Welcome to the Department of Botany

Botany covers all aspects of the life of plants. It includes their structure and development, physiology and biochemistry, health and disease, relationships with other organisms and the environment (ecology), as well as traditional aspects of plant identification and classification. Our research uses these approaches to investigate New Zealand species from marine, through grasslands and forests, to alpine ecosystems. It covers all groups of ‘plants’: flowering plants, gymnosperms, ferns, mosses, algae, fungi, cyanobacteria, even viruses. Our undergraduate courses covers this range too, as do the postgraduate and honours student research projects.
News and Events
Visit the Seminars page for more information on departmental talks in 2013
Sir Alan Mark interviewed on Radio New Zealand
For those that wish to listen, please visit the Radio New Zealand website, and look for the listen live link (top left corner of the website).
Alternatively, go directly to the live link.
Rutherford Discovery Fellowships Announced
We are pleased no announce success of Dr Barbara Anderson in being awarded a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship to be taken up within the Department of Botany.
The scheme aims to help accelerate the development of researchers who have been recognised for excellence within their respective disciplines.
The Rutherford Discovery Fellowships support these top emerging researchers early in their careers, help them build a track record of outstanding research and develop their potential to become world-class.
More information about the award can be found on the University of Otago website.
2013 Seminar List
The latest update to the 2013 seminar line up is available on the Seminars page
Burning tussock grassland: effects on Amphipoda
Wednesday 1 May 2013 12 noon
Janine Wing MSc candidate
Ecology of Alpine Cushion Plants in Chile and New Zealand
Wednesday 8 May 2013 12 noon
Associate Professor Catherine Kleier, Visiting Fulbright Scholar, Regis University
Denver, CO USA
Dynamics of terrestrial subarctic ecosystems under extensive climate change
Wednesday 22 May 2013 12 noon
Professeur Stéphane Boudreau, Chaire de recherche nordique en écologie des perturbations Département de biologie et Centre d'études Nordiques Université Laval Canada
Green News - the newsletter produced by undergraduate students for undergraduate students
