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data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunstformen_der_Natur-0.md

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+---
+title: "Kunstformen der Natur"
+chunk: 1/1
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunstformen_der_Natur"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:18:38.605024+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+Kunstformen der Natur (known in English as Art Forms in Nature) is a book of lithographic and halftone prints by German biologist Ernst Haeckel.
+
+
+== Publication ==
+Originally published in sets of ten between 1899 and 1904 and collectively in two volumes in 1904, it consists of 100 prints of various organisms, many of which were first described by Haeckel himself.  Over the course of his career, over 1000 prints were produced based on Haeckel's sketches and watercolors; many of the best of these were chosen for Kunstformen der Natur, translated from sketch to print by lithographer Adolf Giltsch.
+A second edition of Kunstformen, containing only 30 prints, was produced in 1914.
+
+
+== Themes ==
+According to Haeckel scholar Olaf Breidbach, the work was "not just a book of illustrations but also the summation of his view of the world."  The over-riding themes of the Kunstformen plates are symmetry and level of organization.  The subjects were selected to embody these to the full, from the scale patterns of boxfishes to the spirals of ammonites to the perfect symmetries of jellies and microorganisms, while images composing each plate are arranged for maximum visual impact.
+Among the notable prints are numerous radiolarians, which Haeckel helped to popularize among amateur microscopists; at least one example is found in almost every set of 10.  Cnidaria also feature prominently throughout the book, including sea anemones as well as Siphonophorae, Semaeostomeae, and other medusae.  The first set included Desmonema annasethe (now Cyanea annasethe), a particularly striking jellyfish that Haeckel observed and described shortly after the death of his wife Anna Sethe; the tentacles reminded him of her long flowing hair.
+
+
+== Influence ==
+Kunstformen der Natur was influential in early 20th-century art, architecture, and design, bridging the gap between science and art.  In particular, many artists associated with Art Nouveau were influenced by Haeckel's images, including René Binet, Karl Blossfeldt, Hans Christiansen, and Émile Gallé. One prominent example is the Amsterdam Commodities Exchange designed by Hendrik Petrus Berlage: it was in part inspired by Kunstformen illustrations.
+
+
+== Gallery of prints ==
+Haeckel's original classifications appear in italics.
+
+
+== See also ==
+On Growth and Form
+
+
+== References ==
+
+Breidbach, Olaf.  Visions of Nature: The Art and Science of Ernst Haeckel.  Prestel Verlag: Munich, 2006.
+
+
+== External links ==
+
+Marine Biological Laboratory Library - An exhibition of material on Haeckel, including background on many Kunstformen der Natur plates.
+University Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth - An Ernst Haeckel exhibition from 2005 pairing prints from Kunstformen der Natur with modern sculptures.
+Kurt Stüber's Biolib - An online version of Kunstformen der Natur with scanned images of the 100 plates, accompanying descriptions, table of contents and supplemental pages (in German).
+Kunstformen der Natur (PDF)
+Detailed views of the volume are at Biodiversity Heritage Library
+Individual plate images are available on Flickr

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parson-naturalists-0.md

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+---
+title: "List of parson-naturalists"
+chunk: 1/1
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parson-naturalists"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:18:39.762551+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+Parson-naturalists were ministers of religion who also studied natural history. The archetypical parson-naturalist was a priest in the Church of England in charge of a country parish, who saw the study of science as an extension of his religious work. The philosophy entailed the belief that God, as the Creator of all things, wanted man to understand his Creations and thus to study them through scientific techniques. They often collected and preserved natural artefacts such as leaves, flowers, birds' eggs, birds, insects, and small mammals to classify and study. Some wrote books or kept nature diaries.
+
+
+== Parson-naturalists ==
+
+
+== See also ==
+List of Christian thinkers in science
+Science in the Age of Enlightenment
+
+
+== References ==
+
+
+== Bibliography ==
+Armstrong, Patrick (2000). The English Parson-naturalist: A Companionship Between Science and Religion. Gracewing Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85244-516-7.

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_counterparts_of_land_creatures-0.md

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+---
+title: "Marine counterparts of land creatures"
+chunk: 1/1
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_counterparts_of_land_creatures"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:18:40.956845+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+The idea that there are specific marine counterparts to land creatures, inherited from the writers on natural history in Antiquity, was firmly believed in Islam and in Medieval Europe. It is exemplified by the creatures represented in the medieval animal encyclopedias called bestiaries, and in the parallels drawn in the moralising attributes attached to each. "The creation was a mathematical diagram drawn in parallel lines," T. H. White said a propos the bestiary he translated. "Things did not only have a moral they often had physical counterparts in other strata. There was a horse in the land and a sea-horse in the sea. For that matter there was probably a Pegasus in heaven". The idea of perfect analogies in the fauna of land and sea was considered part of the perfect symmetry of the Creator's plan, offered as the "book of nature" to mankind, for which a text could be found in Job:
+
+But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.
+The idea appears in the Jewish Tannaic sources as well, as brought down in Babylonian Talmud, Chulin 127a. Rashi (Psalms 49:2) traces this to a biblical source – the land is referred to as "Choled", from the weasel (chulda), because the weasel is the only animal on dry land that does not have its counterpart in the sea.
+All of Creation was considered to reflect the Creator, and Man could learn about the Creator through studying the Creation, an assumption that underlies the "watchmaker analogy" offered as a proof of God's existence.
+The correspondence between the realms of earth and sea, extending to its denizens, offers examples of the taste for allegory engendered by Christian and Islamic methods of exegesis, which also encouraged the doctrine of signatures, a "key" to the meaning and use of herbs.
+The source text that was most influential in compiling the bestiaries of the 12th and 13th centuries was the Physiologus, one of the most widely read and copied secular texts of the Middle Ages. Written in Greek in Alexandria the 2nd century CE and accumulating further "exemplary" beasts in the next three centuries and more, Physiologus was transmitted in the West in Latin, and eventually translated into many vernacular languages: many manuscripts in various languages survive. Aelian, On the Characteristics of Animals (A. F. Scholfield, in Loeb Classical Library, 1958).
+Christian writers, trained in anagogical thinking and expecting to find spiritual instruction inherent in the processes of Nature, disregarded the caveat in Pliny's Natural History, where the idea is presented as a "vulgar opinion": 
+
+Hence it is that the vulgar notion may very possibly be true, that whatever is produced in any other department of Nature, is to be found in the sea as well; while, at the same time, many other productions are there to be found which nowhere else exist. That there are to be found in the sea the forms, not only of terrestrial animals, but of inanimate objects even, is easily to be understood by all who will take the trouble to examine the grape-fish, the sword-fish, the sawfish, and the cucumber-fish, which last so strongly resembles the real cucumber both in colour and in smell.
+Pliny points out that many more things are found in the sea than on the land, and also mentions the correspondences that may be discovered between many non-living objects of the land and living creatures in the sea. 
+Saint Augustine of Hippo reasons based on analogy, that since there is a serpent in the grass, there must be an eel in the sea; because there is a Leviathan in the sea, there must be a Behemoth on the land. (City of God? xi.15?)
+The reaction to such anagogical thinking set in with the unfolding of critical scientific thought in the 17th century. Sir Thomas Browne devoted a chapter of his Pseudodoxia Epidemica to dispelling such a belief: Chapter XXIV: "That all Animals in the land are in their kinde in the Sea." During the Enlightenment the ancient conception was given an innovative and rationalized cast by Benoît de Maillet in describing the transformations and metamorphoses undergone by creatures of the sea to render them fit for life on land, a proto-evolutionist concept, though it was based on superficial morphological similarities:
+
+There are in the Sea, Fish of almost all the Figures of Land-Animals, and even of Birds. She includes Plants, Flowers, and some Fruits; the Nettle, the Rose, the Pink, the Melon and the Grape, are to be found there.
+
+As for the Quadrupeds, we not only find in the Sea, Species of the same Figure and Inclinations, and in the Waves living on the same Aliments by which they are nourished on Land, we have also Examples of those Species living equally in the Air and in the Water. Have not the Sea-Apes precisely the same figure with those of the Land?
+Though in Moby-Dick Ishmael, with a nod to Sir Thomas Browne's wording, denies the claim that land animals find their counterparts in the sea:For though some old naturalists have maintained that all creatures of the land are of their kind in the sea; and though taking a broad general view of the thing, this may very well be; yet coming to specialties, where, for example, does the ocean furnish any fish that in disposition answers to the sagacious kindness of the dog? The accursed shark alone can in any generic respect be said to bear comparative analogy to him.
+In discussing dolphins trained to aid scuba divers, a 1967 Popular Mechanics article could still casually state: "It's hoped that the marine counterparts of some land animals can be trained to become useful members of the Man-in-the-Sea program."
+
+
+== Notes ==

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_history_of_Australia-0.md

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+---
+title: "Natural history of Australia"
+chunk: 1/2
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_history_of_Australia"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:18:42.114564+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+The natural history of Australia has been shaped by the geological evolution of the Australian continent from Gondwana and the changes in global climate over geological time. The building of the Australian continent and its association with other land masses, as well as climate changes over geological time, have created the unique flora and fauna present in Australia today. There are many species of flora and fauna that are unique to Australia, and do not exist in any other part of the world. The natural history of Australia begins with rock formation, followed by geological development, life evolution, and continues to change today. 
+
+== Precambrian ==
+
+Three areas of the Australian landmass that are made of Archaean rocks are more than 2.5 billion years old, among the oldest known rocks. These igneous and metamorphic rocks are found in the Yilgarn (West) and Pilbara (North) cratons in today's Western Australia and the Gawler (South) craton which makes up the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. During the Proterozoic, 2,500 to 545 Ma, continent building took place around the existing cratons; the accretions include sedimentary deposition of the banded iron formations and the formation of Australia's major orebodies – sources of gold, copper, lead, zinc, silver and uranium. These disparate landmasses are thought to have become associated by the tectonic collisions that formed the supercontinent Rodinia, between 1300 and 1100 Ma. Geological evidence suggests that the West Australian cratons collided first, followed by collision with the South Australian craton between ~830 and 750 Ma. The Centralian Superbasin formed the junction of the North, South and West cratons.
+Rodinia broke up between 830 and 745 Ma; at around 750 Ma the western side of Rodinia called Laurentia broke away from the landmass made from Australia, India and Antarctica, forming a gap that would become the Pacific Ocean. Evidence of Rodinia is found in zircons, which are looked for when analyzing major geological events.
+The Archean rocks from the Pilbara craton contain some of the first evidence of life, primitive cyanobacterial mats known as stromatolites. Soft-bodied organisms from the Ediacaran collectively known as the Ediacaran biota are found in sandstone around the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, notably at a site known as Wilpena Pound.
+
+== Gondwana ==
+Following the breakup of Rodinia, Australia, India and Antarctica made up a large landmass. During plate movements from 750 to 500 Ma South America and Africa moved toward India and Australia, and by 500 Ma South America and Africa had joined with them to form Gondwana.
+During the Palaeozoic, 545 to 251 Ma, the present landmass of Australia saw two stages of geological development. From 545 to 390 Ma shallow warm seas covered parts of central Australia, with a series of volcanic arcs and deep water sedimentation in the east. During this period between 480 and 460 Ma the Larapinta Seaway extended across the centre of Australia. Cycles of sedimentation and volcanism formed new continental crust, forming eastern Australia. There was a major orogeny in eastern Australia from 387 to 360 Ma. The continent was affected by glaciation around 330 Ma.
+The continents that had drifted away from Rodinia drifted together again during the Paleozoic: Gondwana, Euramerica, and Siberia/Angara collided to form the supercontinent of Pangea during the Devonian and Carboniferous periods, some 350 million years ago. Pangea was a short-lived supercontinent; it began to break apart again in the early Jurassic. While Pangea existed it created opportunities for intermixing of the flora and fauna.

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+---
+title: "Natural history of Australia"
+chunk: 2/2
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_history_of_Australia"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:18:42.114564+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+During the Carboniferous glaciation, erosion by ice extended into the Early Permian. Crustal extension and subsidence around 295 Ma formed shallow basins in which thick coal deposits were formed.
+During the Mesozoic, when the Earth became much warmer, 251 to 140 Ma, the  Australian landmass was covered with riverine plains. Humid conditions allowed the formation of peatlands, particularly in the east. Dinosaurs, reptiles and primitive mammals were present in Australia. Between 140 and 99 Ma, sea levels rose, and much of the continent was covered. In the same period (between 120 and 105 Ma), there was more volcanism in eastern Australia, leading to uplift creating the Tasman Sea to the southeast and the Coral Sea to the north.
+The earliest land plants preserved in Australia occur in deposits from the Upper Silurian and the Lower Devonian in marine sediments in Victoria, named the Baragwanathia Assemblage for its most prominent element, the simple vascular plant the lycopod Baragwanathia. The assemblage also included Rhyniophyta, Zosterophyllophyta, and Trimerophyta in addition to other lycopods. All these plants were herbaceous, coastal and required an aqueous environment for reproduction. During the Devonian the first shrub-sized to tree-sized lycopods appeared in Australia and Antarctica; they dominated the flora until the Early Carboniferous. In the mid- to Late Carboniferous, as Australia drifted from equatorial latitudes to polar latitudes, the lycopods waned and were replaced by seed-ferns, and the Nothorhacopteris-Fedekurtzia-Botrychiopis complex.
+Most of the modern Australian fauna had its origin in the Cretaceous. From pollen records from the Late Cretaceous it is proposed that the flora of the Cretaceous either evolved within the Austro-Antarctic region or entered Australia from Antarctica. Angiosperms evolved in the northern Gondwana/southern Laurasia during the Early Cretaceous and radiated worldwide. Prominent members of this early angiosperm flora were the Nothofagus.
+Fossils found at Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, suggest that 110 million years ago Australia supported a number of different monotremes, but did not support any marsupials. Marsupials appear to have evolved during the Cretaceous in the contemporary northern hemisphere, to judge from a 100-million-year-old marsupial fossil, Kokopellia, found in the badlands of Utah. Marsupials would then have spread to South America and Gondwana. The first evidence of marsupials in Australia comes from the Tertiary, and was found at a 55-million-year-old fossil site at Murgon, near Kingaroy in southern Queensland. The Murgon fossil site has yielded a range of marsupial fossils, many with strong South American connections — unsurprising since the two continents were both a part of Gondwana. At Murgon evidence of a placental mammal, a Condylarth (Tingamarra porterorum), was discovered. Placental mammals were also found in North America and South America at this time. This find suggests that placental mammals did coexist with marsupials in Australia in the early Tertiary, although only marsupials persisted.
+Regarding Australian Flora, the first evidence of life created by photosynthesis dates back to 3500 million years ago. The evidence of photosynthesis comes from sedimentary structures called stromatolites, which are built from photosynthesis. These are unambiguous records of life, as they still exist today. 
+
+== Isolation ==
+
+The Devonian period (419–359 Ma) saw the first great diversification of fishes living within Australian freshwater basins and in marginal marine embayments. Australia has a rich fossil record of early amphibians which first appeared on the continent around 370–375 Ma, based on well-preserved tetrapod trackways at Genoa River, Victoria. The fossil record of reptiles in Australia starts in the Mesozoic era (250–66 Ma). The oldest of these remains are of Triassic age and comprise a few superficially lizard-like taxa such as Prolacertids (e.g. Kadimakara), and Thecodonts. The earliest significant Australian bird fossil is that of Nanantius, a small primitive flying bird known from one leg bone found in 110 Ma marine sediments in Queensland. Two of the world's three major groups of extant mammals had their origin in the Australian part of the Gondwana supercontinent, the monotremes and marsupials. The oldest mammal fossils from Australia are monotreme fossils from the Cretaceous of eastern and southeastern Australia, and consist of isolated jaws and postcranial bones from Lightning Ridge, New South Wales and sites near Inverloch, Victoria, dated at between 120 and 110 Ma. These mammals lived at a time when Australia comprised part of the supercontinent Gondwana, which at that time also included Antarctica and New Zealand.
+Australia separated from Antarctica in the Late Eocene (c45-30 Ma) , and initially remained warm and humid with rainforest vegetation. Inland Australia had systems of rivers and lakes with abundant wildlife. Fossil birds, platypus, frogs and snakes are present from this period. From 30 Ma there was a period of global cooling, and from 15 Ma the Antarctic ice sheet formed. Sand deserts and large inland salt lakes formed within the last 5 Ma. Climatic oscillation during the Pleistocene over the last million years led to repeated phases of glaciation with lower sea levels that linked Australia to New Guinea, and warmer interglacial periods with higher sea levels.
+As early as the Miocene (23 to 5.3 Ma) and into the Pleistocene (20,000–50,000 years before present) the Australian megafauna developed. The megafauna became extinct in the late Pleistocene, at a time coinciding with both a period of climate change and the first human habitation of Australia. Recent analysis suggests that the fire-stick farming methods of the Australian Aborigines reduced plant diversity and contributed to the extinction of large herbivores with a specialised diet, like the flightless birds from the genus Genyornis. The World Heritage-listed Naracoorte Caves in South Australia are the best record of the Australian megafauna. The placental mammals made their reappearance in Australia in the Pleistocene, as Australia continued to move closer to Indonesia, both bats and rodents appearing reliably in the fossil record. The geographic isolation of Australia created a sharp division between Australian fauna and Asian fauna at the Wallace Line.
+
+== See also ==
+Geology of Australia
+List of Australian and Antarctic dinosaurs
+Natural history of New Zealand
+South Polar dinosaurs
+
+== Notes and references ==
+
+=== Notes ===
+
+=== References ===
+
+== External links ==
+Fossil Sites of Australia

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_center-0.md

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+---
+title: "Nature center"
+chunk: 1/1
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_center"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:18:43.393710+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+A nature center (or nature centre) is an organization with a visitor center or interpretive center designed to educate people about nature and the environment. Usually in a protected open space, nature centers often have trails through their property.   Some are in a state or city park, and some have special gardens or an arboretum. Their properties can be characterized as nature preserves and wildlife sanctuaries.  Nature centers generally display small live animals, such as reptiles, rodents, insects, or fish.  There are often museum exhibits and displays about natural history, or preserved mounted animals or nature dioramas.   Nature centers are staffed by paid or volunteer naturalists and most offer educational programs to the general public, as well as summer camp, after-school and school group programs. These educational programs teach people about nature conservation as well as the scientific method, biology, and ecology.
+Some nature centers allow free admission but collect voluntary donations in order to help offset expenses.  They usually rely on support from volunteers.
+Environmental education centers differ from nature centers in that their museum exhibits and education programs are available mostly by appointment, although casual visitors may be allowed to walk on their grounds.
+Some city, state and national parks have facilities similar to nature centers, such as museum exhibits, dioramas and trails, and some offer park nature education programs, usually presented by a park ranger.
+
+
+== See also ==
+List of nature centers
+National park
+
+
+== References ==

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_writing-0.md

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+---
+title: "Nature writing"
+chunk: 1/2
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_writing"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:18:44.729995+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+Nature writing is nonfiction or fiction prose about the natural environment. It often draws heavily from scientific information and facts while also incorporating philosophical reflection upon various aspects of nature. Works are frequently written in the first person and include personal observations.
+Nature writing encompasses a wide variety of works, ranging from those that place primary emphasis on natural history (such as field guides) to those focusing on philosophical interpretation. It includes poetry, essays of solitude or escape, as well as travel and adventure writing.
+Modern-day nature writing traces its roots to works of natural history that initially gained popularity in the second half of the 18th century, and continued to do so throughout the 19th century. An important early figure in nature writing was the parson-naturalist Gilbert White (1720–1793), a pioneering English naturalist and ornithologist. He is best known for writing Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (1789).
+William Bartram (1739–1823) was another significant American pioneer naturalist who became a respected figure in literary and scientific communities after his first work was published in 1791.
+
+== Early history ==
+The tradition of clerical naturalists can be traced back to the monastic writings of the Middle Ages, although under modern-day definitions, these writings about animals and plants cannot be correctly classified as natural history. Notable early parson-naturalists were William Turner (1508–1568), John Ray (1627–1705) and William Derham (1657–1735).
+Gilbert White was an English ecologist, who expressed encouragement towards an increased respect for nature. He said of the earthworm: "Earthworms, though in appearance a small and despicable link in the chain of nature, yet, if lost, would make a lamentable chasm. [...] worms seem to be the great promoters of vegetation, which would proceed but lamely without them." Along with naturalist William Markwick, White collected records of the dates of emergence of more than 400 plant and animal species in Hampshire and Sussex between 1768 and 1793. Their findings were summarized in The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, in which they recorded the earliest and latest dates for each event over a 25-year period. The data recorded by White and Markwick are among the earliest examples of modern phenology.
+American botanist, natural historian, and explorer William Bartram traveled extensively in the Americas throughout the late 1700s, observing the native flora and fauna; his work, now known as Bartram's Travels, was published in 1791. Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis, in their book, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, name Bartram as "the first naturalist who penetrated the dense tropical forests of Florida."
+Another early illustrated work of nature writing was A History of British Birds by Thomas Bewick, published in two volumes. Volume 1, "Land Birds", appeared in 1797. Volume 2, "Water Birds", appeared in 1804. The book was considered to be the first "field guide" for non-specialists. Bewick provided an accurate illustration of each species, listed the common and scientific name(s) and cited the naming authorities. Each bird is described with its distribution and behavior, often with extensive quotations from external sources or correspondents. Critics noted Bewick's skill as a naturalist as well as an engraver.
+Throughout the 19th century, works of nature writing included those of American ornithologist John James Audubon (1785–1851), Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913). Additional authors who published modern works include English author Richard Jefferies (1848-1887), American authors Susan Fenimore Cooper(1813–1894) and Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862). Other significant writers in the genre include Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803–1882), John Burroughs (1837–1931) and John Muir (1838–1914).

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_writing-1.md

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+---
+title: "Nature writing"
+chunk: 2/2
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_writing"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:18:44.729995+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+== 20th century to date ==
+The second half of the 20th century saw a significant increase in nature writing in fiction and non-fiction in Britain. One of the earliest of these works was John Moore (1907–1967), a best-selling pioneer conservationist. Writing from the 1930s to 1960s, he was described by Sir Compton Mackenzie as the most talented writer about the countryside of his generation. Moore's contemporaries included Henry Williamson (1895–1977), best known for Tarka the Otter, whose imaginative prose won him the Hawthornden Prize in 1928. Other 20th century writers included American authors Edward Abbey (1927–1989), Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) and Indian author M. Krishnan (1912–1996).
+After World War II, other writers emerged including English teacher and naturalist Margaret Hutchinson (1904–1997), who strongly advocated for raising children as naturalists from an early age. American author Rachel Carson (1907–1964) is known for Silent Spring, published in 1962. Carson heralded a new and pointed style of nature writing that carried stronger warnings of environmental loss as pesticide use in industrial agriculture became an increasing concern after World War II.
+Relevant contemporary nature writers in Britain include Richard Mabey, Roger Deakin, Mark Cocker, and Oliver Rackham. Rackham's books included Ancient Woodland (1980) and The History of the Countryside (1986). Richard Mabey has been involved with radio and television programmes on nature, and his book Nature Cure, describes his experiences and recovery from depression in the context of man's relationship with landscape and nature. He has also edited and introduced editions of Richard Jefferies, Gilbert White, Flora Thompson and Peter Matthiessen. Mark Cocker has written extensively for British newspapers and magazines and his books include Birds Britannica (with Richard Mabey) (2005). and Crow Country (2007). He frequently writes about modern responses to the wild, whether found in landscape, human societies or in other species. Roger Deakin was an English writer, documentary-maker and environmentalist. In 1999, Deakin's acclaimed book Waterlog was published. Inspired in part by the short story The Swimmer by John Cheever, it describes his experiences of 'wild swimming' in Britain's rivers and lakes and advocates open access to the countryside and waterways. Deakin's book Wildwood appeared posthumously in 2007. It describes a series of journeys across the globe that Deakin made to meet people whose lives are intimately connected to trees and wood.
+German contributions to nature writing include German author Peter Wohlleben's book The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate. Published in 2016, it was translated from German into English and subsequently became a New York Times Bestseller. In 2017, the German book publishing company Matthes & Seitz Berlin began to grant the German Award for Nature Writing, an annual literary award for German writers who fulfill criteria within nature writing as a literary genre. It comes with a prize of 10,000 euro and an additional artist in residency grant of six weeks at the International Academy for Nature Conservation of Germany in Vilm. In 2018, the British Council offered an education bursary and workshop opportunities to six young German authors deemed to be dedicated to nature writing.
+American poet Mary Oliver found inspiration for her work in nature and had a lifelong habit of solitary walks in the wild. Her poetry is characterized by wonderment at the natural environment.
+
+== See also ==
+Ecofiction
+List of environmental books
+Nature
+Natural history
+Outdoor literature
+
+== References ==
+
+== Further reading ==
+Finch, Robert, and John Elder, eds. The Norton Book of Nature Writing. New York: Norton, 1990; Nature writing: the tradition in English. edited by Robert Finch and John Elder. New York: W.W. Norton, c2002. This book is an all encompassing guide and encyclopedia of 200 years of nature writing.
+Keith,  W. J., The Rural Tradition: William Cobbett, Gilbert White, and Other Non-Fiction Writers of the English Countryside. Hassocks, Sussex: Harvester, 1975. This book has a useful bibliography. In addition, this book goes over specific parts of nature writing, including landscape, pastoral and country life literature.
+Lyon, Thomas J., ed. This Incomparable Land: A Book of American Nature Writing. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989. This book is an introduction guide to the genre. It goes over the vastness of the genre and American writing within the genre.
+Lillard, Richard G. (April 1973). "The Nature Book in Action". The English Journal. 62 (4). National Council of Teachers of English: 537–48. doi:10.2307/813109. JSTOR 813109. This textbook styled book mainly consists of the history behind nature writing.
+Mabey, Richard, The Oxford Book of Nature Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. This piece also goes over the magnitude of this genre and presents essays from varying nature authors.
+Stewart, Frank, A Natural History of Nature Writing. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1994. This books concentrates on the origins of American nature writing.
+Trimble, Stephen, "Words From the Land: Encounters with Natural History Writing". Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1995 (revised edition). ISBN 978-0874172645. This book is a representative collection of essays which goes over the contemporary part of nature writing.
+
+== External links ==
+William Bartram's early Southern travels (archived 25 July 2011)
+Audubon's Birds of America at the U. of Pittsburgh
+Audubon, John James (1843). Birds of America. Vol. 6. New York: J. J. Audubon.
+Land Lines: British Nature Writing, 1789–2014 (AHRC funded research project exploring British nature writing from the late eighteenth century to the present).

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturhistorieselskabet-0.md

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+---
+title: "Naturhistorieselskabet"
+chunk: 1/1
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturhistorieselskabet"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:18:46.133642+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+Naturhistorieselskabet (lit. 'the Society for Natural History') was a private society that was the only institution to offer education in natural history in Denmark in the late 18th century. The spirit of the Age of Enlightenment and an escalating agricultural crisis, led the king and the Danish elite to call foreign experts on economy, including botany and silviculture, to the country. The autonomous University of Copenhagen, on the other hand, was reluctant to employ foreign experts in little-established disciplines. Naturhistorieselskabet was formed in 1788 in order to ensure education in botany, zoology and mineralogy based on private funds. For example, Martin Vahl lectured in botany. After the appointment in 1795 of a professor in geology and in 1797 one in botany, the society gradually lost its importance. It was soon abolished and its collections donated to the state (much later united with the university collections).
+
+
+== Sources ==
+Wagner, P.H. 2001. Institutionaliseringen af botanik og geologi i Danmark-Norge i det 18. århundrede (colloquium). Institut for Videnskabshistorie.

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterson_Identification_System-0.md

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+---
+title: "Peterson Identification System"
+chunk: 1/1
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterson_Identification_System"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:18:47.337124+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+The Peterson Identification System is a practical method for the field identification of animals, plants and other natural phenomena. It was devised by ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson in 1934 for the first of his series of Field Guides (See Peterson Field Guides.) Peterson devised his system "so that live birds could be identified readily at a distance by their 'field marks' without resorting to the bird-in-hand characters that the early collectors relied on. During the last half century the binocular and the spotting scope have replaced the shotgun." As such, it both reflected and contributed to awareness of the emerging early environmental movement. Another application of this system was made when Roger Tory Peterson was enlisted in the US Army Corps of Engineers from 1943 to 1945. “...plane identification—the aircraft spotting technique—was based on Roger’s bird identification method-the Peterson system.”.
+
+
+== The system ==
+Created for use by amateur naturalists and laymen, rather than specialists, the "Peterson System" is essentially a pictorial key based upon readily noticed visual impressions rather than on the technical features of interest to scientists. The technique involves patternistic drawings with arrows that pinpoint the key field comparisons between similar species.
+
+
+== Influence ==
+Since the first Peterson Field Guide, the system has been expanded to about three dozen volumes in the series as well as being emulated by many other publishers and authors of field guides. It has become the near-universally accepted standard, first in the United States and Europe and then around the world.
+
+
+== References ==

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_collecting-0.md

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+---
+title: "Plant collecting"
+chunk: 1/3
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_collecting"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:18:48.701818+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+Plant collecting is the acquisition of plant specimens for the purposes of research, cultivation, or as a hobby. Plant specimens may be kept alive, but are more commonly dried and pressed to preserve the quality of the specimen. Plant collecting is an ancient practice with records of a Chinese botanist collecting roses over 5000 years ago.
+Herbaria are collections of preserved plants samples and their associated data for scientific purposes. The largest herbarium in the world exist at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, in Paris, France. Plant samples in herbaria typically include a reference sheet with information about the plant and details of collection. This detailed and organized system of filing provides horticulturist and other researchers alike with a way to find information about a certain plant, and a way to add new information to an existing plant sample file.
+The collection of live plant specimens from the wild, sometimes referred to as plant hunting,  is an activity that has occurred for centuries. The earliest recorded evidence of plant hunting was in 1495 BC when botanists were sent to Somalia to collect incense trees for Queen Hatshepsut. The Victorian era saw a surge in plant hunting activity as botanical adventurers explored the world to find exotic plants to bring home, often at considerable personal risk. These plants usually ended up in botanical gardens or the private gardens of wealthy collectors. Prolific plant hunters in this period included William Lobb and his brother Thomas Lobb, George Forrest, Joseph Hooker, Charles Maries and Robert Fortune.
+
+== Sample gathering ==
+When collecting a sample it is important to first make sure that land you are collecting on allows for the removal of natural specimens. The first step of plant collection begins with the selection of the sample. Viable samples include identifying features such as flowers, fruits, root systems or any other unique features. Smaller plants may require multiple individuals to make up a sample. Plants that show signs of infection should be avoided to prevent spreading the disease. The next step after finding a suitable plant for collection is to assign it with a number for record keeping purposes. This number system is up to the individual collector, but usually involves the date of collection or the sequential number of that collection. Along with an assigned number, observations about the plant's location and live appearance should be noted in detail. These field notes will accompany the finished sample to provide supplementary information about the plant.
+
+=== Plant pressing ===
+Proper pressing and mounting techniques are critical to the longevity of a collected plant sample. Properly preserved plant samples can last for hundreds of years. The New York Botanical Garden itself holds plant samples that date back to the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–1806.
+
+==== Compression ====
+ After cleaning the sample of any mud or dirt, the next step is to press the sample. Some samples may press better if they have been left to wilt for a few days. However plants should never be allowed to spoil or decompose before pressing, as this will impact the quality of the dried product. Plant presses are most commonly constructed with two flat smooth pieces of wood, and some type of compression mechanism. Compression may be accomplished with tightened nuts and bolts on the corners of the press, with tightened straps around the press, or by placing weights on top of the press. A book with a weighted object on top of it can also act as a press. When placing in the press, plant samples should be sandwiched between a few layers of absorbent blotter. Newspaper and cardboard are two common choices for blotter material. When arranging the plant in the press it is important to remember that the dried plant product will be fragile and inflexible, so position the plant exactly as you wish the final product to appear. Tighten the press and wait approximately a day to check up on the plant. The blotter should be taken out and replaced with dry blotter roughly every 24 hours. Complete drying time will vary depending on the type of plant, but is generally 1–10 days. Fleshier plants such as succulents will take longer.
+
+==== Mounting ====
+After the plant sample has been sufficiently dried and pressed, it must be mounted. The quality of mounting not only impacts the appearance of the plant sample, but also determines the rate of deterioration the sample will experience. Herbarium quality mounts use specialized paper for the best protection against deterioration. This paper can either be 100% alpha cellulose paper or cotton "rag" paper. These types of paper are ideal for preserving plant samples because they are acid free and pH neutral. Samples can be strapped to the paper with linen tape, or glued onto the sheet. If glue is needed, it is recommended that Grade A methyl cellulose mixed with water be used for optimal deterioration resistance.
+
+==== Storage ====
+In order for plant specimens to be kept in good condition for future reference, adequate storage conditions are needed. The storage space should be kept in a low light, low humidity environment. The temperature of the storage space should be kept cool, between 50 and 65 °F (10–18 °C).
+It is important to keep the storage space free of harmful pests. It is recommended to protect the specimens by sheathing the sheets in sealed plastic bags. Various pesticides may also be used to protect the storage space from pest infestation. If pest infestation has already occurred, the samples should be frozen for three to four days. Freezing new additions of plant samples is a suggested preventative measure against the introduction of pest to the storage space.

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+---
+title: "Plant collecting"
+chunk: 2/3
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_collecting"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:18:48.701818+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+=== Preservation without pressing ===
+Some specimens cannot be compressed, degrade when dried, or require other techniques for preservation and storage. Large seeds or fruits may be stored in boxes without compression. Aquatic plants and delicate plants may be stored in a liquid preservative. Cacti may be stored in ethanol.
+In cases where drying or pressing a plant may destroy or alter a plant feature being studied, 50-75% ethanol can be used to preserve the specimen for up to 4 weeks. This is commonly used when sectioning tissue samples.
+If a collector wishes to preserve a flower in its natural shape they will use a desiccant. The most commonly used desiccant is silica gel. To do this flowers are placed in a box, and the desiccant is added till the flowers are covered. After 2–7 days the desiccant is removed, revealing the preserved flowers.
+
+== Collection of herbarium specimens ==
+Herbarium specimens of plants are collected for a number of different uses. They can assist in  accurate identification and provide a species record for a time and place that can be used in distribution maps. They can also provide biological material for researchers, a reference point to document scientific names and vouchers for research and seed collections. DNA barcoding, a new method of identification of plant vouchers, is being used in herbaria across the world. The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History creates their barcodes from a short sequence of plant DNA, which can be easily identified from all healthy specimens of the species. This barcode is then printed and placed onto the plant mount. By creating these DNA barcodes, the process of organizing and loaning plant specimens becomes more streamlined and can be mechanized.
+
+=== Voucher specimens ===
+Voucher specimens are select herbarium specimens. What distinguishes these specimens from others is that a voucher specimen is a "representative sample of an expertly identified organism." These specimens are usually associated with a professional research article and are considered to be more official references than a typical herbarium specimen. Voucher specimens can be useful in many ways such as use for comparison when scientists think they have found a new species or when dichotomous keys have narrowed the possible species down to a few that have minute differences.
+
+== Plant collecting as a hobby ==
+Plant collecting may also refer to a hobby, in which the hobbyist takes identifiable samples of plant species found in nature, dries them, and stores them in a paper sheet album, a simple herbarium, along with the information of the finding location, finding date, etc. necessary scientific information. As in many collecting hobbies, rarer specimens have been valued. However, when collecting living organisms, the conservation aspects must precede the collector's ambitions. This has led in some cases to a collector voluntarily taking part, helping scientists, in some research areas, provided they can store the "collectible". In fact, historically, many species have initially been found within a collection of a collector.
+Usually, a plant can be identified in nature, since they are stationary.
+The advent of digital cameras has led many plant collectors to switch totally to photography. Some have switched to collecting live specimens of various plant species in their gardens, building a sort of "private botanical garden". Some have specialized in a specific group, the orchids and the roses and their cultivars are among the most collected.
+Recently plant identification apps have begun to be used by hobbyist plant collectors and casual plant enjoyers. The most common and accessible of these is Google Lens, others include Seek by INaturalist and Plant Snap. These plant identification apps allow users to make field identifications of plants down to the species level. However, for accurate identification of specimens the use of dichotomous keys is still required, as no plant identification app has reached an accuracy of 90%.This has made plant collecting and identification more accessible to casual hobbyist and students.
+
+== Poaching ==
+
+Illegal collection of plants is known as plant poaching. A report on the risk of rare plant poaching has provided data showing possible connections between geography and the rate of poaching in the Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, United States. The openings for poaching were found to be increased in locations with easy accessibility, such as roads, trails, and developed areas. The condition of the environment can determine the levels of poaching, with regions of higher quality receiving more attention from poachers.
+
+=== Ethics and prevention ===
+
+The hobby and practice of plant collecting is known to have been the cause of declines in certain plant populations. This can be the result of hobbyists being oblivious to the status of a particular species, collectors of valuable species for profit, or researchers over collecting to fill slots in herbaria. This issue can be solved with proper research on the status of species before a plant is collected and taking the smallest sample possible. Threatened species may be listed in databases, such as the Cites (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) database, though poachers have been known to use these resources to identify potentially valuable species. Additionally, botanical gardens themselves can raise awareness of plant poaching. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens introduced a sign to deter plant theft in their Desert Garden.
+
+=== Historical examples ===
+There are some historical examples of widespread plant collecting that have led to extinction or near extinction of species. Many of these instances have further led to an increase in modern theft of these species, given their rarity in the modern day.
+
+==== Victorian Fern Craze ====
+
+An early example includes the Victorian Fern Craze, also known as Pteridomania or fern fever, which, beginning in the 1830s, drastically reduced the numbers of various fern species in the UK. In particular, many in the Woodsia genus as well as the Killarney species.
+
+==== Orchidelirium ====

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+---
+title: "Plant collecting"
+chunk: 3/3
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_collecting"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:18:48.701818+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+Another Victorian craze known as Orchidelirium similarly led to a drastic decline of several species of orchids. The lady's slipper orchid Cypripedium calceolus was declared extinct in the UK in 1917 and later rediscovered in 1930 as a single wild plant in the Yorkshire Dales, the only remaining site in the UK for these plants. Once found, the plant was guarded 24 hours a day.
+
+==== Summer lady's-tresses orchid ====
+In 1956, the UK's last remaining plants of the Spiranthes aestivalis, summer lady's-tresses orchid, were stolen. The orchid is still classified as extinct in the UK.
+
+=== Modern examples ===
+Many botanical gardens have been the target of plant theft, given the nature of their collections, which often house rare and valuable plants.
+
+==== Kew Royal Botanic Gardens (2014) ====
+In 2014, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens saw the theft of one of twenty-four of their Nymphaea thermarum, the world's smallest water lily ever discovered. There are about 100 of these species left, which survive solely in botanical gardens, last seen in the wild in 2008.
+
+==== Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden (2014) ====
+In 2014 in two separate incidents, a total of twenty four cycads were taken from the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town, South Africa. Twenty-two of those twenty-four were Albany cycads, a species on the critically endangered list with only an estimate of 80 left in the wild. The total cost of the theft amounted to an estimated 700,000 rand, or just over $45,000.
+
+==== Christchurch Botanic Gardens (2020) ====
+In September 2020, Christchurch Botanic Gardens in New Zealand had a Monstera deliciosa 'Variegata' stolen from its orchid house.
+
+==== San Diego Botanic Garden (2021) ====
+In March 2021, San Diego Botanic Garden faced an incident of attempted plant theft when a woman was seen taking a clipping from one of the gardens' collections. When confronted, she returned the clipping, but left before authorities arrived. Garden staff members believed that she got away with other clippings as well. In an interview, the president and CEO of the gardens attributed an increase in theft to "the surge in houseplant interest, which is driving plant prices higher and leading to less ethical plant-sourcing behavior."
+
+=== Local plant poaching ===
+Plant theft is not solely limited to botanical gardens with rare collections. It extends to private property and local businesses. The practice of taking fallen plant leaves or clippings for the purpose of later propagating from those pieces is known as prop-lifting and is known to be discouraged or even unethical. The California Penal Code § 384a prohibits cutting of plants from both private and public property, stating "A person shall not willfully or negligently cut, destroy, mutilate, or remove plant material that is growing upon state or county highway rights-of-way" and "A person shall not willfully or negligently cut, destroy, mutilate, or remove plant material that is growing upon public land or upon land that is not his or hers without a written permit from the owner of the land, signed by the owner of the land or the owner's authorized agent, as provided in subdivision."
+
+=== Misconceptions ===
+In the United States, misconceptions around the scope of protection for certain plants are common in several states. In both California and Texas, for example, there is a prevalent but false belief that it is illegal to pick the state flower, the California poppy and the Texas bluebonnet. There are however other laws against trespass and destruction of state property, including a ban on the picking of flowers on federal, and, in California, state lands.
+
+== Safety and precautions ==
+While plant collecting may seem like a very safe and harmless practice, there is a few things collectors should keep in mind to protect themselves. First collectors should always be aware of the land where they are collecting. As in hiking there will be certain limitations to whether or not public access is granted on a plot of land and if collection from that land is allowed. For example, in a US national park, plant collection is not allowed unless given special permission. Collecting internationally will involve some logistics, such as official permits which will most likely be required to bring plants both from the country of collection and to the destination country. The major herbaria can be useful to the average hobbyist in aiding them in acquiring these permits.
+If traveling to a remote location to access samples, it is safe practice to inform someone of your whereabouts and planned time of return. If traveling in hot weather, collectors should bring adequate water to avoid dehydration. Forms of sun protection such as sunscreen and wide brimmed hats may be essential depending on location. Travel to remote locations will most likely involve walking measurable distances in wild terrain, so precautions synonymous with those related to hiking should be taken.
+
+== Terminology ==
+
+Plant "discovery" means the first time that a new plant was recorded for science, often in the form of dried and pressed plants (a herbarium specimen) being sent to a botanical establishment such as Kew Gardens in London, where it would be examined, classified and named.
+Plant "introduction" means the first time that living matter – seed, cuttings or a whole plant – was brought back to Europe. Thus, the handkerchief tree (Davidia involucrata) was discovered by Père David in 1869 but introduced to Britain by Ernest Wilson in 1901.
+Often, the two happened simultaneously: thus Sir Joseph Hooker discovered and introduced his Himalayan rhododendrons between 1849 and 1851.
+
+== See also ==
+Botanical expedition
+List of Irish plant collectors
+
+== References ==
+
+== External links ==
+Collecting plant genetic diversity guidelines
+Flora Quebeca