Beyond Versus by James Tabery

Author:James Tabery [Tabery, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science, philosophy, biology, medicine
ISBN: 9780262027373
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 2014-04-25T04:00:00+00:00

Figure 6.1

(A) Five clones of yarrow (Achilleas) grown at three different altitudes—Stanford (30 meters), Mather (1,400 meters), and Timberline (3,050 meters; reproduced from Clausen, Keck, and Hiesey 1940, figure 122). (B) Norms of reaction for two lines of rat (“bright” and “dull”) raised in restricted, normal, and enriched environments and measured for number of errors on a maze test (y-axis; derived from Cooper and Zubek 1958).

I called the two studies above “unrepresentative” because, though widely cited as exemplifying research on the interaction of nature and nurture, they were designed to address fairly theoretical issues in biology—the nature of species in wild plants for Clausen, Keck, and Hiesey and the nature of learning in laboratory animals for Cooper and Zubek. In contrast, the majority of studies on the interaction of nature and nurture throughout the mid-twentieth century were of a very practical sort. The research was undertaken by agricultural scientists concerned with the possibility that the very best variety of sheep, pig, chicken, oat, barley, or corn in one environment might not be the best variety in another environment—the great complication that originally sparked Fisher’s interest. For these scientists, the possibility of interaction posed a serious financial problem pertaining to the maximization of yield on investment for the farmer or agribusiness (Lerner 1950; Fitzgerald 1990). Throughout these decades, scientists reported case after case of interaction across a variety of animals and plants in journals such as the Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, the Canadian Journal of Plant Science, and the Japanese Journal of Breeding. In Scotland, J. W. B. King and G. B. Young reported that different varieties of sheep responded differently to different temperatures and diets when measured for wool growth (King and Young 1955). King by himself found that different varieties of pigs produced different thicknesses of streak fat (a cut of meat) when they were raised on different rations (King 1963). Pigs were also the subject of F. K. Kristjansson’s study in Canada, and he found different pig varieties put on weight differently depending on whether they were fed in pastures or piggeries (Kristjansson 1957). F. H. W. Morley, in Australia, investigated assorted varieties of sheep and discovered that they responded differently to differing nutritional levels when it came to body weight (Morley 1956). And in Japan, hatch time differently affected the egg production of several chicken varieties (Yamada 1960).

Turning to plants: in the midwestern United States, J. E. Grafius described how oat and barley varieties responded differently to night temperature when it came to yield (Grafius 1956). Morley again, this time with C. I. Davern, also found differing varieties of clover flowered at different times when exposed to varying temperatures in Australia (Morley and Davern 1956). Wheat yield in Canada was differentially affected by changes in location (Baker 1969). And J. C. Murray and L. M. Verhalen found that different lines of cotton produced different levels of lint yield depending on where in Oklahoma they were grown (Murray and Verhalen 1970).

Importantly, though, the positive reports of interaction were by no means a given throughout these decades.

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