History of botany scope of the subject as technology has opened up new techniques and areas of study. Modern molecular systematics, for example, entails the principles and techniques of taxonomy, molecular biology, computer science and more. Within botany there are a number of sub-disciplines that focus on particular plant groups, each with their own range of related studies (anatomy, morphology etc.). Included here are: phycology (algae), pteridology (ferns), bryology (mosses and liverworts) and palaeobotany (fossil plants) and their histories are treated elsewhere (see side bar). To this list can be added mycology, the study of fungi, which were once treated as plants, but
Branches of science much as it involves a clearly biological aspect. While biology remains the centerpiece of life science, technological advances in molecular biology and biotechnology have led to a burgeoning of specializations and new, often interdisciplinary, fields. "Biology" is the branch of natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines. Zoology, occasionally spelled zoölogy, is the branch of science that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both