Temperate and Tropical Plant Collections: The changing species concept and other ideas behind their development
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Temperate and Tropical Plant Collections : The changing species concept and other ideas behind their development. / Friis, Ib.
Tropical Plant Collections: Legacies from the Past? Essential Tools for the Future?: Proceedings of an international symposium held by The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters in Copenhagen, 19th–21st of May, 2015. ed. / Ib Friis; Henrik Balslev. Vol. Scientia Danica B, vol. 6 København : Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, 2017. p. 15-38 (Scientia Danica. Series B, Biologica, Vol. 6).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Book chapter › Research › peer-review
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TY - CHAP
T1 - Temperate and Tropical Plant Collections
T2 - The changing species concept and other ideas behind their development
AU - Friis, Ib
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - The first botanical gardens and collections of preserved plants in the 16th century served didactic purposes and should ensure correct identification of medicinal, ornamental and other useful plants. Collections of preserved plants were nearly all book-herbaria, emulating illustrated books and owned by individual botanists. Curiosity cabinets of nobles and prominent scholars were larger collections, in which all kinds of objects of natural history from remote regions could be incorporated. The Linnaean revolution favoured loose-leaf herbaria over the old book-herbaria: herbaria with loose sheets could be reorganised in agreement with new knowledge or theories and newly accessedspecimens could be placed next to earlier ones of the same species. However, the Linnaean collections reflected the essentialist species concept, according to which all species consisted of individuals with similar essence and separated from other species by sharp discontinuities. Therefore only few specimens were accumulated per species. A.P. de Candolle saw the need for the study of variation within species and stressed the importance of many specimens per species. The Darwinian revolution in 1859 further increased that trend, requiring more specimens to allow the study of variation both within and between species. During the 19th and the 20th centuries larger botanical gardens and large public herbaria with tropical plants developed in European countries, particularlyin countries with tropical colonies, eventually also in the United States and insome tropical countries, for example in Brazil (Rio) and India (Calcutta). Before and particularly after World War II new botanical gardens and herbaria were established in the tropics and the collections in Europe and North America continued to grow, facilitated by easier travelling and growing interest in exploring the World’s biodiversity. New trends in the 21st century included a wider focus than the study of taxonomy and plant geography: for example conservation and climate change. Many factors may influence the future of tropical plant collections: the influence of growing world population and increasing urbanisation on conservation, increasing focus on technologicallycomplex disciplines in the utilisation of collections and an increasingly complex international legislation, such as the Washington Convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing.
AB - The first botanical gardens and collections of preserved plants in the 16th century served didactic purposes and should ensure correct identification of medicinal, ornamental and other useful plants. Collections of preserved plants were nearly all book-herbaria, emulating illustrated books and owned by individual botanists. Curiosity cabinets of nobles and prominent scholars were larger collections, in which all kinds of objects of natural history from remote regions could be incorporated. The Linnaean revolution favoured loose-leaf herbaria over the old book-herbaria: herbaria with loose sheets could be reorganised in agreement with new knowledge or theories and newly accessedspecimens could be placed next to earlier ones of the same species. However, the Linnaean collections reflected the essentialist species concept, according to which all species consisted of individuals with similar essence and separated from other species by sharp discontinuities. Therefore only few specimens were accumulated per species. A.P. de Candolle saw the need for the study of variation within species and stressed the importance of many specimens per species. The Darwinian revolution in 1859 further increased that trend, requiring more specimens to allow the study of variation both within and between species. During the 19th and the 20th centuries larger botanical gardens and large public herbaria with tropical plants developed in European countries, particularlyin countries with tropical colonies, eventually also in the United States and insome tropical countries, for example in Brazil (Rio) and India (Calcutta). Before and particularly after World War II new botanical gardens and herbaria were established in the tropics and the collections in Europe and North America continued to grow, facilitated by easier travelling and growing interest in exploring the World’s biodiversity. New trends in the 21st century included a wider focus than the study of taxonomy and plant geography: for example conservation and climate change. Many factors may influence the future of tropical plant collections: the influence of growing world population and increasing urbanisation on conservation, increasing focus on technologicallycomplex disciplines in the utilisation of collections and an increasingly complex international legislation, such as the Washington Convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing.
KW - Faculty of Science
KW - Convention on Biological Diversity
KW - Darwinian revolution
KW - Linnaean revolution
KW - methodology of plant collections
KW - herbaria
KW - Nagoya protocol
KW - origin of herbaria
KW - size of collections
KW - Washington convention
M3 - Book chapter
SN - 978-87-7304-407-0
VL - Scientia Danica B, vol. 6
T3 - Scientia Danica. Series B, Biologica
SP - 15
EP - 38
BT - Tropical Plant Collections: Legacies from the Past? Essential Tools for the Future?
A2 - Friis, Ib
A2 - Balslev, Henrik
PB - Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab
CY - København
ER -
ID: 184807589