What makes someone a plant scientist? Joanna Kacprzyk and Rainer Melzer asked over 400 people, and found that it wasn’t so much job security or the global problems facing people that motivated botanists, but something else.
The findings were the results of a survey of plant biologists recruited over social media and through societies. Kacprzyk & Melzer asked open-ended questions about motivation, mentors, and their favourite plant memory. The biggest motivation for studying plants was simply that they’re interesting. In their paper the authors write:
While job and study opportunities, either actively pursued or encountered serendipitously, were listed among motivations for choosing a plant-related education and career, by far, the most frequently reported reason was simply interest and fascination with plants (“I've always loved plants” or “Plants are beautiful and intriguing”). The respondents expressed love for the beauty of plants and appreciation of the complexity of plant physiology, genetics, and adaptation mechanisms, often sparked by hands-on experiences and interactions with plants, such as field trips, internships, laboratory classes, and engaging lectures.
This pull is generated by contact, not by argument, which explains why mentors are so important in sparking an interest in plants. And the mentors are one of the concerning findings of the report. Mentors were family or university staff, but not so often school teachers. So there’s an element of botany being hereditary.
Another attraction is that plants don’t bleed when you dissect them. Plant biology allows you to ask questions about organisms that would be considered anti-social in humans or animals.
The central finding is that facts alone are not enough to recruit plant biologists. Outreach that only makes the rational case is doing half the job. Kacprzyk & Melzer conclude:
It is important to not only win the minds of future plant biologists (by appealing to the ecological and economic importance of plants) but to also win their hearts. Once the next generation starts to “love the plant alien”, the benefits of studying plants that are meaningful for humans will inevitably follow.
READ THE ARTICLE
Kacprzyk, J., and Melzer, R.(2025) Inspiring the next generation of plant scientists: What we learned from 421 plant biologists. PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET, 8(5), pp. 1557-1562. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.70156.
Cover image by Gary Barnes from Pexels
