| Abstract Detail
A Century Of Wood Anatomy and 75 Years Of IAWA Baas, P. [1]. A Century of Wood Anatomy and 75 years of IAWA. HIGHLIGHTS will be picked from the 1906-2006 time-line to sketch the multi-faceted development of wood anatomy, and to discuss the role of the International Association of Wood Anatomists (IAWA), founded in 1931 by a group of wood anatomists led by S.J. Record, L. Chalk and B.J. Rendle. In 1906 the wood anatomical scene was very quiet and still dominated by Solereder in Germany who published detailed accounts of the vegetative anatomy of all dicot families. A very influential English translation of Solereder's encyclopaedic "Systematische Anatomie der Dikotyledonen" was in preparation by Boodle & Fritsch hundred years ago. The early years of the IAWA were dominated by successful attempts to standardize terminology in descriptive wood anatomy, thereby laying the foundations for semi-automated microscopic wood identification procedures (first perforated cards, much later succeeded by computer-assisted methods). Scientific breakthroughs in all fields of wood anatomy in the thirties came especially from I.W. Bailey (cell wall architecture, cambial development, phylogenetic wood anatomy, etc.). In the first 44 years of its existence the IAWA was restricted to an international elite of nominated members who communicated infrequently through a newsletter and met infrequently at International Botanical Congresses (IBCs). At the Leningrad IBC of 1975 membership was opened up and regional groups were formed that were instrumental in organizing frequent wood anatomical meetings in alliences with several partners all over the world (notably IUFRO, IBC and national societies). By the 1980ies the newsletter character of the IAWA Bulletin had changed into that of a mature international journal. IAWA now stimulates all aspects of wood anatomy from cambial development, xylem genomics, tree ring analysis and wood structure and function, to wood technology, interactive web-based wood identification and information retrieval, phylogenetic systematics, fossil woods, and wood in archeology and art.
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Related Links:
International Association of Wood Anatomists
Nationaal Herbarium Nederland
Inside Wood website
1 - Nationaal Herbarium Nederland, Universiteit Leiden Branch, Po Box 9514, Leiden, NL-2300 RA, Netherlands
Keywords:
wood anatomy
biohistory
phylogeny
plant identification.
Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation
Session: 36-1
Location: 102/Plumas
Date: Tuesday, August 1st, 2006
Time: 8:15 AM
Abstract ID:173 |
