National peculiarities, scientific traditions and research directions

Abstract

s research scientists, how do we choose our research topics, our study animals, our methods and our interpret- ations? Personal preferences are obvi- ously important, as is the role of historical contingency - mentors, funding oppor- tunities and the like. But, more general ‘national peculiarities’ - unique features of a country’s landforms, geology, climate and fauna - may also affect the kinds of science that we choose to pursue. This essay will argue that such national peculiarities influence the sorts of questions we ask, the kinds of methods we use to obtain answers, and the kinds of answers that we find satisfying. 1’11 restrict my discussion to one field (the ecology of reptiles) and two countries (Sweden and Australia), but the ideas should be generally applicable. Academic systems and regional faunas are tightly linked because most biologists work within the country that employs them. Thus, there is ample opportunity for the physical and biological character- istics of a region to affect the evolution of its scientific traditions. This linkage can be demonstrated by comparing the field of reptile ecology in two very dif- ferent countries: Australia and Sweden. Compared to Australia, Sweden is small and cold, and consequently has a low her- petofaunal diversity (six reptile species, 13 amphibians). Most of the Swedish rep- tile taxa are also widely distributed across Europe. And, as a gross general- ization, Sweden has fertile soils (at least in the south) and a high and reliable pre- cipitation regime, so that productivity in many areas is high and relatively stable from year to year. Sweden also has a long academic tradition, with some univer- sities dating back to the 1700s. What kinds of research into reptile ecology will flourish in such a land? Cer- tainly, basic natural history is not likely to be popular because the fauna has been intensively studied - both inside and out- side Sweden - for many years. Taxo- nomically oriented work will be a low pri- ority because there are few difficulties in identifying the local fauna. The strategy more likely to succeed in such a high-tech country will be sophisticated detailed re- search, closely tied to current develop- ments in theory. Conceptual and method- ological innovation will be highly prized. Academic fitness will be maximized by defining one’s research interests concep tually (e.g. as an ‘ecologist’ or ‘behav- iourist’) rather than taxonomically (e.g. as a ‘herpetologist’ or ‘mammalogist’). Two other factors reinforce this drive towards high-powered, conceptually ori- ented science. First, the relative stability of the climate (and thus, of ecological systems) encourages the development of deterministic theory. With stability comes the possibility that animals are precisely adapted to local conditions, and that eco- logical relationships are potentially explic- able in terms of manageable theoretical models. The second factor is more ped- estrian, but just as important. The long cold winter makes fieldwork on Swedish reptiles impossible for most of the year because the animals are inactive through- out this time. This enforced interregnum stimulates researchers to think long and hard about their study systems, and gives them the time to develop complex theory. It is no accident that most theoreticians come from cold climates. Australia provides a striking contrast to Sweden in most of these respects. It is a large country, covering a latitudinal range from temperate to tropical, and with a consequently high diversity in climates and vegetational associations. Australia’s nutrient-poor soils (due to its geological history) and low variable rainfall (due to its landforms and latitudinal position) result in low and variable productivity in most Australian habitats. Ectotherms (such as reptiles) tend to be better-suited to such areas than are endotherms (such as birds and mammals) that rely on a high and relatively constant food supply’. With these factors in operation, plus the fact that almost all of Australia is warm enough to support reptiles, the overall species richness and diversity of the her- petofauna is high (951 speciesz). As well as being speciose, Australia’s herpetofauna shows a high level of endem- ism because of the geological history of the Australian plate, which has remained well- separated from other reptile-bearing land- masses for long periodss. Also, even those elements of the Australian fauna that are not endemic tend to have their closest rela- tives either in the tropics (e.g. elapid snakes) or Gondwanan remnants (e.g. chelid turtles) - but certainly not in North America and Europe, the two areas with a high density of professional herpetologists. Thus, lin- eages with Australian representatives have attracted less study than equivalent lin- eages in Europe or North America, and the basic biology of most Australian rep- tiles remains poorly known. The short history of scientific study of the fauna exacerbates this