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1. Naturalness in the Making: Classifying, Operationalizing, and Naturalizing Naturalness in Plant Morphology

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-024-00751-3  

   Kendig, Catherine (June 2024, Philosophia)

   Abstract What role does the concept of naturalness play in the development of scientific knowledge and understanding? Whether naturalness is taken to be an ontological dimension of the world or a cognitive dimension of our human perspective within it, assumptions of naturalness seem to frame both concepts and practices that inform the partitioning of parts and the kinding of kinds. Within the natural sciences, knowledge of what something is as well as how it is studied rely on conceptual commitments. These conceptual commitments shape how entities and processes are categorizedasnatural depending on how naturalness has been understood within that discipline. In this paper, I explore how commitments to naturalness shape different conceptualizations of what were previously and what are now considered to be fundamental parts in plant morphology. Relying on an historically informed epistemological approach, I trace the origins and development of models of plant morphology from (1) Goethe’s classical LEAF-ROOT-STEM archetype model; (2) Agnes Arber’s revisions to Goethe’s model reconceived in her partial-shoot theory of the leaf; and (3) Rolf Sattler’s proposal for a processual model of plant morphology. These influential models posit ontologically and epistemologically inconsistent conceptualizations of the natural fundamental parts of plants and how they are related to each other. To explain what this inconsistency means for the concept of naturalness and the role it plays in plant morphology, I suggest naturalness might best be conceived of as a contextually bound classificatory concept that is made and remade through its operationalized use within a model, theory, set of practices, or discipline. 

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2. Ontology and values anchor indigenous and grey nomenclatures: a case study in lichen naming practices among the Sámi, Sherpa, Scots, and Okanagan

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2020.101340  

   Kendig, Catherine (November 2021, Integrated HPS Conference Proceedings)

   Schickore, Jutta (Ed.)

   Ethnobotanical research provides ample justification for comparing diverse biological nomenclatures and exploring ways that retain alternative naming practices. However, how (and whether) comparison of nomenclatures is possible remains a subject of discussion. The comparison of diverse nomenclatural practices introduces a suite of epistemic and ontological difficulties and considerations. Different nomenclatures may depend on whether the communities using them rely on formalized naming conventions; cultural or spiritual valuations; or worldviews. Because of this, some argue that the different naming practices may not be comparable if the ontological commitments employed differ. Comparisons between different nomenclatures cannot assume that either the naming practices or the object to which these names are intended to apply identifies some universally agreed upon object of interest. Investigating this suite of philosophical problems, I explore the role grey nomenclatures play in classification. ‘Grey nomenclatures’ are defined as those that employ names that are either intentionally or accidently non-Linnaean. The classification of the lichen thallus (a symbiont) has been classified outside the Linnaean system by botanists relying on the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN). But, I argue, the use of grey names is not isolated and does not occur exclusively within institutionalized naming practices. I suggest, ‘grey names’ also aptly describe nomenclatures employed by indigenous communities such as the Sámi of Northern Finmark, the Sherpa of Nepal, and the Okanagan First Nations. I pay particular attention to how naming practices are employed in these communities; what ontological commitments they hold; for what purposes are these names used; and what anchors the community's nomenclatural practices. Exploring the history of lichen naming and early ethnolichenological research, I then investigate the stakes that must be considered for any attempt to preserve, retain, integrate, or compare the knowledge contained in both academically formalized grey names and indigenous nomenclatures in a way that preserves their source-specific informational content. 

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3. Drawing a Line: Grasses and Boundaries

   https://doi.org/10.3390/plants8010004  

   Richardson, Annis; Hake, Sarah (January 2019, Plants)

   Delineation between distinct populations of cells is essential for organ development. Boundary formation is necessary for the maintenance of pluripotent meristematic cells in the shoot apical meristem (SAM) and differentiation of developing organs. Boundaries form between the meristem and organs, as well as between organs and within organs. Much of the research into the boundary gene regulatory network (GRN) has been carried out in the eudicot model Arabidopsis thaliana. This work has identified a dynamic network of hormone and gene interactions. Comparisons with other eudicot models, like tomato and pea, have shown key conserved nodes in the GRN and species-specific alterations, including the recruitment of the boundary GRN in leaf margin development. How boundaries are defined in monocots, and in particular the grass family which contains many of the world’s staple food crops, is not clear. In this study, we review knowledge of the grass boundary GRN during vegetative development. We particularly focus on the development of a grass-specific within-organ boundary, the ligule, which directly impacts leaf architecture. We also consider how genome engineering and the use of natural diversity could be leveraged to influence key agronomic traits relative to leaf and plant architecture in the future, which is guided by knowledge of boundary GRNs. 

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4. A qualitative analysis of concept maps through the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs.

   https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2022.pr.Zohrabi_Alaee  

   Zohrabi Alaee, Dina; Zwickl, Benjamin M. (September 2022, Physics Education Research Conference 2022)

   Frank, Brian W.; Jones, Dyan L.; Ryan, Qing X. (Ed.)

   Learning physics in any context, including undergraduate research experiences (UREs), requires learning its concepts and the relational structure between those new concepts with what students already know. We use concept maps, a knowledge elicitation method, for assessing mentees' and mentors' knowledge structures during Research Experience for Undergraduates programs. The study looked at maps from seven mentor-mentee pairs to understand how mentors and mentees use specific knowledge and strategies during the development of their concept maps. A qualitative analysis of the maps showed mentors and mentees differed in their ways of organizing and displaying their knowledge in terms of structure, scale, language, and use of conceptual and procedural knowledge. For instance, mentees used more procedural knowledge. It is perhaps due to their perception of finishing their REU projects and the fact that they may have only limited and superficial knowledge of specific topics. However, mentors' maps were smaller but more significant in using more comprehensive conceptual knowledge and connecting their maps to the broader scientific context. 

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5. Using Leaf δ13C to Assess Water Use Efficiency within Plant Communities Across a Successional Gradient in Temperate and Tropical Forests

   Meier, J; Lowe, A; Both, S; Oishi, AC; Aguirre, E; Strömberg, CAE (July 2023, Botany)

   Understanding how plant communities of the past have responded to disturbance events can provide valuable insights when managing our natural resources and assessing human impacts on ecosystems. The geologic record has the potential to reflect these responses through the analysis of functional traits, which relate directly to plant function and ecosystem strategy. There is currently little evidence of how functional traits measurable in fossil leaves vary across succession in different forest types. Because of this, there is a limited ability to identify disturbance as the primary driver of vegetation change within the fossil record. To improve this ability, this study analyzes the carbon stable isotopic composition (δ 13C) of bulk organic matter sampled at the community-scale across successional gradients in a temperate deciduous forest (North Carolina, USA) and compares them against values from a previous study across succession in a tropical evergreen forest (Malaysian Borneo). Leaf δ13C is representative of a plant's water use efficiency (WUE), an important axis of ecological strategy representing the carbon assimilated per water lost in a plant during photosynthesis. Leaf δ13C as a functional trait has the advantage that it is often preserved during leaf fossilization and, integrated across a plant community, can be informative about prevalent ecological strategies, functional diversity , and community assembly dynamics. In Borneo, the community-weighted mean of leaf δ13C to be highest in early-succession plots, indicative of a higher WUE in plant communities closely following a disturbance event. Old growth plots were found to have a lower δ13C, and thus a more conservative WUE. This study will further investigate if this trend is followed within temperate forests, which is important as many mid-late Cenozoic plant assemblages come from what would have been temperate regions. Developing a method of identifying disturbances within the geologic record, will improve the ability to discern drivers of plant community change in the past. This improved knowledge will help guide management decisions across a range of ecosystems. 

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