Linnaeus: King of Natural History

2009·2.8 MB·English

by  Paul Adam

Linnaeus: King of Natural History
Paul Adam' and Elizabeth May-
' School ofBiological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University ofNSW, Kensington, NSW, 2052;
^ School ofBiological Sciences, University ofSydney, NSW, 2006
Adam, P. and May, E. (2009). Linnaeus: king ofnatural history. Proceedings oftheLinnean Societyof
NewSouth Wales 130, 245-250.
Linnaeus'legacywasfarmoreencompassingthantaxonomic. Wearguethat,whilethesystematicrecording
of species remains fundamental to modem ecological concerns, Linnaeus also laid the foundation for
other major areas of ecology, including comparative biogeography, plant demography, and comparative
anatomy.
Manuscript received 18 October2008, accepted forpublication 21 January 2009.
KEYWORDS:
Biodiversity, Linnaeus, natural history, natural philosophy, taxonomy.
essential skills underpinningthe study ofbiodiversity
INTRODUCTION were already in decline. (Biodiversity itselfis a word
of recent origin - first coming to the fore with the
Linnaeus is one of the towering figures in the publication ofWilson [1988].)
history ofbiological science. He isrememberedtoday The taxonomic side of Linnaeus' achievements
chiefly for his introduction ofthe binomial system of was outstanding. Whilehis sexual systemdidnotlong
nomenclature and for his taxonomy. However, ifwe surviveasabasis forplantclassification,Linneaushad
consider his skill as an observer ofthe relationships graspedthepotential forclassificationtobepredictive
between the plants and animals he classified, and and 'natural', even ifhis particular approach had its
their environment, he should also be regarded as limitations. He had recognized the importance ofthe
one of the earliest practicing ecologists. He passed hierarchical approach and provided a nomenclatural
on these skills to his many students, including those system that was functional and, importantly, had
who travelled the world collecting and classifying practical application to the large number of new
organisms and became known as the 'apostles'. species thatwere being discovered outside Europe. It
In eighteenth-century Sweden, Linnaeus was was the first classification system that was accessible
accorded high status, and this great respect continued to the non-specialist, with the work encapsulated in
to hold internationally until the twentieth century. handbooks that were 'small enough to be carried into
Lord Rutherford's throw-away comment that '(a)ll the field' (Koemer, 1999, p40).
science is eitherphysics orstamp collecting'reflected Intheyear2007,wecelebratedthetercentenaryof
the marginalization oftaxonomy and natural history Linnaeus' birth. It also happens to be the anniversary
within science as technological advances in physics, of Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, the
chemistry and engineering attracted fimding and authoroftheHistoireNaturelle. Conniff(2007), inhis
support. These advances also revolutionised biology, article aptly titled Happy Birthday, Linnaeus, argues
permittingbreakthroughsinphysiology,biochemistry that Buffon should be regarded as at least the equal
and the molecular sciences, but in this brave new of Linnaeus, and in particular suggests that Buffon
world the diversity and distribution oforganisms lost had a superior understanding ofhabitat, anticipating
their attraction as fields ofstudy. It was only towards the development of ecology as a science. Linnaeus
the end ofthe twentieth century when environmental and Buffon were mutually fierce critics, and Buffon
issuesbecame suchamajortheme inpolitics andwith was undoubtedly also a major figure in the history of
the public thatthere was renewed interest in the study science:hehadbettergeologicalinsightthanLinnaeus,
of biodiversity, and a need to bring new techniques and was closerto having an evolufionaryperspective.
and approaches to 'old fields'. By then, many ofthe However, to suggest that Linnaeus' natural history
LINNAEUS: KING OF NATURAL HISTORY
was not ecologically focused is far from accurate. A the links to scientific botany, and ethnobotany has
major part of Lirmaeus' teaching was based on field been given a new impetus as a field of study by the
excursions: he had a very comprehensive knowledge regimeforrewardingtraditionalownersofknowledge
of the local flora of southern Sweden, and while and resources, which was established by the United
his sexual system was not appropriate for higher Nations Convention on Biological Diversity 1992.
taxonomic ranks, Linneaus' species concepts have From the late 16* century onwards there was
largely stood the test oftime. a considerable interest in collecting and studying
We would argue that Linnaeus' taxonomic work 'curiosities' ofall kinds, and some ofthe collections
was firmly underpinned by a deep understanding of natural history objects that were assembled were
of natural history and that natural history in turn large. Some ofthe more academic natural historians
provided the basis for ecology (Mayr, 1997; Blunt, associated with these collections were distinguished
1971). The ecological insights of Linnaeus are scientists whose work has stood the test oftime. An
clearly seen in his botanical 'text book', Philosophia example is John Ray, who was the first to draw a
Botanica (Linnaeus, 1751). Koemer (1999) notes that distinction between Monocots and Dicots and who is
'...he described many ofthe mechanisms of species commemoratedinthe still existingRay Societyandin
interdependence, as Charles Darwin noted on reading thenameoftheherbariumattheUniversityofSydney.
his Oeconomia naturae of 1749' (pi5). Some ofthe impetus for collecting was stimulatedby
the increasing numbers of exotic specimens being
sentbackto Europe fromwiderexploration. Linnaeus
LINNAEUS AND NATURAL HISTORY was very much part of this natural history tradition
and although he did not travel beyond Europe, he
'Natural history', the advancement of which is actively encouraged his students to do so, and he was
the prime objective ofthe various Linnean Societies familiar with non-European plants both in the form
aroundtheworld,hasaverylonghistory. Earlyhunter- of herbarium specimens and in gardens. The non-
gatherer societies could not have survived unless European species he described famously included
members possessed what we might consider to be bananas, which would then have been regarded as
an innate understanding ofnatural history, including very exotic.
the ability to recognise different sorts of food and Linnaeus' own exploration was closer to home
to distinguish between the edible, the toxic and the and included his early expedition to Lapland.
dangerous. Cave paintings provide, in a tangible Although there are suggestions thathis account ofhis
form, evidence for knowledge of natural history. travels is somewhat exaggerated' (Koemer, 1999), it
In classical times, plants and animals were seen as established his reputation as an explorer and natural
sources of medicines or as an element in a broader historian. Lapland in the eighteenth century was at
natural philosophy, and the Greeks and Romans left a the edge ofthe world and formany Europeans would
documentary record which at least in part survives to havebeenregardedwithasmuchtrepidationasAfrica.
thisday andthatwouldhavebeenknowntoLinnaeus. Eventoday itremains one ofthe fewwilderness areas
Knowledgeofnaturalhistorywouldhavebeencurrent in Europe (Ratcliffe 2006).
amongst the broader population, the majority of Once he was established as a senior academic
whichlivedinrural environmentsandwereintimately in Uppsala, field teaching became an essential and
dependent on the natural world for survival, but in popular part of Linneaus' teaching. His excursions
'academic' circles natural history was increasingly attractedlargenumbersofsliidentsandwereorganized
associated with medicine. For hundreds of years with almost military precision (Blunt 1971). Most
herbalists recycled the writings of classical authors, attention was paid to the flora, although any matter
without making original observations and with the of natural history interest was open for study and
claims becoming more fancifiil on eachretelling. The comment. Many of the localities around Uppsala
Renaissance then brought a new curiosity about the that were visited on excursions still support the same
world andmore organized scientific inquiry, although species today, so thatitrequiresno great stretch ofthe
the importance of the links to medicine continued, imaginationtovisitsitestodayandseewhatLinneaus'
and old myths still retained currency. Linnaeus students wouldhave seen, andto experience the same
himself was Professor of Medicine and Botany at excitement offirst encountering awetmeadow fiill of
Uppsala University, and in some institutions close snakeshead fritillaries {Fritillaria meleagris) or a dry
links between the two disciplines survived until the calcareous esker with a spring abundance of Pasque
twentieth century. The recent growth of interest in flowers {AnemonePulsatilla).
alternative medicine suggests a need for revitalizing
246 Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 130, 2009
'
ADAM AND MAY
p. E.
LINNAEUS AND ECOLOGY
section 312), displaying evidence of very carefial
observation. He also pointed out that variation could
William Steam (in Appendix I of Blunt, 1971) be correlated with soil conditions and microclimate
recognised that Linnaeus has been variously declared andadvocatedanexperimentalapproach{Philosophia
'a pioneer ecologist, a pioneer plant-geographer, a section 316: 'Cultivation is the mother ofvery many
pioneerdendrochronologist, apioneerevolutionist... varieties and is the best means oftesting varieties'),
but considered that the 'most influential and useful foreshadowing by a century and a half experimental
of his contributions to biology undoubtedly is his taxonomy (genecology), which enjoyed its heyday in
successfulintroductionofconsistentbinomialspecific the second halfofthe 20* century.
nomenclature'. Chapter XI ofPhilosophia (entitled 'Sketches')
ItistruethatLinneaus'contributiontoecologyand contains much ecological material. Section 334 'The
plant geography is rarely acknowledged within these native locations of plants relate to region, climate,
disciplines, and the recognized founding fathers were soilandground contains avery succinct introduction
all much more recent. Nevertheless his Philosophia to ecology and biogeography (as well as some rather
Botanica contains many ecological insights, which strange views about geology). The discussion about
were in the published literature and were dormant the relationship between latitude and flora gives hints
seeds formany decades. Giventhe very large number oftheideassubsequentlydevelopedingreaterdetailby
of students who attended Linneaus' classes, and the Alexander von Humboldt. The relationships between
wide circulation of his publications, the ecological soil types and the plants they support also introduce
perspective he developed must have been assimilated topics that formed amajorpart ofecological research
into the perceived wisdom of the day, and when in the twentieth century. Section 335 provides an
ecology and plant geography developed as separate overview of phenology and indicates that Linnaeus
disciplines, Linneaus' ideas would have been part of was well aware that factors such as temperature and
the assumed background. day length were involved in controlling flowering,
Today the major concerns of ecology include although itwastobemanyyearsbeforephysiological
the identification and evaluation of biodiversity. Of understanding of the mechanisms involved was
the three generally accepted levels of biodiversity, achieved. Even on botanical excursions students
Linneaus was ignorant of genes, but he clearly recorded the plant species eaten by particular animal
recognized the need to document species, and species 'while watching the botanical specimens
recognized that species occupied habitats. In fact, he disappear at the moment they realized that they
devotespartofthePhilosophiato discussingthemain needed to identify them' (Koemer 1999 p49).
habitats (communities) in Sweden. He also indicated Chapter V of Philosophia (Sex) includes
what notes should be made on field excursions. observations on annual seed production ofindividual
Unfortunately, the details on many herbarium plants, probably the first scientific exploration of
labels in current collections fail to provide any plant demography. The essential^ feature of the
ecological information. Linnaeus' advocacy of the Philosophia is the importance of observation, and it
systematic recording of habitat data was part of his is remarkable how much was achieved using lenses
approachtocataloguinginformationandthesefeatures and microscopes that today would be regarded as
are easily accommodated in modem databases. If woefully inadequate.
Linnaeus were alive today, he would undoubtedly WhileLinnaeuswas acreationist,therecognition
be active in the development of bioinformatics and ofvariation suggeststhathewasnotasrigidlyso ashe
the creation and manipulation of databases. The is usually portrayed - he certainly recognized that the
A
omissions ofthe past cannot be corrected but today's appearance of species could change. synthesis of
collectors shouldbe encouraged to recordmuchmore Buffon's and Lirmaeus' ideas could have accelerated
than is often the case. Regrettably, ecologists are the development ofevolutionary theories, well ahead
often amongst the worst offenders when it comes to a ofthe publications ofDarwin and Wallace in the mid
lack ofdetail associated with voucher specimens. 19* century.
Linneaus was well aware of the variability The Philosophia is also strongly focused on
displayed by some species and devoted Chapter IX the utilisation of plants, not just as medicines but
of the Philosophia to a discussion of 'Varieties'. for a whole range ofpurposes. The 365* (and final)
He urged against giving taxonomic recognition to article states: 'The economic use ofplants is ofgreat
environmentally determined phenotypic variation, utility to the human race.' (Linnaeus, 1751). One of
as he recognized that a variety ofdiseases and insect the majorjustifications for biodiversity conservation
attackcouldcauseabnormalitiesinplants{Philosophia is the maintenance of the ecosystem services that
Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 130, 2009 247
LINNAEUS: KING OF NATURAL HISTORY
biodiversity supports. This is a concept that would This tradition of the extremely skilled amateur was
clearly have found favour with Linneaus, and the never as strong in New South Wales as it was in the
sorts of observations he advocated are needed to UnitedKingdom (forreasons thatperhaps requirethe
document ecosystem processes. He recorded details attention of a social historian). Certainly, there have
ofthetrophic interactionsbetweenorganisms andhad been some very gifted amateurs, but their interests
an appreciation ofthe recycling ofmaterials, noting tended to be restricted to groups such as birds or
people used churchyard soil for growing cabbages, flowering plants; there was not the same interest or
hence 'human heads ... turn into cabbage heads' expertise shown in, for example, cryptogamic plants
(Koemer, 1999, p83). as was the case in the United Kingdom. Given the
Robert MacArthur (1972) famously wrote that dearth of professionals in Australia, this means that
'to do science is to search for repeated patterns' there are major components of biodiversity about
and stressed the importance ofnatural history as the whichwe remain still basically ignorant.
starting point for ecological research. MacArthur Today collection is frowned upon, and in many
pointed out that not every natural historian was cases(suchasthecollectingofbirdeggs) itisproperly
a scientist (in terms of approach and method, not illegal. The shift away from collection partly reflects
necessarily profession) and not all ecologists were lack of opportunity given an increasingly urbanized
natural historians, but we would agree with him that population, rejection ofa 'stamp collecting' approach
most ofecology has its roots in natural history: even to science and greater concern for conservation.
theoreticalmathematicalecologystartswithideasthat Certainly, it would not be possible to condone egg-
are ultimatelybased onfieldobservation. Underwood collecting or capturing and killing native vertebrates
(2007) has recently observed 'one of the great joys outside specially-approved scientific licences, but
of experimental ecology is that natural history is nevertheless it is probable that both school and
so important in the development of explanatory universitystudentsaremissingoutonwhatpreviously
models'. had been important educational experiences.
The old collections remain of continuing value,
providing comparative material for taxonomic
COLLECTING BIODIVERSITY: PRESERVING studies, as well as evidence ofchanging distributions
BIODIVERSITY? or ofenvironmental change. For example, the ability
to measure long-term trends in thickness of the
In the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth shells of raptor eggs was extremely important in
century much natural history involved collections; drawing attention to the effects ofthe new post-war
and many large collections of, for example, insects, organic agricultural chemicals (Ratcliffe 1967, 1970;
bird eggs, or plants were made both by, or for, major Olsen and Olsen 1979). Sadly, curation ofhistorical
institutions and individual collectors. Many people collections in some ofour greatest museums is being
who subsequently became famous scientists in other eroded as funding for the care of collections, in the
fields (for example Macfarlane Burnet - Sexton management schemes of modem-day directors,
1999) were avid collectors in their youth. Charles is coming a distant second behind promotion of
Darwin himself was an avid beetle collector in his exhibitions for entertainment's sake without the
college days (preferring 'beetling' to mathematics underlying scholarship being obvious.
- Desmond and Moore 1991). (Another suggestion Even in the absence of collections, skilled
for Linnaeus' mis-representation of his travels in amateurs in the United Kingdom have been able
Lappland was mis-calculation (Selander, 1947 in to systematically record distributions of large
Koemer, 1999). Perhaps he sharedDarwin's aversion numbers oftaxa at the national scale. These spatially
to mathematics?). The making of collections taught explicit data are of enormous value for monitoring
theneedforcarefial observation, systematicrecording environmental change. Dataofthis sortwouldbevery
of data, and provided in-depth understanding of difficult to collect (and inordinately expensive) ifwe
particular groups oforganisms. had to rely on professionals, yet they will be crucial
Collectors and recorders were notjust the clergy to our monitoring of biodiversity. In Australia the
andthe landedgentry (ortheirspinstersiblings); there omithologists have pioneered systematic recording
was, at least in the United Kingdom, a very strong of species distribution at the continental scale,
working class element ofminers and factoryworkers, hamessing the skills and enthusiasm ofamateurs and
who, in their very limited free time, spent many professionals. The differences in distribution and
hours completing arduous hikes and making major abundance between the two editions ofthe BirdAtlas
finds of often taxonomically-challenging organisms. (Blakers et al. 1984; Barrett et al. 2003) provides
248 Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 130, 2009
ADAM AND MAY
p. E.
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LINNAEUS: KING OF NATURAL HISTORY
(Endnotes)
' He variously reported traveling up to three times
further than he really did and spoke of long
periodsspentwith the native Sami, when infact it
was afew weeks. Thefact that he was beingpaid
by the milefor hisjourney by the Science Society
ofUppsala is cited by way ofpartial explanation
(Koerner 1999).
250 Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 130, 2009