Bulletin Spring 2001 Volume 47 Number 1
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BULLETIN SPRING 2001 VOLUME 47 NUMBER 1 Toward a Theory of Plant Blindness.............................................................................2 News from the Society Call for Papers - BOTANY 2001.......................................................................9 Call for Proposals - Karling Graduate Student Award......................................11 Announcements In Memorium Dr. Rupert C. Barneby..................................................................................12 Dr. Gamal El-Ghazaly..................................................................................13 Symposia, Conferences, Meetings From Biodiversity to Biocomplexity, 2001 AIBS..........................................14 Second International Conference on Plants and Environmental Pollution ...14 Northeast Native Plant Enthusiasts...............................................................15 Subtropic Forest Excursion in China............................................................16 XV Mexican Botanical Congress.................................................................16 Other News The Rupert Barneby Award..........................................................................16 The Rupert Barneby Fund.............................................................................17 Grants for Botanical Gardens........................................................................17 The Bee Course 2001....................................................................................17 Positions Available Plant Biodiversity and Conservation Biology................................................18 The Botanical Society of America: for ALL Plant Biologists Book Reviews..............................................................................................................19 Books Received...........................................................................................................38 PLANT SCIENCE BSA Logo Items..........................................................................................................40 Editor: Marshall D. Sundberg Department of Biological Sciences Emporia State University 1200 Commercial Street, Emporia, KS 66801-5707 Telephone: 620-341-5605 Fax: 620-341-5607 Email: [email protected] 1 ISSN 0032-0919 Toward a Theory of Plant Blindness Many of us are employed at educational Introduction to the Problem institutions and, at least on occasion, are assigned We are two botanists and biology educators who are to teach in the freshman courses. This is a committed to exploring and investigating why people challenging assignment, and frequently a daunting in the US tend to be less interested in plants than in one! How can so many students, the future leaders animals, and why they often fail to notice the plants of our communities and country, have so little that are present in their own environment knowledge of and interest in plants? Why don’t they (Wandersee & Schussler, 1999a). We think such realize how important plants are in the ecosystem? knowledge, once gained, may be useful in a variety Too many of them don’t even realize that plants are of settings—from teaching an introductory biology alive! It must be the fault of _____. course, to planning a public education program at a botanic garden, to writing a children’s book about Did you fill in the blank as you were reading plants, to pursuing new botanical research. We also the previous sentence? I know I have - on more than hope that the answers to these questions will one occasion. The usual effect of this exercise is to ultimately lead to improvement of the nation’s re-set my challenge to make a difference in the scientific literacy level, and to greater public classroom. It is the beginning of another crusade to understanding of plants (Flannery, 1999). The “convert the ignorant masses” to the beauty, wonder, future of US research in the plant sciences depends, and importance of plants. Occasionally there is that to a large extent, on the support of a botanically notable success, the student who is “turned on” to literate citizenry (Niklas, 1995). plants and decides to pursue a career in the botanical sciences. For the most part, though, my reward is Acknowledging Prior Work from the knowledge that I tried mightily, and my Across the years, others, of much greater stature in students really learned at least some of the concepts the botany community than we, have pondered we discussed. Maybe I set my expectations too these same questions. Much of what they have high. (Maybe my students are right - - my observed and concluded has been both stimulating expectations are unreasonably high). But maybe and helpful to us in beginning our own quest—and there’s an underlying problem that I’m not seeing we have great respect for the work that they have much better than my fellow teachers at the pre- done (cf. Bernhardt, 1999; Kramer, 1999; Sundberg, college levels. 2000). For example, prior explanations for US students’ disinterest and inattention to plants have In this issue I’ve asked James Wandersee posited such underlying sources as zoochauvinistic to elaborate on some of the work he and his students introductory biology instructors, zoocentric examples have been doing for the past several years. Jim is used to teach basic biological concepts and a botanist and science educator whose interests principles, hypertechnical and uninteresting botany and research specialization are in the field of lessons, and underemphasis (or utter neglect) of cognition - how students learn. Recently the lab has plants in students’ biological laboratory and field been concentrating on visual learning and their experiences (e.g., Darley 1990; Hershey, 1993, results indicate that “there may be more than meets 1996; Nichols, 1919; Uno, 1994). the eye!” - editor The Quest for a New Theory However, the findings of our own research studies, PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN ISSN 0032-0919 Published quarterly by Botanical Society of America, Inc., 1735 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43210 The yearly subscription rate of $15 is included in the membership dues of the Botanical Society of America, Inc. Periodical postage paid at Columbus, OH and additional mailing office. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Address Editorial Matters (only) to: Kim Hiser, Business Manager Marsh Sundberg, Editor Botanical Society of America Dept. Biol. Sci., Emporia State Univ. 1735 Neil Ave. 1200 Commercial St. Columbus OH 43210-1293 Emporia, KS 66801-5057 Phone/Fax: 614/292-3519 Phone 620-341-5605 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] 2 including two recent nationwide studies on public blind spot, snow blindness, need-blind admission). perception of plants (Wandersee & As for the limits of the word plant within our new term, Schussler,2000a), coupled with the general findings our work thus far has been focused on the US of other biology education and visual cognition public’s inattention to and disinterest in understanding researchers, suggest to us that the aforementioned most angiosperms. So the term is most appropriately sources may well be secondary factors, but the used in reference to the flowering plants. primary factor for explaining why people in the US often have a greater interest in animals than plants, Defining the New Term and why they tend to pay little attention to the plants Subsequently, we defined plant blindness as: the around them, is the way that humans perceive inability to see or notice the plants in one’s own plants—due to the inherent constraints of their environment—leading to: (a) the inability to recognize visual information processing systems. Theories the importance of plants in the biosphere, and in are logical and principled systems that describe, human affairs; (b) the inability to appreciate the predict, and explain. What follows represents the aesthetic and unique biological features of the life current state of our progress toward constructing a forms belonging to the Plant Kingdom; and (c) the theory of plant blindness. misguided, anthropocentric ranking of plants as inferior to animals, leading to the erroneous The Pathway Leading to the Introduction of a conclusion that they are unworthy of human New Term consideration (Wandersee & Schussler, 1998a). Following several years of preliminary discussions, library searches, small-scale investigations, and a Possible “Symptoms” of Plant Blindness fair amount of trepidation, in 1998 we decided to We have proposed that persons afflicted with the introduce a new term, plant blindness, to the US condition known as plant blindness may exhibit biology education literature (1998a). We did this symptoms such as the following: (a) failing to see, because we thought the current state of inattention take notice of, or focus attention on the plants in to and under-representation of plants—not just in one’s daily life; (b) thinking that plants are merely the biology instruction, but in US society in general— backdrop for animal life; (c) misunderstanding what might be better explained by using research-based kinds of matter and energy plants require to stay principles of human perception and visual cognition alive; (d) overlooking the importance of plants to than by earlier, instructional-bias/deficiency-related- one’s daily affairs (Balick & Cox, 1996); (e) failing to hypotheses—such as zoocentrism, zoo-chauvinism, distinguish between the differing time scales of plant and plant neglect. We also wanted the new term to and animal activity (Attenborough, 1995); (f) lacking be free of accumulated