1 Defining Halophytes: a Conceptual and Historical Approach in an Ecological Frame
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Introduction the Age of Biology
INTRODUCTION THE AGE OF BIOLOGY An organism is the product of its genetic constitution and its en- vironment . no matter how uniform plants are genotypically, they cannot be phenotypically uniform or reproducible, unless they have developed under strictly uniform conditions. — Frits Went, 1957 A LITERARY and cinematic sensation, Andy Weir’s The Martian is engi- neering erotica. The novel thrills with minute technical details of com- munications, rocket fuel, transplanetary orbital calculations, and botany. The action concerns a lone astronaut left on Mars struggling to survive for 1,425 days using only the materials that equipped a 6-person, 30-day mission. Food is an early crisis: the astronaut has only 400 days of meals plus 12 whole potatoes. Combining his expertise in botany and engineer- ing, the astronaut first works to create in his Mars habitat the perfect Earth conditions for his particular potatoes, namely, a temperature of 25.5°C, plenty of light, and 250 liters of water. Consequently, his potatoes grow at a predicted rate to maturity in 40 days, thus successfully conjur- ing sufficient food to last until his ultimate rescue at the end of the novel. Unlike so many of the technical details deployed throughout the novel, the ideal conditions for growing potatoes are just a factoid. Whereas readers of the novel get to discover how to make water in a process oc- cupying twenty pages, the discovery of the ideal growing conditions of the particular potatoes brought to Mars is given one line.1 Undoubtedly, making water from rocket fuel is tough, but getting a potato’s maximum 3 © 2017 University of Pittsburgh Press. -
De Plantis, Once Belonging to Maimonides’.[3]
Fragment of the Month: January 2017 Plants on Maimonides’ bookshelf: T-S Ar.41.41 by Gabriele Ferrario Which were the favourite books of Moses Maimonides? Which titles would have found space on his bookshelf? Maimonides’ letter to the Hebrew translator of most of his Judaeo-Arabic production, Samuel ibn Tibbon, contains revealing passages regarding the books that Maimonides considered the basis of any solid philosophical education.[1] No wonder the place of honour is occupied by the works of Aristotle, which became available to the Arabic-speaking world thanks to the spectacular effort of Arabisation of Greek sciences conducted under the Abbasid caliphs. Maimonides describes Aristotelian treatises as ‘the roots and foundations of all works on the sciences’. But Aristotle’s philosophy was not always easy to understand for a medieval reader, and Maimonides recognised the utility of later commentaries and systematisations of Aristotelian works produced by philosophers of Late Antiquity and Islam, in particular the works by Alexander of Aphrodisias (2nd–3rd c.), Themistius (d. 390 CE), and Averroes (d. 1198). As much as praising his favourite authors, Maimonides is very keen on downplaying the importance of authors he fancied less, and writes to Ibn Tibbon that reading commentaries by Abū Yaḥyā ibn al-Biṭrīq (9th century), Yaḥyā ibn ʿAdī (10th c.) and by Abū al-Faraj ibn al-Tayyib (11th c.) would be a waste of time. A similarly dismissive approach characterises Maimonides’ stance towards Plato and other Greek classical philosophers: Aristotle said it all, why should one look for anything else? Among Muslim philosophers, Maimonides praises Al-Fārābī (10th c.), particularly for his logical works, Ibn Bajja (the Latin Avempace, 11th–12th c.) and Averroes (12th c.) for his numerous Aristotelian commentaries; he also remarks that books by Avicenna (11th c.) are worth studying, even if they are not as good as Al- Fārābī’s. -
Guide to Plant Collection and Identification
GUIDE TO PLANT COLLECTION AND IDENTIFICATION by Jane M. Bowles PhD Originally prepared for a workshop in Plant Identification for the Ministry of Natural Resources in 1982. Edited and revised for the UWO Herbarium Workshop in Plant Collection and Identification, 2004 © Jane M. Bowles, 2004 -0- CHAPTER 1 THE NAMES OF PLANTS The history of plant nomenclature: Humans have always had a need to classify objects in the world about them. It is the only means they have of acquiring and passing on knowledge. The need to recognize and describe plants has always been especially important because of their use for food and medicinal purposes. The commonest, showiest or most useful plants were given common names, but usually these names varied from country to country and often from district to district. Scholars and herbalists knew the plants by a long, descriptive, Latin sentence. For example Cladonia rangiferina, the common "Reindeer Moss", was described as Muscus coralloides perforatum (The perforated, coral-like moss). Not only was this system unwieldy, but it too varied from user to user and with the use of the plant. In the late 16th century, Casper Bauhin devised a system of using just two names for each plant, but it was not universally adopted until the Swedish naturalist, Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) set about methodically classifying and naming the whole of the natural world. The names of plants: In 1753, Linnaeus published his "Species Plantarum". The modern names of nearly all plants date from this work or obey the conventions laid down in it. The scientific name for an organism consists of two words: i) the genus or generic name, ii) the specific epithet. -
A Translation of the Linnaean Dissertation the Invisible World
BJHS 49(3): 353–382, September 2016. © British Society for the History of Science 2016 doi:10.1017/S0007087416000637 A translation of the Linnaean dissertation The Invisible World JANIS ANTONOVICS* AND JACOBUS KRITZINGER** Abstract. This study presents the first translation from Latin to English of the Linnaean disser- tation Mundus invisibilis or The Invisible World, submitted by Johannes Roos in 1769. The dissertation highlights Linnaeus’s conviction that infectious diseases could be transmitted by living organisms, too small to be seen. Biographies of Linnaeus often fail to mention that Linnaeus was correct in ascribing the cause of diseases such as measles, smallpox and syphilis to living organisms. The dissertation itself reviews the work of many microscopists, especially on zoophytes and insects, marvelling at the many unexpected discoveries. It then discusses and quotes at length the observations of Münchhausen suggesting that spores from fungi causing plant diseases germinate to produce animalcules, an observation that Linnaeus claimed to have confirmed. The dissertation then draws parallels between these findings and the conta- giousness of many human diseases, and urges further studies of this ‘invisible world’ since, as Roos avers, microscopic organisms may cause more destruction than occurs in all wars. Introduction Here we present the first translation from Latin to English of the Linnaean dissertation published in 1767 by Johannes Roos (1745–1828) entitled Dissertatio academica mundum invisibilem, breviter delineatura and republished by Carl Linnaeus (1707– 1778) several years later in the Amoenitates academicae under the title Mundus invisibi- lis or The Invisible World.1 Roos was a student of Linnaeus, and the dissertation is important in highlighting Linnaeus’s conviction that infectious diseases could be trans- mitted by living organisms. -
Catalogue of Titles of Works Attributed to Aristotle
Catalogue of Titles of works attributed by Aristotle 1 To enhance readability of the translations and usability of the catalogues, I have inserted the following bold headings into the lists. These have no authority in any manuscript, but are based on a theory about the composition of the lists described in chapter 3. The text and numbering follows that of O. Gigon, Librorum deperditorum fragmenta. PART ONE: Titles in Diogenes Laertius (D) I. Universal works (ta kathalou) A. The treatises (ta syntagmatika) 1. The dialogues or exoterica (ta dialogika ex terika) 2. The works in propria persona or lectures (ta autopros pa akroamatika) a. Instrumental works (ta organika) b. Practical works (ta praktika) c. Productive Works (ta poi tika) d. Theoretical works (ta the r tika) . Natural philosophy (ta physiologia) . Mathematics (ta math matika) B. Notebooks (ta hypomn matika) II. Intermediate works (ta metaxu) III. Particular works (ta merika) PART TWO: Titles in the Vita Hesychii (H) This list is organized in the same way as D, with two exceptions. First, IA2c “productive works” has dropped out. Second, there is an appendix, organized as follows: IV. Appendix A. Intermediate or Particular works B. Treatises C. Notebooks D. Falsely ascribed works PART THREE: Titles in Ptolemy al-Garib (A) This list is organized in the same way as D, except it contains none of the Intermediate or Particular works. It was written in Arabic, and later translated into Latin, and then reconstructed into Greek, which I here translate. PART FOUR: Titles in the order of Bekker (B) The modern edition contains works only in IA2 (“the works in propria persona”), and replaces the theoretical works before the practical and productive, as follows. -
Classification of Botany and Use of Plants
SECTION 1: CLASSIFICATION OF BOTANY AND USE OF PLANTS 1. Introduction Botany refers to the scientific study of the plant kingdom. As a branch of biology, it mainly accounts for the science of plants or ‘phytobiology’. The main objective of the this section is for participants, having completed their training, to be able to: 1. Identify and classify various types of herbs 2. Choose the appropriate categories and types of herbs for breeding and planting 1 2. Botany 2.1 Branches – Objectives – Usability Botany covers a wide range of scientific sub-disciplines that study the growth, reproduction, metabolism, morphogenesis, diseases, and evolution of plants. Subsequently, many subordinate fields are to appear, such as: Systematic Botany: its main purpose the classification of plants Plant morphology or phytomorphology, which can be further divided into the distinctive branches of Plant cytology, Plant histology, and Plant and Crop organography Botanical physiology, which examines the functions of the various organs of plants A more modern but equally significant field is Phytogeography, which associates with many complex objects of research and study. Similarly, other branches of applied botany have made their appearance, some of which are Phytopathology, Phytopharmacognosy, Forest Botany, and Agronomy Botany, among others. 2 Like all other life forms in biology, plant life can be studied at different levels, from the molecular, to the genetic and biochemical, through to the study of cellular organelles, cells, tissues, organs, individual plants, populations and communities of plants. At each of these levels a botanist can deal with the classification (taxonomy), structure (anatomy), or function (physiology) of plant life. -
The Relationship Between Plant Growth and Water Consumption : a History from Greek Philosophers to Early 20Th Century Scientists
The relationship between plant growth and water consumption : A history from Greek philosophers to early 20th century scientists. Oliver Brendel Université de Lorraine, AgroParisTech, INRA, UMR SILVA Nancy, France email : [email protected] Tel : 00 33 383394100 postal address: Oliver Brendel, INRAE, UMR Silva, F-54280 CHAMPENOUX, France Abstract The relationship between plant growth and water consumption has for a long time occupied the minds of philosophers and natural scientists. The ratio between biomass accumulation and water consumption is known as water use efficiency and is widely relevant today in fields as diverse as crop improvement, forest ecology and climate change. Defined at scales varying from single leaf physiology to whole plants, it shows how botanical investigations changed through time, generally in tandem with developing disciplines and improving methods. The history started as a purely philosophical question by Greek philosophers of how plants grow, progressed through thought and actual experiments, towards an interest in plant functioning and their relationship to the environment. This article retraces this history by elucidating the progression of scientific questions posed through the centuries, presents the main methodological and conceptual developments. Keywords Transpiration efficiency; water use efficiency; plant physiology; botany Introduction The ratio of biomass accumulation per unit water consumption is known today as water use efficiency (WUE) and is widely relevant to agriculture ( e.g. Vadez et al.2014; Tallec et al.; Blum 2009), to forest ecology (e.g. Linares and Camarero 2012; Lévesque et al. 2014), and in the context of global climate change (e.g., Cernusak et al. 2019). This ratio can be defined at various levels, from the physiological functioning of a leaf to the whole plant and at the ecosystem level. -
History of Biology - Alberto M
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE FUNDAMENTALS AND SYSTEMATICS – Vol. I – History of Biology - Alberto M. Simonetta HISTORY OF BIOLOGY Alberto M. Simonetta Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e Genetica, “L. Pardi,” University of Firenze, Italy Keywords: Biology, history, Antiquity, Middle ages, Renaissance, morphology, palaeontology, taxonomy, evolution, histology, embryology, genetics, ethology, ecology, pathology Contents 1. Introduction 2. Antiquity 3. The Medieval and Renaissance periods 4. The Development of Morphology 5. Paleontology 6. Taxonomy and Evolution 7. Histology, Reproduction, and Embryology 8. Physiology 9. Genetics 10. Ecology and Ethology 11. Pathology Bibliography Biographical Sketch Summary A short account is given of the development of biological sciences from their Greek origins to recent times. Biology as a pure science was the creation of Aristotle, but was abandoned shortly after his death. However, considerable advances relevant for medicine continued to be made until the end of classical times, in such fields as anatomy and botany. These developments are reviewed. After a long pause, both pure and applied research began anew in the thirteenth century, and developedUNESCO at an increasing pace therea fter.– However, EOLSS unlike astronomy and physics, which experienced a startling resurgence as soon as adequate mathematical methods and instruments became available, the development of biology was steady but slow until the appearance of Darwin’s revolutionary ideas about evolution brought about a fundamental shiftSAMPLE in the subject’s outlook. TheCHAPTERS efflorescence of biological sciences in the post-Darwinian period is outlined briefly. 1. Introduction To outline more than 2000 years of biology in a few pages is an extremely difficult endeavor as, quite apart from the complexities of both the subject itself and of the technical and theoretical approaches of various scholars, the development of scholars’ views, ideas, and researches forms an intricate network that cannot be fully disentangled in such a brief account. -
Historical Review
1 Historical Review INTRODUCTION This chapter presents a brief historical review of progress in the field of plant water relations because the authors feel that it is impossible to fully understand the present without some knowledge of the past. As the Danish philosopher Kierkegaarde wrote, "Life can only be understood backward, but it can only be lived forward," and this also is true of science. The present generation needs to be reminded that some generally accepted concepts have their origin in ideas of 17th or 18th century writers and although others were suggested many decades ago, they were neglected until recently. As might be expected, the importance of water to plant growth was recog- nized by prehistoric farmers because irrigation systems already existed in Egypt, Babylonia (modern Iraq), and China at the beginning of recorded history, and the first European explorers found extensive irrigation systems in both North and South America. However, irrigation was not used extensively in agriculture in the United States until after the middle of the 19th century and little research on plant water relations occurred until the 20th century. Early Research Although plant water relations appear to have been the first area of plant physiology to be studied, progress was slow from Aristotle who died in 322 B.C. to the middle of the 19th century. According to Aristotle, plants absorbed their food ready for use from the soil, and plant nutrition was controlled by a soul or vital principle that ailowed plants to absorb only those substances useful in 2 1. Historical Review growth. This idea only began to be questioned in the 17th century by Jung, van Helmont, Mariotte, and others, and it ~ersistedinto the 19th century. -
Geobotany Studies
Geobotany Studies Basics, Methods and Case Studies Editor Franco Pedrotti University of Camerino Via Pontoni 5 62032 Camerino Italy Editorial Board: S. Bartha, Va´cra´tot, Hungary F. Bioret, University of Brest, France E. O. Box, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA A. Cˇ arni, Slovenian Academy of Sciences, Ljubljana (Slovenia) K. Fujiwara, Yokohama City University, Japan D. Gafta, “Babes-Bolyai” University Cluj-Napoca (Romania) J. Loidi, University of Bilbao, Spain L. Mucina, University of Perth, Australia S. Pignatti, Universita degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy R. Pott, University of Hannover, Germany A. Vela´squez, Centro de Investigacion en Scie´ncias Ambientales, Morelia, Mexico R. Venanzoni, University of Perugia, Italy For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/10526 About the Series The series includes outstanding monographs and collections of papers on a given topic in the following fields: Phytogeography, Phytosociology, Plant Community Ecology, Biocoenology, Vegetation Science, Eco-informatics, Landscape Ecology, Vegetation Mapping, Plant Conservation Biology and Plant Diversity. Contributions are expected to reflect the latest theoretical and methodological developments or to present new applications at broad spatial or temporal scales that could reinforce our understanding of ecological processes acting at the phytocoenosis and landscape level. Case studies based on large data sets are also considered, provided that they support refinement of habitat classification, conservation of plant diversity, or -
Life-Forms of Terrestrial 'Flowering Plants
ACTA PHYTOGEOGRAPHICA SUECICA EDIDJT SVENSKA VAXTGEOGRAFISKA SALLSKAPET m:1 LIFE-FORMS OF TERRESTRIAL ' FLOWERING PLANTS I BY G. EINAR Du RIETZ UPPSALA 1931 ALMQVIST & WIKSELLS BOKTRYCKERI AB ' ACTA PHYTOGEOGRAPHICA SUECICA. III. LIFE-FORMS OF TERRESTRIAL FLOWERING PLANTS BY G. EINAR DU RIETZ PRINTED WITH CONTRIBUTION FH.OM LA :\GMAN S KA I{ U LTU HFON DEN UPPSALA 193 1 ALMQVIST & WIKSELLS BOK'l'RYCKERI-A.-B. Preface. This work is the result of studies carried out during the last twelve years. The field-studies have been made partly in various parts of Scandinavia (Sweden and Norway), partly during a year's work in New Zealand and .Australia in 1926-1927 as well as during shorter visits to various parts of Central and Western Europe, North America, and Java. The material collected in the field has been worked up in the Plant-Biological Institution of Upsala Uni versity. The rich life-form collections of this institution have also been utilized as much as possible. I wish to express my deep gratitude to all those frien�s in various countries who have supported my work in one way or another - they are too many to be enumerated here. l have tried to bring the names of the plants mentioned as much as possible into accordance with the following generally known :florjstic handbooks : For Scandinavia Ho LMBERG 1922-1926, and, for the groups not treated there, LIND- 1\IAN 1926, for Central Europe HEGI 1908--1931, for the eastern part of North .America RoBINSON and FF.RNALD 1908, for Java KooR DERS 191 1-1912, for N�w South Wales MooRE and BE T C H E 1893, for the rest of Australia BENTHAM 1863- 1878, and for New Zealand CHEESEMAN 1925. -
Plants Found in the Middle Parts of the State Grow Here, Excepting the Alpine Flowers
CULTIVATION BOTANY.— Wood grows here [Concord] with great rapidity; and it is supposed there is as much now as there was twenty years ago. Walden woods at the south, and other lots towards the southwest parts of the town, are the most extensive, covering several hundred acres of light-soil land. Much of the fuel, which is consumed, is, however brought from the neighbouring towns. The most common trees are the oak, pine, maple, elm, white birch, chestnut, walnut, &c., &c. Hemlock and spruce are very rare. The ornamental trees transplanted, in this as in most other towns, do not appear to have been placed with much regularity; but as they are, they contribute much to the comfort and beauty of the town. The elm, buttonwood, horse-chestnut, and fruit trees have very properly taken the place of sickly poplars, in ornamenting the dwellings. The large elm in front of the court-house, –the pride of the common,– is almost unrivalled in beauty. It is about “three score and ten,” but is still growing with youthful vigor and uniform rapidity. Dr. Jarvis, who is familiar with the botany of Concord, informs me, that “most of the plants found in the middle parts of the state grow here, excepting the alpine flowers. The extensive low lands produce abundantly the natural families of the aroideæ, typhæ, cyperoideæ, gramineæ, junci, corymbiferæ and unbelliferæ. These genera especially abound. There are also found, the juncus militaris (bayonet rush), on the borders of Fairhaven pond; cornus florida; lobelia carinalis (cardinal flower) abundant on the borders of the river; polygala cruciata, in the east parts of the town; nyssa villosa (swamp hornbeam) at the foot of Fairhaven hill.” The cicuta Americana (hemlock) grows abundant on the intervals.