Although we see plants in our daily life and are something that is close to us. But often people feel distant and overlook plants. This is known as the phenomenon of plant blindness.
in the past We may see the words “plant blindness” or “plant awareness disparity” appear in many media. In this article, invite everyone to get to know the phenomenon that is shaking the way of life and human health around the world. Let’s first test and see if you are experiencing this phenomenon.
What’s the first thing you see in the picture above? The first thing our eye catches and perceives is the “animals” like the geese that stand out in the picture. Then start observing the background and get an overview of the landscape. But have you ever noticed that what completes a landscape or landscape is “plants” or “trees”? Believe it or not, there are people who can’t tell that the landscape in this photo itself is made up of plants. And this is a sign of “plant blindness” that can happen to anyone.
“Plant blindness” is not a physical illness. Rather, it is a phenomenon that humans have overlooked the presence of plants in the environment. Due to inability to recognize or recognize the presence of plants in the landscape. As a result, we are unable to realize the importance of plants and eventually overlook their value. So why do we overlook plants in nature?
The term “plant blindness” or “blindness” was proposed by JH Wandersee and EE Schussler.[1] since the year According to a 1999 study in the journal The American Biological Teacher, most students in the United States at that time were more interested in animals than plants (maybe called zoocentric, meaning animals are more important). Prioritize the extinction of animals over plants. Although plants are an important component of animal habitats.
Therefore, the symptoms that people overlook or ignore plants are called “plant blindness” which translates into Thai is “blindness of plants” is compared to blindness that makes it impossible to perceive what is seen. which is a word most people are familiar with There are four traditional definitions of plant blindness mentioned by Wandersee and Schussler:
1) the inability to perceive or notice the presence of plants in a given environment
2) the inability to recognize the importance of plants to ecosystems or to humans
3) the inability to perceive the beauty of plants and their unique characteristics
and 4) the delusion that plants are inferior to animals and not worth being aware of.[1]
Recently, it has been proposed to call plant blindness “plant awareness disparity (PAD)” or, translated into Thai, “plant awareness disparity (PAD)”. disparity in plant awareness Because the word blindness or blindness conveys the invisibility. While most people can see plants in their surroundings But often less important than animals or other things. when they appear together We often see plants only as part of their habitat or as a landscape background. but did not pay attention to the plants or the value of the plants making the treatment of plants different from animals[2]
So what causes us to have plant blindness or overlook plants? Parsley[2] It is proposed that people value plants less than animals based on their cognitive abilities. knowledge about plants and personal experience That affects the attention to plants and attitudes towards plants.
Typically, images of landscapes or natural landscapes are homogeneous environments, consisting of repeating units, such as mountains, trees, rocks, that are repeated. for example The trees in the forest are all the same green. This similarity doesn’t attract the human eye and attention. Imagine a view of a forest or meadow where everything looks green. So it’s hard for us to find a point of interest as soon as we see it. It may take a long time to look at each other. For example, the image below. (Image on the left) that when we first look, we may only see green. But when looking carefully, you will find purple flowers as in the picture that focuses on flowers. (center image and right image)
The inclusion of plants into landscapes is due to the fact that the leaves of common flowering plants contain pigments that are green in color. (chlorophyll) that plays a role in the photosynthesis process of plants Also, the fact that the plant’s color blends into its surroundings may also benefit the plant itself. It is camouflage from herbivores. Due to the fact that the plant is unable to move and escape. Unless plants need help from animals. or humans as seed carriers that help spread the species For example, a plant with a distinctive seed or fruit color that catches the eye of an animal. It can be seen that in fact plants do not exist solely for food or habitat for animals and humans. But it has life and value in itself.
Another reason why plant blindness occurs today is Urban expansion and modern lifestyle that greatly affects the knowledge of plants urban lifestyle and modern technology making human beings unable to connect with nature and saw the importance and value of plants decreased[3] Let’s take a simple look. Today, if we order one dish Many people may not know or care about which plant seasonings or ingredients come from. So we never know what the plants we use look like. What part do we use to cook?
In addition, some of the plants we see on our dishes may be in danger of extinction. Due to threats in their natural habitats or the selection of improved breeding plants that may reduce populations of native plants. Rarely, the extinction of plants is raised as an issue. But when an animal is in danger of extinction, it is often mentioned. small beginning from the blindness of this plant itself This may lead to ignoring the eventual loss of plant biodiversity in nature.
Plus, modern life has made us less attached to plants. It also reduces the cultural value of plants in society and communities. It’s not difficult to notice, for example, in big cities where it’s difficult to find flower shops to pay homage to monks. Or we rarely use flowers in important ceremonies because urban lifestyles make us less interested in nature (including plants) around us. nature learn processes in nature and gain less experience with nature Nature deficit disorder (NDD) is another cause of plant blindness.
According to a study by Jose et al. (2019), it was found that if we had experience with plants since childhood. It will help reduce overlooking the plant. Therefore laying the foundation for teaching biology from early childhood to university. It should therefore focus on plant biology as well.[4] But with today’s social conditions, children have very little opportunity to spend time playing outdoors or in green spaces. This is a problem that has been presented since before the outbreak of COVID-19 (2016).[5] And later during the epidemic of COVID-19 As a result, children cannot access the green area. It makes it impossible to perceive or create a body of knowledge related to nature.[6]
Plant blindness has a wide range of effects. By affecting the transfer of knowledge in botany and natural science. It can be observed from the current generation that the new generation is less interested in studying in the fields related to plants and does not give much importance to the conservation of plants in nature. Including teaching in schools that use plants as teaching materials but does not communicate the value and biological information of plants.
For example, research by Stroud et al. (2022) found that in the UK there are still few plant-specific areas of study and general biology teaching may not provide sufficient plant knowledge. In addition, pre-university education provided relatively little knowledge about plants. both learning to identify plant species variety of plants Ecology and natural history of plants It is expected that this problem could lead to the extinction of botanical studies.[7] In addition, botanical and natural science education is often lacking the support of powerful organizations and is often seen as a field of knowledge that cannot be developed in an innovative way. This goes against the need to address the environmental problems we are facing in terms of plant extinction under global changes from both human activities and global climate change.
Ultimately, plant blindness will cause humans to neglect and overlook plants, leading to more natural plant loss. So before it’s too late to solve Therefore, we must accelerate the study of plants. and create an appropriate environment to learn about plants in nature in order to create a connection between humans and plants. Both support the study of plants or botany in particular. Or may encourage activities in the form of hobbies or recreational activities related to plants. To make us see plants as living things and increase our knowledge about plants.[8]
See you next article. Let’s work together to prevent plant blindness. by learning the process of studying plants of botanists and the wonders of plants, from common backyard plants to exotic plants in hard-to-reach places. From now on, botany is no longer a distant matter.
Article by Dr. Chatthip Rodtasana
(Department of Botany Faculty of Science Chulalongkorn University)
Reference
[1] Wandersee, James H., and Elisabeth E. Schussler. (1999) Preventing plant blindness. The American Biology Teacher 61(2): 82–86. https://doi.org/10.2307/4450624.
[2] Parsley, K.M. (2020) Plant awareness disparity: A case for renaming plant blindness. Plant People Planet, 2(6):598-601. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10153.
[3]
[4] Jose, S.B., Wu, C., and Kamoun, S. (2019) Overcoming plant blindness in science, education, and society. Plant People Planet, 1(3): 169-172. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.51.
[5]
[6]
[7] Stroud, S., Fennell, M., Mitchley, J., Lydon, S., Peacock, J., and Bacon, K.L. (2022) The botanical education extinction and the fall of plant awareness. Ecology and Evolution, 12(7):e9019. doi: 10.1002/ece3.9019.
[8] Pany, P., Meier, F.D., Dünser, B., Yanagida, T., Kiehn, M., and Möller, A. (2022) Measuring students’ plant awareness: A prerequisite for effective botany education. Journal of Biology Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/00219266.2022.2159491.
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