 (2023).

Alvey, E. et al. A manifesto for plant science education. Plants People Planet 8(2), 422-432 (2025).

Related links

Regrowing plant science - The Biologist, the Royal Society of Biology Magazine

Andrea Paterlini