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SUMMARY:Changes in the culture of biological recording\, 1955–2015 - Chr
 is Preston (Department of History and Philosophy of Science) and Mark Hill
DTSTART:20170227T130000Z
DTEND:20170227T140000Z
UID:TALK69767@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Edwin Rose
DESCRIPTION:The use of volunteers (often now called 'citizen scientists') 
 to systematically map the distribution of plant species was pioneered by t
 he Botanical Society of the British Isles in the _Atlas of the British Flo
 ra_ (1962)\, compiled by the Cambridge botanists Frank Perring and Max Wal
 ters. Their techniques have been adapted for mapping the distribution of m
 any groups of animal and plants in Europe\, North America and elsewhere as
  'the Atlas movement swept over the face of the earth'. In time the record
 ing exercise was repeated for the more popular groups\, so that birds\, bu
 tterflies\, dragonflies and flowering plants in Britain have now been mapp
 ed and remapped. Comparison of the results of these mapping exercises is a
  vital source of information on changes in range\, including the decline o
 f some species and the expansion of others. However\, simple comparison of
  the results of repeat mapping\, or even sophisticated numerical analyses\
 , may be misleading. In interpreting apparent changes\, a knowledge of 'cu
 ltural' changes in biological recording is often essential. Scientists int
 erested in distributional change therefore find themselves venturing into 
 the territory of historians.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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