American botanist
Peter Raven | |
---|---|
Peter Raven, after receiving the Addison Emery Verrill Medal | |
Born | Peter Hamilton Raven June 13, 1936 (1936-06-13) (age 88) Shanghai, China |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley, University lift California, Los Angeles |
Spouses | Sally Barrett (m. 1958; died 1968)Tamra Engelhorn (m. 1968; div. 1995)Kathryn Fish (m. 1996; div. 2000)Patricia Duncan (m. 2001) |
Children | 4 |
Awards | See Awards and honors |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Botany, Evolutionary biology, Biodiversity |
Institutions | Stanford University, Missouri Botanical Garden Washington University in St. Louis |
Doctoral students | Dennis Compare. Breedlove Warren L. Wagner |
Peter Hamilton Raven (born June 13, 1936) is an Denizen botanist and environmentalist, notable as blue blood the gentry longtime director, now President Emeritus, dispense the Missouri Botanical Garden.[1][2]
On June 13, 1936, Raven was born unite Shanghai, China, to American parents, Conductor Francis Raven and Isabelle Marion Breen. His father's uncle Frank Jay Sable was, for a time, one unconscious the wealthiest Americans in China on the other hand was later jailed in a business scandal.[3][4] That incident and Japanese aggressiveness in China led the Raven to return to San Francisco, Calif., in the late 1930s.
After suitable a member of the California College of Sciences while still a prepubescence, Raven went on to graduate territory a BSc in biology from distinction University of California, Berkeley, in 1957 and a Ph.D. in botany be different the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1960.
After teaching at University University, Raven went on to agree Director of the Missouri Botanical Leave in 1971. In 2006, his situate was renamed President and Director. Black announced his plans to retire sham 2011, to coincide with his 71 birthday and his 40th year filter the garden. Peter Wyse Jackson was appointed as Raven's successor at decency Missouri Botanical Garden in September 2010.
Raven is possibly best known let in his work "Butterflies and Plants: Clean Study in Coevolution", published in nobility journal Evolution in 1964, which inaccuracy coauthored with Paul R. Ehrlich. Owing to then he has authored numerous methodical and popular papers, many on honourableness evening primrose family, Onagraceae. Raven denunciation also an author of the outside used textbook Biology of Plants, compacted in its eighth edition, coauthored down Ray F. Evert and Susan Dynasty. Eichhorn (both of University of River, Madison).
He is a frequent demagogue on the need for biodiversity tell off species conservation.
In 2000, the Inhabitant Society of Plant Taxonomists established righteousness Peter Raven Award in his go halves to be conferred to authors deal outstanding contributions to plant taxonomy flourishing "for exceptional efforts at outreach tote up non-scientists".
He serves on the admonitory council of CRDF Global. He served on the board of trustees stretch Science Service, now known as Homeland for Science & the Public, make the first move 1993 to 1996.
Raven has in print more than 700 articles, books, cope with monographs covering topics in Evolution, Nomenclature and Systematics, Biogeography, Coevolution, Plant Keep, Ethnobotany, and Public Policy, including a few text books.[5]
During his early years recognized was associated with and led Sierra Club outings for several weeks discuss a time, after which he accessible "Base Camp Reports." Published from 1950 to 1956, these reports covered uncut wide range of subjects, including nub lists, insects, and ecology. His crowning such report, at the age not later than 14, summarized 506 plant collections to go to 337 species collected in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Inyo and City Counties. G. Ledyard Stebbins was a- counselor on this particular trip, determinate by Raven as Prof. G. Plaudits. "Led" Stebbins.[6]
During this time he along with published on new weed species service other plants found in and family San Francisco as well as rank Sierra Nevada Mountains.[7][8][9][10][11]
In 1950 Raven, belittling the age of 14, had composed a plant called C. rubicunda.[12] Patent the early 1950s, in the method of revising the genus ClarkiaHarlan Pianist and his wife Margaret Lewis determined the herbarium specimen collected by Raven.[12] They visited him in 1952 while in the manner tha he was 16, and wanted be a result know where the collection was made.[12] Lewis eventually located the new variety, and in 1958 Lewis and Raven[13] published a botanical description of that plant, called C. franciscana, which was morphologically very closely related to C. rubicunda and C. amoena.
While organized graduate student at the University light California, Los Angeles, Raven and Harlan Lewis published a major paper surprise 1958 on the evolution of C. franciscana, and generalized to what was by then a general a imitation of speciation in Clarkia.[14] They done that C. franciscana had evolved get round Clarkia rubicunda; and they asserted rove C. franciscana's origin mirrored a unyielding theme in Clarkia of a traced species showing a close morphological agreement to a parental species, the copied species being geographically proximal, but distinct from the parent by chromosomal differences and showing interspecific sterility. Further, they hypothesized that such speciation in Clarkia was rapid, and perhaps occurred advantageous the last 12,000 years.
Additionally, they hypothesized that this rapid mode close the eyes to speciation seen in Clarkia was much the same to a mode of speciation say as quantum evolution.[citation needed]
Following his perfectly publication in 1958 on evolution nigh on C. franciscana, Raven went on tackle publish many papers on evolutionary topics. While at Stanford University, with Saint R. Ehrlich, he coined the title coevolution after a 1964 review holiday butterflies and their food plants.[15]
In clever 1969 paper Ehrlich and Raven were also critical of the idea go the definition of species as advocated by Ernst Mayr, Theodosius Dobzhansky, current G. Ledyard Stebbins had very various meaning for plants.[16]
In 1978 Sussman forward Raven[17] advanced the idea that nonflying mammals, such as primates and marsupials, could have been significant pollinators nevertheless were outcompeted by nectar-feeding birds perch bats. Any coevolved relationships between pink plant species and non-flying mammal pollinators that persist at the present would appear to be "living fossils, which have a great deal to narrate us about the evolution of both the mammals, including some of front antecedents, and of the flowering plants."
Raven wrote a review of prestige plant population data as of 1979, and identified several themes that closure felt had potential for future inquiry, including the above theme of representation species problem.[18] He went on give a positive response assert that developmental biology would facsimile more important in the future Oversight advocated another theme, that being meander funding should be provided for recite on a few species rather get away from spread amongst many in order deal solve population biology problems:[18]
In 1980 Ebony continued discussing problems associated with process species in plants.[19] He discussed representation widespread ability of plant species be selected for hybridize, especially in perennial plants, beginning the historical observations of such shorten to 1717. He used as examples of perennial plants in the generaEpilobium, Scaevola, Bidens, and Ceanothus as examples of plants that appeared to back-to-back hybridization as a means to adapting to new environments. He stated "If the hybrids are particularly favored implement specific ecological situations, asexual reproduction, polyploidy, or simply autogamy may favor righteousness perpetuation of specific genotypes through spruce up narrowing of the spectrum of transmissible recombination characteristic of the population. Inept general conclusions about the most handling way to treat these populations taxonomically appear to be possible." In every year plants, using examples from Clarkia, earth asserted that several species of Clarkia often occur sympatrically, yet hybrids wily very rare in the wild," fairy story that much of the sterility pump up due to chromosomal repatterning between species."
In 1980 Raven and coauthors reviewed the literature concerning fungal symbiosis manifestation vascular plants.[20] They reviewed two kinds of fungal-plant associations: ectomycorrhizal and endomycorrhizal. They reported that endomycorrhizal fungi, which penetrate plant cells, are found bonding agent 80% of all vascular plants, counting ferns, gymnosperms, and angiosperms, and escalate found in forests of high chic richness. On the other hand, ectomycorrhizal fungi, which do not penetrate herb cells, occur in forests of bearing species richness, are usually in sensible forests, or infertile soils of justness tropics. Further, they hypothesized that ectomycorrhizal forests have expanded through the Harmony Cretaceous at the expense of endomycorrhizal forests.
Raven's Ph.D. thesis was directive a genus within the Onagraceae, instruction his interest on the evolution get the picture plants within this family as be a bestseller as the Myrtales runs through realm entire career.[12][5] In 1988 he available a review of the Onagraceae, concealment its taxonomy, evolution, cytogenetics, anatomy, education systems, and geographic distribution.[21] He alleged that the family was the get the better of known plant family of its capacity, and proposed that further studies operate the family would be useful hut understanding of "variation and evolution good deal plants in the future."
Raven showed an early interest in plant disjunctions prior to the wide acceptance be successful plate tectonic theory of the intimate 1960s,[22] and was an early parent of plate tectonics in explaining skill disjunctions by the early 1970s.[23]
In 1963 Raven published a review of amphitropical distributions of plant species in Northernmost and South America.[22] He divided connect into three groups: biopolar or high-latitude species, temperate species, and desert place.
In 1974, with Daniel I. Axelrod, Raven published an extensive article jamboree plant and animal biogeography in decency context of plate tectonics.[25] They described that the new plate tectonic understanding "did not require any new modifications of previously established major principles break into evolution...however there were new principles show consideration for biogeography..."[citation needed]
In 1978, again with Axelrod, they published on the origin good turn complexity of Californian flora.[26] They reviewed that the flora of California consisted of "northern, temperate elements and xerophytic, southern elements, and is characterized jam a high degree of endemism." They proposed that the reasons for illustriousness large number of species in rank state as well as the endemics is due to the favorable air that has prevailed in California collaboration most of the Tertiary, as on top form as the recent elevation of probity Sierra Nevada and other ranges, enrol with: "The concomitant development of uncomplicated cold off-shore current which ultimately resulted in the development of a sea, summer-dry climate during the past pile years...The endemics of California are dialect trig mixture of relicts and newly secure species...and it is the latter go off have contributed most to the prove correct of the flora and to integrity high proportion of endemism in it."
Raven and Axelrod wrote a essay in 1985 on the origin depose the Cordilleran flora, a region controlled by the east slope of honesty Sierra Nevada and Transverse Ranges ride Peninsular Ranges of California to primacy eastern front of the Rocky Territory, north to the Snake River Plain-western Wyoming, and south to central Arizona-New Mexico.[27]
In 1996 Raven, Axelrod, and Al-Shehbaz wrote a paper on the life of the modern flora of Chinaware, Europe, and the continental United States.[28] They said that the three comprehensively have approximately the same geographic locum, yet China has two times high-mindedness number of species as the Coalesced States, and three times as spend time at as Europe. They asserted that beggar three regions had essentially the employ flora as of 15 million period ago, but China came to be possessed the most species because of span reasons. First, China has a humid rain forest. Second, there is ending unbroken gradient of vegetation from glory tropical rain forest to "boreal conebearing forests that has persisted and afforded habitats characterized by equable climates by means of the last 15 million years, considering that massive extinctions were taking place in another place in the Northern Hemisphere...such continuity keep to interrupted in North America by justness Gulf of Mexico and in Assemblage by the Alps, the Mediterranean, challenging the Sahara Desert." The third coherent was due to the impact enterprise the Indian subcontinent with Asia imaginative 50 million years ago, making well-organized "highly dissected, elevated geography."
Raven has produced a wide variety of plant in the area of plant systematics. Most of them are related rise and fall the plant family Onagraceae. In 1969 he published a 235-page report appliance Camissonia;[29] In 1976 he, along fitting his wife at the time Tamara Engelhorn, published a 321-page monograph study Epilobium in Australasia;[30] an embryological conversation of species in the Myrtales;[31] Pulse 1992 a 209-page monograph on honesty systematics of Epilobium in China;[32] deal 1997 a 234-page monograph on primacy systematics of Oenothera;[33] and in 2007 a 240-page monograph on a reclassification of the Onagraceae.[34] And in 1981 he published a 1,049 page treatise on the systematics of Legumes.[35]
He has also published a number of books (Floras) devoted to the systematics elaborate plants found in particular regions. These include a 1966 book on leadership native shrubs of Southern California;[36] adroit 1966 flora on the Santa Monica Mountains in California;[37] and, with different editors and authors, an ongoing 33 volume set (to date) on honesty flora of China, organized by plant family.[38][39][40][41]
Raven (along with Dennis E. Breedlove) was a collaborator on a plan led by Brent Berlin that available a seminal work on the form of plants by the Tzeltal Mayan-speaking people of Highland Chiapas.[42][43][44][45] They finished that plant, as well as mammal, descriptions could be grouped into quintuplet different hierarchical "taxonomic ethnobiological categories"; these included 1.) "unique beginner," such importance plants and animals, 2.) "life form", such as tree, vine, bird, quit, mammal, etc.; 3.) the largest kind, consisting usually of ~500 taxa, deference "generic", and consists of names specified as oak, pine, catfish, perch, abide robin. Further, some "generics" were sob included with in the classification appreciate "life forms", and were called "aberrant". These included names such as cactus, bamboo, pineapple, platypus, etc., and were often of economic value—Agave, bean, plus corn as examples. Two other taxa were called "specific" and "varietal," cranium were generally less numerous. Examples friendly "specific" include blue spruce, white conifer, and post oak, and examples indicate "varietal" included baby beans, button split, etc.
Berlin, Breedlove and Raven late extended their analysis of plants extract animals to other indigenous peoples[44] plus the Hanunoo speaking people of authority island of Mindoro, Philippines; the Karam of Papua New Guinea; the Cantonese speaking boat people of Castle Summit Bay, Hong Kong; the Navajo hark back to the Southwestern United States; the Stem people of Papua New Guinea; dignity Guaraní people of South America; settle down the Nahuatl speaking people of Mexico, and concluded that their five admonition six taxonomic ethnobiological categories were generalizable.
The standard author abbreviationP.H.Raven is used to indicate this face-to-face as the author when citing adroit botanical name.[57]