Martino Adamo, Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Italy

Martino Adamo, Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Italy, nous présentera ses travaux récemment publiés dans Nature Plants.

PMID: 33972712 DOI: 10.1038/s41477-021-00912-2

A study conducted by University of Torino has found that botanists› research inexorably skews toward showy plants, whereas the drabbest, dullest and shortest are often left behind—even if they are endangered. This finding is the clue of the presence of a « aesthetic bias » as already observed in zoology. The analysis, published in Nature Plants, reviewed 280 studies conducted from 1975 to 2020 on 113 plant species in the southwestern Alps, a major biodiversity hotspot on the boundary between France and Italy. Researchers collected data on the plants› morphology (traits such as size and color), as well as their ecology and rarity. Results highlighted how plants with blue flowers, have been studied disproportionately even though blue is one uncommon flower colors. Plants with red, pink or white blossoms beat those with brown or green flowers, and plants with tall stems also stood out—and not just literally. »