Joseph Maiden and the national and transnational circulation of Wattle Acacia spp

During the nineteenth century and in the early years of the twentieth century wattle was circulated by botanists, botanical institutions, interested individuals, commercial seedsmen and government authorities. Wattle bark was used in the production of leather and was the subject of debate regarding its commercial development and conservation in Australia. It was also trialled in many other locations including America, New Zealand, Hawaii and Russia. In the process, South Africa became a major producer of wattle bark for a global market. At the same time wattle was also promoted as a symbol of Australian nationalism. This paper considers this movement of wattles, wattle material and wattle information by examining the career of one active agent in these botanical transfers: Joseph Maiden. In doing so it demonstrates that these seemingly different uses of the wattle overlap transnational and national spheres.

Cultivation

The interest in potentially economically valuable plants (for food, timber, dyes, fabric, and drugs) was part of the concerted effort given by colonial governments towards providing botanic gardens in new colonies. While convicts and guards laboured in Brisbane Town from 1825 until 1849, botanists such as Alan Cunningham were discovering the delights of native plants in their numerous excursions. Their observations and collections of seeds were sent south (to the local botanic gardens at Melbourne and Sydney) and onward to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Britain (at Kew and Edinburgh). This set the local pattern for future exchanges among the global British Imperial botanic garden network...

Zur Geschichte der Familie Schragenheim.

Family history

How reliable is the monitoring of permanent vegetation plots? A test with multiple observers

Questions: A multiple plot design was developed for permanent vegetation plots. How reliable are the different methods used in this design and which changes can we measure? Location: Alpine meadows (2430 m a.s.l.) in the Swiss Alps. Methods: Four inventories were obtained from 40 m(2) plots: four subplots (0.4 m(2)) with a list of species, two 10m transects with the point method (50 points on each), one subplot (4 m2) with a list of species and visual cover estimates as a percentage and the complete plot (40 m(2)) with a list of species and visual estimates in classes. This design was tested by five to seven experienced botanists in three plots. Results: Whatever the sampling size, only 45-63% of the species were seen by all the observers. However, the majority of the overlooked species had cover < 0.1%. Pairs of observers overlooked 10-20% less species than single observers. The point method was the best method for cover estimate, but it took much longer than visual cover estimates, and 100 points allowed for the monitoring of only a very limited number of species. The visual estimate as a percentage was more precise than classes. Working in pairs did not improve the estimates, but one botanist repeating the survey is more reliable than a succession of different observers. Conclusion: Lists of species are insufficient for monitoring. It is necessary to add cover estimates to allow for subsequent interpretations in spite of the overlooked species. The choice of the method depends on the available resources: the point method is time consuming but gives precise data for a limited number of species, while visual estimates are quick but allow for recording only large changes in cover. Constant pairs of observers improve the reliability of the records.

L'estudi dels incendis en el món mediterrani

This article discusses briefly the evolution of fire in the Mediterranean biome and reviews afterwards the main research themes that geographers, ecologists and botanists have developed around forest fires issues in the Mediterranean

C. colchicum - variation measured by DNA sequence

Cyclamen colchicum has a mixed history in the hands of botanists. This paper examines the genetic identity of a group of wild Cyclamen populations from the Caucasus to discover whther they are Cyclamen colchicum, C. purpurascens or a mixture of the two. The collections supplemented by material collected at the type locality for C. colchicum, proved to be a single but variable genetic group of C. colchicum that was distinct from C. purpurascens.

Alienígenas na sala: o que fazer com espécies exóticas em trabalhos de taxonomia, florística e fitossociologia?

A presença cada vez mais disseminada de organismos exóticos (muitos dos quais se tornam invasores) nas diferentes regiões do planeta levou ao surgimento de uma linha de pesquisa na ecologia voltada às invasões biológicas. E para permitir a comunicação entre autores também foi desenvolvido um arcabouço terminológico. Mas, apesar disso, a terminologia relativa às bioinvasões tem sido ignorada por boa parte dos botânicos no Brasil. Há uma boa dose de confusão entre botânicos sobre o que seja uma espécie exótica, naturalizada, invasora, daninha e ruderal, levando ao uso inconsistente da terminologia. Além disso, diferentes autores têm adotado posturas praticamente opostas ao lidar com espécies exóticas em suas áreas de estudo, seja na preparação de tratamentos taxonômicos, seja na publicação de levantamentos florísticos e fitossociológicos. Enquanto alguns pesquisadores incluem em floras mesmo espécies cultivadas que não se reproduzem, outros excluem plantas invasoras comuns e conspícuas. Nós apresentamos aqui, em português, os principais conceitos relativos ao tema da bioinvasão e chamamos a atenção dos autores brasileiros para a necessidade de utilizar de modo consistente o arcabouço terminológico já existente na literatura. Também propomos a adoção de rótulos claros para informar quais espécies são exóticas na área estudada, diferenciando-as das nativas, e sugerimos critérios para ajudar botânicos a decidirem quando uma planta exótica deve ou não ser incluída em tratamentos taxonômicos ou levantamentos de florística.

Establishment of Regional Herbarium Leads to More Than 200 New Flora Atlas Records for New York State

Loss of small herbaria is an unfortunate global trend, and initiation of new collections at small academic institutions is an increasingly rare occurrence. In 2006, a new herbarium was established at the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh. The PLAT herbarium has since grown to more than 7,000 specimens, many of them representative of the flora of northeastern New York (especially Clinton County). Previous to 2006, this region was without a recognized herbarium, the nearest in-state collections being more than 150 miles away. Although botanists have previously worked in the region, relatively few plant species were recorded for Clinton County by the New York Flora Atlas – a resource providing species distribution records based on specimens accessioned in herbarium collections. Given the dearth of available distribution data for Clinton County (including the eastern Adirondack Mountains and the western Lake Champlain valley), this project sought to provide records of previously unreported species by comparing NY Flora Atlas maps with current holdings. 203 species will now be added to the NY Flora Atlas for Clinton County, roughly half of those considered exotic. This exercise has amplified the importance of supporting and maintaining small regional herbaria as repositories of valuable biodiversity information. Likewise, this project also highlights the enduring value of training in floristics and taxonomy.

A New Cryptically Dioecious Species of Bush Tomato (Solanum) From the Northern Territory, Australia

A new species of dioecious Solanum from the Australian “Dioicum Complex” of Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum is described. Solanum cowiei Martine sp. nov., is allied with other members of this problematic lineage, but differs in its slender leaves, limited armature and diminutive habit. The species was first segregated by botanists at the Northern Territory Herbarium as Solanum sp. Litchfield (I.D. Cowie 1428); and specimens representing this species have also been referred to by Symon as Solanum sp. Fitzmaurice River. Collections suggest that this is an endemic of the sub-arid tropical zone of the Northern Territory. SEM images support initial assumptions that the new species is cryptically dioecious via production of inaperturate pollen grains in morphologically hermaphrodite flowers.

Hybridization and adaptive radiation

Whether interspecific hybridization is important as a mechanism that generates biological diversity is a matter of controversy. Whereas some authors focus on the potential of hybridization as a source of genetic variation, functional novelty and new species, others argue against any important role, because reduced fitness would typically render hybrids an evolutionary dead end. By drawing on recent developments in the genetics and ecology of hybridization and on principles of ecological speciation theory, I develop a concept that reconciles these views and adds a new twist to this debate. Because hybridization is common when populations invade new environments and potentially elevates rates of response to selection, it predisposes colonizing populations to rapid adaptive diversification under disruptive or divergent selection. I discuss predictions and suggest tests of this hybrid swarm theory of adaptive radiation and review published molecular phylogenies of adaptive radiations in light of the theory. Some of the confusion about the role of hybridization in evolutionary diversification stems from the contradiction between a perceived necessity for cessation of gene flow to enable adaptive population differentiation on the one hand [1], and the potential of hybridization for generating adaptive variation, functional novelty and new species 2, 3 and 4 on the other. Much progress in the genetics 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 and ecology of hybridization 9, 10 and 11, and in our understanding of the role of ecology in speciation (see Glossary) 12, 13 and 14 make a re-evaluation timely. Whereas botanists traditionally stressed the diversity-generating potential of hybridization 2, 3 and 14, zoologists traditionally saw it as a process that limits diversification [1] and refer to it mainly in the contexts of hybrid zones (Box 1) and reinforcement of reproductive isolation [15]. Judging by the wide distribution of allopolyploidy among plants, many plant species might be of direct hybrid origin or descended from a hybrid species in the recent past [16]. The ability to reproduce asexually might explain why allopolyploid hybrid species are more common in plants than in animals. Allopolyploidy arises when meiotic mismatch of parental chromosomes or karyotypes causes hybrid sterility. Mitotic error, duplicating the karyotype, can restore an asexually maintained hybrid line to fertility. Although bisexual allopolyploid hybrid species are not uncommon in fish [17] and frogs [18], the difficulty with which allopolyploid animals reproduce, typically requiring gynogenesis[19], makes establishment and survival of allopolyploid animal species difficult.

Illustrated Botanical Books, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth Centuries

No attempt has been made for a comprehensive coverage of the many outstanding illustrated botanical books for this three hundred year period. Rather the aim has been for a combination of interesting illustrators and famous botanists. Like the exhibit on fine bird books, these books on display have been taken from the Rare Books division of Special Collections.

Biomimetismo entre los endemismos arquitectónicos y taxones en Cantabria

Es notoria la importancia de la naturaleza en la evolución de la arquitectura. Hasta la gran eclosión de la industria manufacturera y la mejora en las infraestructuras de comunicación, se podría decir que ambas corrían paralelas, para a partir de ahí dejar “congelada” la sabiduría popular y dar un salto a la globalidad, generando una situación de libertad arquitectónica prácticamente total, que independiza la construcción de su ubicación. "El biomimetismo es esencialmente un campo de investigación interdisciplinar, una serie de colaboraciones entre botánicos, físicos, matemáticos, ingenieros y zoólogos; donde la rígida división entre disciplinas «puras» cede lugar a un área de investigación que apunta a generar tecnología inteligente (smarttechnologies), utilizando materiales o procesos que sean de alguna manera sensibles al medio ambiente." (M. Weinstock, 1998). “La morfología de las plantas en los diferentes climas parece tener cierta analogía con la edificación, ya que algunas de las tensiones que inciden en su forma (tales como las variaciones de temperatura) corresponden de manera similar a las necesidades humanas.” (V. Olgyay 1963). En el presente trabajo se han estudiado las especies endémicas que nos rodean, para poder leer a través de ellas millones de años de supervivencia en este entorno, con el fin de mimetizar sus respuestas. También se han estudiado diferentes tipologías de arquitectura vernácula y su simulación energética, con el propósito de evaluar la demanda energética optima exigible. A partir de una ubicación específica, la orientación, compacidad, perforación y las características de la envolvente son los elementos que más influyen en la demanda energética de una edificación. Tanto la forma como los materiales pueden ser mimetizados con la naturaleza. En esta Tesis se han cuantificado los parámetros de diseño formales tomando como referencia las especies vegetales o la arquitectura vernácula, sin perder de vista los objetivos buscados por normativas o institutos en la reducción del consumo energético vinculado a la calefacción y ventilación. ABSTRACT The importance of the nature in the evolution of the architecture is well-known. Until the great burst of the manufacturing industry and the improvement in communication infrastructures, it would be possible to be said that both ran parallel, stops there from leaving “frozen” the popular wisdom and jump to the globalization, creating a situation almost complete architectural freedom, that it frees the construction of its location. "Biomimicry is essentially an interdisciplinary field of research, a series of collaborations among botanists, physicists, mathematicians, engineers and zoologists; where the rigid division between "pure" disciplines gives way to an area of research that aims to generate intelligent technology (smarttechnologies), using materials and processes that are in some environmentally sensitive manner. "(M. Weinstock, 1998). “The morphology of the plants in different climates seems to have some analogy with the building, as some of the tensions that affect their form (such as the temperature variations) are similar to the human necessities.” (V. Olgyay 1963). In the present work, the endemic species that surround to us have been studied, to be able to read through them millions of years of survival in this environment, in order to mimic their answers. Also different types or popular architecture and their energy simulation have been studied, in order to evaluate the rate of energy optimum demand. Orientation, compactness, perforation and characteristics of the envelope are the elements that influence more in the energy demand of a building. The shape and materials can be mimic with nature. Each of them has been quantified in this work by reference plant species or popular architecture, without losing sight of the objectives sought by regulations or institutes about reduction in energy consumption.

Paleoindian large mammal hunters on the plains of North America

From ≈11,200 to 8,000 years ago, the Great Plains of North America were populated by small Paleoindian hunting groups with well developed weaponry and the expertise to successfully hunt large mammals, especially mammoths and bison. Mammoths became extinct on the Plains by 11,000 years ago, and, although paleoecological conditions were worsening, their demise may have been hastened by human predation. After this, the main target of the Plains Paleoindian hunters consisted of subspecies of bison, Bison antiquus and Bison occidentalis. As bison populations gradually diminished, apparently because of worsening ecological conditions, by ≈8,000 years ago, human subsistence was forced into a greater dependence on small animal and plant foods. Human paleoecology studies of the Paleoindian time period rely heavily on multidisciplinary efforts. Geomorphologists, botanists, soil scientists, palynologists, biologists, and other specialists aid archaeologists in data recovery and analysis, although, with few exceptions, their contributions are derived from the fringes rather than the mainstream of their disciplines.

Historic Letter Collection, 1796-1940 (inclusive). 1844-1872. Joseph Dalton Hooker letters, 1844-1872

Historic Letter Collection, 1796-1940; Joseph Dalton Hooker letters, 1844-1872. HL Hook 1-3. Gray Herbarium Archives, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

Frozen flowers. March 1952 [Dr. Elzada Clover and botany students]

On negative sleeve: Dr. Elzada Clover, associate professor of botany, (second from right) distributes frozen water lily buds to botany students at the U of M. Students are (left and right) Mrs. Benson Murray, N.Y.; Oka Nichols, Crawfordsville, Ind.; and Nancy Pridmore, Oxford, Mich. Frozen flowers are kept in regular cardboard containers with transparent tops