La conferencia insular floras de Sir Joseph Hooker: el impacto humano y el paradigma del laboratorio natural

Abstract

In 1866, the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) delivered a lecture to the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Nottingham, U.K. entitled ‘Insular floras’. The lecture has been described as ‘the first systematic statement of the importance of islands for evolutionary studies’. As such, it can be seen to have contributed to the development of the ‘natural laboratory paradigm’ that views islands as model systems for studying evolution. Hooker’s lecture also highlighted another key driver in shaping island diversity patterns, namely human impact. Human impact has been profound on many island systems but its full extent and impact is often not understood. Given the broad array of questions that can be addressed using island systems, how and when does human impact compromise the utility of islands as ‘natural laboratories’ for studying evolution? To date, no fewer than seven ‘shortfalls’ – knowledge gaps that impact on studies of biodiversity – have been described. In this paper, we suggest that an eighth shortfall is in order – a Hookerian shortfall – to account for uncertainty in the extent to which biodiversity patterns on islands reflect natural rather than anthropogenic processes. The potential for natural history collections to help address this shortfall is discussed.