Synopses & Reviews
The science of botany underwent a dramatic change in the late nineteenth century. A reform movement originating in Germany took the traditionally destructive approach to the study of plant structure and physiology and transformed it into a study of plant adaptation. The young scientists who initiated this approach were influenced by factors both scientific and political. Darwinâs natural selection theory and the German Reichâs interest in colonial expansion provided the background for a new botanical methodology, which treated Nature as the Laboratory. The work of these botanists, including Gottlieb Haberlandt, Georg Volkens, A. F. W. Schimper, and Ernst Stahl, influenced the subsequent development of botanical science in the twentieth century and contributed significantly to the emergence of the new science of ecology. Eugene Cittadino describes in detail their early careers, their zeal for Darwinian selection theory, and their sometimes hazardous expeditions into exotic environments from Africa to the East Indies.
Synopsis
The science of botany underwent a dramatic change in the late nineteenth century. A reform movement originating in Germany took the traditionally destructive approach to the study of plant structure and physiology and transformed it into a study of plant adaptation. These botanists, including Gottlieb Haberlandt, Georg Volkens, A. F. W. Schimper, and Ernst Stahl, contributed significantly to the emergence of the new science of ecology. Eugene Cittadino describes their early careers, their zeal for Darwinian selection theory, and their sometimes hazardous expeditions into exotic environments from Africa to the East Indies.
Synopsis
An account of the botanical reform movement and its pioneering contribution to ecological science.
Table of Contents
Preface; Introduction; 1. Botany in Germany, 1850 1880: the making of a science and a profession; 2. Schwendener and Haberlandt: the birth of physiological plant anatomy; 3. Overtures to Darwinism; 4. Schwendenerâs circle: botanical âcomrades-in-armsâ; 5. Physiological anatomy beyond the Reich; 6. Beyond Schwendenerâs circle: Ernst Stahl; 7. Schimper and Schenck: from Bonn to Brazil; 8. Teleology revisited? natural selection and plant adaptation; 9. The colonial connection: imperialism and plant adaptation; 10. Toward a science of plant ecology; Notes; Select bibliography; Index.