His professional career was devoted to the study of the distribution of vegetation as determined by soil and climate conditions.

[1] His contributions to the plant biology world set the groundwork for modern studies and his books are regarded as classics by botanists worldwide.

[1] After receiving his preparatory education at George School, in Newtown, Pennsylvania, Shreve earned his BA at Johns Hopkins University in 1901.

In 1906, he became an associate professor of botany at Goucher College, and remained there until 1908, when he moved to Tucson, Arizona, to work at the Carnegie Institution of Washington's Desert Library.

He served as vice president of the Association of American Geographers in 1940, and published "The Desert Vegetation of North America" in Botanical Review.