Month: October 2023

Priscilla Kincanon

Hildebrandt

12, October 2023

CODE 120

MC #2

The Missouri Botanical Gardens has a herbarium with collections of preserved plants, specimens, and other data used for studies. One of the best research collections in the world for bryophytes and vascular plants is the herbarium at the Missouri Botanical Garden. These two main plant categories are the only ones included in the collection. In 2018, there were around 7 million specimens in the collection.

Example of plant pressing researchers use.

Although The Missouri Botanical Gardens herbarium is a great place for research to be conducted, wicked problems arise. There are access problems, excluding other systems of knowledge (very Western), and hard to sustain and fund.

One issue the herbarium faces is access problems. In a herbarium, all plants are concentrated in a single location. This wicked problem has no easy solution and can feel irreversible. Herbarium specimens may be vulnerable to deterioration from incorrect storage, water damage, mold, pests, detached specimens, dust, and dirt. Much of the potential damage can be reduced or avoided via proactive conservation.

There are three key bits of information on each herbarium sheet. The physical specimen itself, which consists of stems, leaves, roots, flowers, and fruits, is the most obvious. Researchers may identify the species from these and see how different the individual plants are within and between groups. The foundation for species descriptions and identification keys is the measurements and observations of specimens. The interior chemistry of the specimens can reveal additional information, including genetic information.

Another issue the herbarium faces is that it is Western and excludes other systems of knowledge. Sampling biases can be categorized broadly into various groups. The imbalanced sampling of some taxa or clades over others is known as taxonomic or phylogenetic bias, and it often results from a collector’s scholarly interests or the allure of plants. Geographic bias arises when samples are gathered more frequently in one location compared to another, frequently due to accessibility differences. There are big taxonomic gaps in data on the occurrence of plants worldwide, Strong temporal discontinuities in occurrence records across decades, extensive spatial gaps in areas with high concentrations of plant diversity, particularly in Asia, Central Africa, and the Amazon, and these factors can all make it difficult to draw conclusions about how current and upcoming environmental change will affect plants.

The last wicked problem the herbarium faces is that it’s hard to sustain and fund. Small herbaria’s are not digitizing their collections and making them accessible online for a variety of reasons. several tiny herbaria have challenges like a lack of financing, a staffing shortage, and curators who have several duties outside of the collection (such as teaching, counseling students, and conducting research outside the collections). Prioritizing these efforts becomes even more challenging because curators at smaller institutions frequently do not receive any credit toward promotion for their curatorial responsibilities. Additionally, collection managers and curators who desire to digitize could find it difficult to know where to start and what their alternatives are.

In conclusion, there are many wicked problems the herbarium faces. Herbarium specimens are used as a source of information on plant species (such as the habitats where they exist, when they flower, and what compounds they contain), as validation or documentation, as a reference for identification, and to record the diversity of plants in a specific geographic area.

References

Harris, Kari M, and Travis D Marsico. “Digitizing Specimens in a Small Herbarium: A Viable Workflow for Collections Working with Limited Resources.” Applications in Plant Sciences, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 11 Apr. 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5400430/. 

Causal Chain Analysis

Kasey Tipton

October 11, 2023

Multimodal Composition #2- Causal Chain Analysis

According to chapter three in Sustainable World, written by Sonya Remington-Doucette, a causal chain analysis is “a tool for analyzing socioecological systems by classifying key drivers, establishing the relationships among drivers, and determining their relative influences on a system.” (Remington-Doucette, 123). A causal chain analysis is needed to identify indicators relating to sustainability, link our problem to the drivers that are causing our problem and the extent of them, and to see how human interaction is affecting our problem. Causal chain analysis can be made in different ways. As graphs, charts, or even simply listing them out. Below is a graph example of a causal chain analysis.

An Example of a Causal Chain Analysis

https://iwlearn.net/manuals/tda-sap-methodology/development-of-the-tda/causal-chain-analysis/what-is-causal-chain-analysis

To understand our causal chain analysis, we need to identify our problem: Reparative Justice. According to the New England Board of Higher Education, “reparative justice is  a way of thinking about justice (a mindset) that centers those who have been harmed, and focuses on repairing past harms, stopping present harm, and preventing the reproduction of harm.” (NEBHE). Within our CODES cohort, we are working with the Missouri Botanical Gardens in order to help emphasize biodiversity within their plant conservation. There are many different problems within the herbarium and their plant catalogs. This is an issue that needs to be stopped right away in order to prevent our future generations from being hurt. Furthermore, it needs to be helped in order for the problem to not repeat itself. As you will see below, there is a chart demonstrating how community, victims, and offenders all tie in together to our theme of reparative/restorative justice. 

The Factors that are Relating to Reparative Justice

https://www.marincounty.org/depts/pb/divisions/adult-services/restorative-justice

“Causal chain analysis promotes deeper understanding of sustainability problems by connecting drivers to the problem.” (Remington-Doucette pg. 147) In order to solve any wicked problem, it is very important to know the direct and indirect drivers of a problem. Direct drivers are things/people that have a direct influence on an issue. Indirect drivers are the things/people that are not directly causing a problem, but they are problems that are learning into the direct drivers. In our case of reparative justice, we need to understand our drivers. 

Direct and Indirect Drivers Chart Created By Me

Within the chart above, I have identified a few of the possible drivers of our problem. One driver in reparative justice is the lack of historical representation. This can be caused by having bias in choosing what gets displayed at the gardens and online. It can be influenced by the people or group of people who are responsible for this aspect of the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Our second driver is the lack of diversity within the plant conservation. This is affected by several indirect drivers. For example, where the data is being taken, when the data was recorded, and who recorded the data. A third direct driver could be a bias in our data. Nowadays, plant conservationists and researchers tend to prioritize western science. Additionally, bias can be affected by the motivation of the person recording the data, who is collecting the data, and when. A final direct driver could be the access to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. However a person decides to view the gardens, whether that be online or in person, it costs money. Entry tickets for the gardens are roughly around $14 depending on the day/time a person plans to visit. Furthermore, if someone wants to access the garden online, they have to have access to the internet (which also costs money). 

Causal Chain Analysis Created by Me

As you may see, I took the direct drivers from my first chart, in order to create my causal chain analysis. Even though I chose the main problem as being “cultures may feel overlooked/scammed when visiting the Missouri Botanical Gardens”, there are many different problems an individual may choose based on reparative justice. Reparative justice is a broad term, especially dealing with the gardens because there are many different reasons reparative justice needs to be fixed. Such as healing the individuals/cultures that have been influenced, displaying proper biodiversity within the gardens, and to stop future generations from being hurt by the lack of cultural representation.

In conclusion, according to Sustainable World, written by Sonya Remington-Doucette, a causal chain analysis is “a tool for analyzing socioecological systems by classifying key drivers, establishing the relationships among drivers, and determining their relative influences on a system.” (Remington-Doucette pg 123). A causal chain analysis is very important for individuals who are trying to solve a wicked problem. In our case, we need to act promptly and knowledgeably in order to help restorative justice at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  

Sources:

“Reparative Justice.” New England Board of Higher Education, https://nebhe.org/reparative-justice/. Accessed 12 Oct. 2023.CloseDeleteEdit

Remington-Doucette, Sonya. Sustainable World.

October 8, 2023

Defining the systems and classifying the drivers of a specific system.

In my CODES 120 cohort, we are reading “The Sustainable World” by the author, Sonya Remington-Doucette. In the novel, Remington-Doucette reveals the concept of taking a deeper dive and exploring the cause and effect of wicked problems. She uses different techniques to start solving these wicked problems. More specifically we are reading chapter 3 of that book. In chapter 3 we look at defining the systems and classifying drivers. Let’s look at exactly what drivers are. Drivers are separated into two different groups: indirect and direct drivers. direct drivers are defined as clearly and unequivocally influence the behavior of that system. Indirect drivers are defined as drivers that influence the behavior of that system in a more diffuse way, by altering one or more direct drivers.

The herbaria at Missouri botanical gardens are a very beautiful place. The herbarium is a home for many species of plants from all around the world. Some as far as China and others as close as down the street. The Missouri botanical gardens have been around for hundreds of years. Henry Shaw became the founder of the Botanical gardens Saint Louis in the year of 1859. It is widely considered one of the top three most famous botanical gardens. The garden is a national and historic landmark right here in Saint Louis Missouri. Though the garden is beautiful and has come a very long way, there is a past that the garden has. Me and my fellow CODE scholars are still trying to uncover the mysteries and the rooted problems the garden is still recovering from.

Not taking any value from the herbaria at Missouri botanical gardens but even beautiful things can have deep rooted problems. There are many different things we can take away from the chapter 3 of “The Sustainable World” by Remmington Doucette. At the garden there are many different effectors. Even if you look at the plant pressings in the herbarium you can see a few problems of how they are pushing for a westernized science. With that they are suppressing and degrading other cultures and heritages.

The herbaria undergo a series of problems. And the Herbarium itself is at a consent state of a loop of problems. Some new problems and some old. Especially with the gardens using and prioritizing western science. Though western science is not a bad concept I believe it takes away from other cultures and their experiences. With prioritizing the Westernized sciences, we are losing many different experiences and thought processes. A lot of those thought processes and experiences can be very helpful tools to the Herbarium.

Within this chart I made above I am taking a deeper dive into the herbarium and its problems. Classifying the drivers and indirect drivers and their connections to the herbarium. As of right now I cannot say we have a defined answer to all of the problems we are facing but we are now a few steps ahead to where we used to be.

Yet we are still nowhere near the finish line of this problem. We can continue to work with the garden and pulling recourses from different gardens and different scholars as well.

What is a current state analysis?

A current state analysis is a process used to evaluate and understand the present-day situation of any given system. Looking at the Missouri Botanical Gardens, our system is the wicked problem of inequality in plant knowledge. There are 4 questions that we should ask ourselves as researchers for this process: 1) Where are we? 2) Where are we headed? 3) Where do we want to go? and 4) How do we get there?

A system can be best described as a set of interconnected components organized in such a way that they cannot act individually and achieve the same results. Regulation of these systems is conducted through direct drivers and indirect drivers. Direct drivers unequivocally impact the overall behavior of a system. Indirect drivers influence the system’s behavior in a more diffuse and subtle way. (Make sure to refer thinking in systems back to the textbook)  

Our research problem in The Missouri Botanical Gardens is an example of a complex adaptive system meaning that it develops over time to adapt in a way that ensures its survival. When you approach this system using reductionist thinking, you can more clearly see how the components interact with each other on a smaller scale. Pictured below is a system of a few direct and indirect drivers that contribute to the issue of plant inequality at MOBOT.  

One of the most impactful direct drivers in this situation is the practice of colonialism extraction used to retreive the plants. This selection process is biased in every aspect incluidng where the plants are collected from, what plants are collected, and who collects the plants. Usually, white men get to decide all of these things which means that the plant selction is often rooted in personal biases and preferences. This breeds an indirect driver of cultural insensitivity. The people who depend on these plants locally often get no say in the extraction of these plants that have medicinal and nutritous uses for them. Taking these plants from their space and transporting it for research else where might provoke strong feelings of anger and despair.

The prioritization of western science is another direct driver for our system. The complete disregarding or minimization of indigenous knowledge of plant has resulted in a collection of plant knowledge curated almost entirely by the minds of white men. Western science is based on things such as global verifacation, quantatative written record, and mathematical models. Traditonal Native knowledge is rooted in things such as qualitative world record, practical application, and holistic thinking. These two approaches to research and science should be carefully integrated and applied when collecting plant specimens and when the binomial nomenclature process is being conducted. Although these systems of thinking should be combined its essential that their is emphasis placed on the traditonal native knowledge because the plants are local to their areas and are heavily relied upon by the native people.

The names given to plants by the Native people are particularly important to understanding not only the cultural knoweldge surrounding it. It also gives entail about the uses of the plant.