The early Greek scientist Theophrastus, in the third century b.c.e., recognized environmental effects on plants. Much later, naturalists documented the geographical distribution of plants as determined by various climatic factors. Such studies were the roots of the scientific discipline ecology, which emerged in the late nineteenth century Plant ecologists of the early twentieth century were concerned largely with describing the nature and distribution of world plant communities and developing a "successional theory" as a means of understanding the dynamics of changing plant communities. Now, ecologists study plants as integral parts of ecosystems that also include animals and microorganisms. They are concerned with countering the threat of loss of species as a result of human activities such as pollution and habitat destruction.
See also: Cytology, Anatomy, Morphology
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