Darwin in the garden: Engaging the public about evolution with museum collections of living objects

Abstract

Societal Impact Statement: Polls continue to show distressingly high percentages of people around the world do not accept that evolution has occurred. Even among individuals who accept evolution, surveys indicate that many do not understand its mechanistic basis, natural selection. Botanical gardens and arboreta are typically not viewed as museums of natural history. Yet, these institutions house collections of living museum objects that can allow visitors to directly observe ongoing evolution, namely, mutations and the origin of biological novelty, the astonishing amount of variation within species, and the consequences of selection that underlie descent with modification. When botanical gardens and arboreta are reconceptualized as museums of living, evolving objects, there will be huge opportunities to engage and educate the public about the process of evolution through the lens of horticulture and botany. Summary: Plants are central to the evolutionary history of biodiversity on Earth. However, unlike most museums of natural history, botanical gardens and arboreta are typically less engaged in the important mission of promoting the public's understanding of evolution. As museum collections of living (and evolving) objects, botanical gardens and arboreta have a unique set of opportunities to teach the public about evolutionary processes in ways that complement the efforts of traditional natural history museums. Charles Darwin himself relied heavily on his extensive reading of the horticultural and botanical literature to gain insights into evolutionary process and, after publication of On the Origin of Species, made plants the frequent centerpiece of his many books to convince the world of natural selection and descent with modification. There is good reason to believe that Darwin's highly effective 19th century botanical tactics for promoting evolutionary ideas among scientists and the broader society remain equally compelling today in the 21st century.