Honours Overview

Description

Plants underpin life on Earth. Honours in Botany allows you to conduct rigorous scientific research on various aspects of the taxonomy, biology or functioning of plants. Your research could investigate the exciting diversity and uniqueness of Australian flora or focus on how plants function and interact over all levels of biological organisation, from the plant cell to the role of vegetation in the functioning of ecosystems. Other research may focus on the ways plants adapt to environments ranging from the Antarctic oceans to deserts of the inland. You might also study how best we can overcome problems of environmental degradation such as those derived from mining and salinity. If you are enthusiastic about plants across terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, this honours specialisation is for you. Honours in Botany can lead to many careers including ecologist, conservation biologist, plant physiologist, plant taxonomist, agricultural scientist, forester, environmental impact assessor, flora resource manager, government policy writer and consultant, consultant risk assessor involved in predicting and identifying algal blooms, consultant for aquaculture, marine biologist, evolutionary biologist, science journalist, laboratory technician, field research officer, plant pathologist or forensic scientist.

Outcomes

Students are able to (1) critically identify gaps in knowledge in the field of botany; (2) design and implement a research project that fills an identified gap in knowledge; (3) critically analyse results and draw evidence-based conclusions; (4) manage and analyse research data sets using appropriate statistical tests; (5) present research outcomes orally and in the form of a scientific paper; and (6) convey specialist knowledge in the field of botany.

Entry requirements

A weighted average mark of at least 65 percent in the Level 3 units of the Botany major; or equivalent, as recognised by UWA.

Intake periods

Beginning of year and mid-year

Courses

Honours in Botany can be taken as a specialisation in the following degrees:

No study plans found for this course. See study plans for more information.

Units

Key to availability of units:
S1
Semester 1
S2
Semester 2
N/A
not available in 2025 – may be available in 2026 or 2027
NS
non-standard teaching period
Take all units (42 points):
AvailabilityUnit codeUnit nameUnit requirements
S1, S2 BIOL4446 Honours in Biological Sciences Research Presentation Skills
Prerequisites
Enrolment in
BH004 Bachelor of Science (Honours) (ID 4) SPC-Botany
or SPC-Conservation Biology
or SPC-Zoology
or BH005 Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours)
Co-requisites
Successful completion of
or Enrolment in
Unit(s) BIOL5445 Honours in Biological Sciences Research Dissertation Part 4 (ID 6632)
S1, S2 BIOL5442 Honours in Biological Sciences Research Dissertation Part 1
Prerequisites
Enrolment in
HON-BOTNY Botany
or HON-CONBI Conservation Biology (ID 1379)
or HON-MARSC Marine Science (ID 1400)
or HON-ZOOLY Zoology (ID 1393)
S1, S2 BIOL5443 Honours in Biological Sciences Research Dissertation Part 2
Prerequisites
Enrolment in
HON-BOTNY Botany
or HON-CONBI Conservation Biology (ID 1379)
or HON-MARSC Marine Science (ID 1400)
or HON-ZOOLY Zoology (ID 1393)
S1, S2 BIOL5444 Honours in Biological Sciences Research Dissertation Part 3
Prerequisites
or HON-CONBI Conservation Biology (ID 1379)
or HON-MARSC Marine Science (ID 1400)
or HON-ZOOLY Zoology (ID 1393)
or HON-BOTNY Botany
Co-requisites
Successful completion of
or Enrolment in
Unit(s) BIOL5442 Honours in Biological Sciences Research Dissertation Part 1 Unit(s) BIOL5443 Honours in Biological Sciences Research Dissertation Part 2
S1, S2 BIOL5445 Honours in Biological Sciences Research Dissertation Part 5
Prerequisites
Enrolment in
HON-BOTNY Botany
or HON-CONBI Conservation Biology (ID 1379)
or HON-MARSC Marine Science (ID 1400)
or HON-ZOOLY Zoology (ID 1393)
Co-requisites
Successful completion of
or Enrolment in
Unit(s) BIOL5442 Honours in Biological Sciences Research Dissertation Part 1 (ID 6627) BIOL5443 Honours in Biological Sciences Research Dissertation Part 2 (ID 6629) BIOL5444 Honours in Biological Sciences Research Dissertation Part 3 (ID 6630) BIOL5447 Honours in Biological Sciences Research Dissertation Part 4
S1, S2 BIOL5447 Honours in Biological Sciences Research Dissertation Part 4
Prerequisites
Enrolment in
or Major(s) HON-MARSC Marine Science
Enrolment in
or Major(s) HON-ZOOLY Zoology
Co-requisites
Enrolment in
Unit(s) BIOL5442 Honours in Biological Sciences Research Dissertation Part 1
and BIOL5443 Honours in Biological Sciences Research Dissertation Part 2
and BIOL5444 Honours in Biological Sciences Research Dissertation Part 3
S1, S2 SCIE4402 Data Management and Analysis in the Natural Sciences
Prerequisites
Enrolment in
HON-CONBI Conservation Biology
or HON-ZOOLY Zoology
or HON-BOTNY Botany
or HON-AGSCI Agricultural Science
or HON-ENVSC Environmental Science
or HON-NRMGT Natural Resource Management
or HON-MARSC Marine Science
or 72510 Master of Agricultural Science
or 72520 Master of Biological Science
or 72530 Master of Environmental Science
or 72540 Master of Hydrogeology
or 73530 Master of Agricultural Economics
or 70550 Master of Bioinformatics
or 74230 Graduate Certificate in Bioinformatics
or 74540 Master of Marine Biology
and Successful completion of
any one STAT1400 Statistics for Science
or STAX1400 Statistics for Science
or STAT1520 Economic and Business Statistics
or STAX1520 Economic and Business Statistics
or SCIE1104 Science, Society and Data Analysis
or SCIE4401 Data Use in Science
or ENVT4422 Research Methods in Environmental Science
Take unit(s) to the value of 6 points:
AvailabilityUnit codeUnit nameUnit requirements
S2 BIOL5542 Conservation Genetics
Prerequisites
Enrolment in
72520 Master of Biological Science
or 71580 Master of Biotechnology
or 71570 Master of Geographic Information Science
or BH004 Bachelor of Science (Honours)
and Successful completion of
one Unit(s) GENE4002 Integrated Topics in Genetics I
or Unit(s) GENE2250 Principles of Inheritance
or Unit(s) BIOL3364 Evolutionary Processes
S1, S2 ENVT4411 Geographic Information Systems Applications
Incompatibility
Unit(s) GEOG2201 Geographic Information Systems (ID 1384)
NS ENVT5310 Biodiversity on Country
Prerequisites
Enrolment in
72530 Master of Environmental Science
or 72520 Master of Biological Science
Incompatibility
Unit(s) ENVT3310 Biodiversity on Country
S1 ENVT5512 Ecosystem Biogeochemistry
Prerequisites
Enrolment in
72520 Master of Biological Science
or 71580 Master of Biotechnology
or 70630 Master of Science
or 72510 Master of Agricultural Science
or BH004 Bachelor of Science (Honours)
or 72540 Master of Hydrogeology
or 72530 Master of Environmental Science
N/A GEOS5510 Applied Palynology
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
one Unit(s) GEOS4412 Petroleum Systems