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Elite theory
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In political science and sociology, elite theory is a theory of the state which seeks to describe and explain the power relationships in contemporary society. The theory posits that a small minority, consisting of members of the economic elite and policy-planning networks, holds the most power and that this power is independent of a state's democratic elections process. Through positions in corporations or on corporate boards, and influence over the policy-planning networks through financial support of foundations or positions with think tanks or policy-discussion groups, members of the "elite" are able to exert significant power over the policy decisions of corporations and governments. An example of this can be found in the Forbes magazine article (published in December 2009) entitled The World's Most Powerful People, in which Forbes purported to list the 67 most powerful people in the world (assigning one "slot" for each 100,000,000 of human population).[1] The basic characteristics of this theory are that power is concentrated, the elites are unified, the non-elites are diverse and powerless, elites interests are unified due to common backgrounds and positions and the defining characteristic of power is institutional position.[2]
Even when entire groups are ostensibly completely excluded from the state's traditional networks of power (historically, on the basis of arbitrary criteria such as nobility, race, gender, or religion), elite theory recognizes that "counter-elites" frequently develop within such excluded groups. Negotiations between such disenfranchised groups and the state can be analyzed as negotiations between elites and counter-elites. A major problem, in turn, is the ability of elites to co-opt counter-elites.
Elite theory opposes pluralism, a tradition that assumes that all individuals, or at least the multitude of social groups, have equal power and balance each other out in contributing to democratic political outcomes representing the emergent, aggregate will of society. Elite theory argues either that democracy is a utopian folly, as it is traditionally viewed in the conservative Italian tradition, or that democracy is not realizable within capitalism, as is the view of the more Marxist-compatible contemporary elite theory permutation.
Contents
[hide]
1 Classical elite theory
2 Classical elite theorists
2.1 Vilfredo Pareto
2.2 Gaetano Mosca
2.3 Robert Michels
3 Elite theorists
3.1 Elmer Eric Schattschneider
3.2 C. Wright Mills
3.3 Floyd Hunter
3.4 G. William Domhoff
3.5 James Burnham
3.6 Robert D. Putnam
3.7 Thomas R. Dye
3.8 George A. Gonzalez
3.9 Ralf Dahrendorf
3.10 Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page
4 See also
5 References
6 Bibliography
7 External links
Classical elite theory[edit]
The aristocratic version of this theory is the classical elite theory which is based on two ideas:
Power lies in position of authority in key economic and political institutions.
The psychological difference that sets elites apart is that they have personal resources, for instance intelligence and skills, and a vested interest in the government; while the rest are incompetent and do not have the capabilities of governing themselves, the elite are resourceful and will strive to make the government work. For in reality, the elite would have the most to lose in a failed state.
Classical elite theorists[edit]
Vilfredo Pareto[edit]
Pareto emphasized the psychological and intellectual superiority of elites, believing that they were the highest accomplishers in any field. He discussed the existence of two types of elites:
Governing elites
Non-governing elites
He also extended the idea that a whole elite can be replaced by a new one and how one can circulate from being elite to non-elite.
Gaetano Mosca[edit]
Mosca emphasized the sociological and personal characteristics of elites. He said elites are an organized minority and that the masses are an unorganized majority. The ruling class is composed of the ruling elite and the sub-elites. He divides the world into two groups:
Ruling class
Class that is ruled
Mosca asserts that elites have intellectual, moral, and material superiority that is highly esteemed and influential.
Robert Michels[edit]
Sociologist Michels developed the iron law of oligarchy where, he asserts, social and political organizations are run by few individuals, and social organization and labor division are key. He believed that all organizations were elitist and that elites have three basic principles that help in the bureaucratic structure of political organization:
Need for leaders, specialized staff and facilities
Utilization of facilities by leaders within their organization
The importance of the psychological attributes of the leaders
Elite theorists[edit]
Elmer Eric Schattschneider[edit]
Elmer Eric Schattschneider offered a strong critique of the American political theory of pluralism: Rather than an essentially democratic system in which the many competing interests of citizens are amply represented, if not advanced, by equally many competing interest groups, Schattschneider argued the pressure system is biased in favor of "the most educated and highest-income members of society", and showed that "the difference between those who participate in interest group activity and those who stand at the sidelines is much greater than between voters and nonvoters".[3]
In The Semisovereign People, Schattschneider argued the scope of the pressure system is really quite small: The "range of organized, identifiable, known groups is amazingly narrow; there is nothing remotely universal about it" and the "business or upper-class bias of the pressure system shows up everywhere". He says the "notion that the pressure system is automatically representative of the whole community is a myth" and, instead, the "system is skewed, loaded and unbalanced in favor of a fraction of a minority".[4]
C. Wright Mills[edit]
Mills published his book The Power Elite in 1956, claiming a new sociological perspective on systems of power in the United States. He identified a triumvirate of power groups—political, economic and military—which form a distinguishable, although not unified, power-wielding body in the United States.
Mills proposed that this group had been generated through a process of rationalization at work in all advanced industrial societies whereby the mechanisms of power became concentrated, funneling overall control into the hands of a limited, somewhat corrupt group.[5] This reflected a decline in politics as an arena for debate and relegation to a merely formal level of discourse.[6] This macro-scale analysis sought to point out the degradation of democracy in "advanced" societies and the fact that power generally lies outside the boundaries of elected representatives.
A main influence for the study was Franz Leopold Neumann's book, Behemoth: The Structure and Practice of National Socialism, 1933–1944, a study of how Nazism came to power in the German democratic state. It provided the tools to analyze the structure of a political system and served as a warning of what could happen in a modern capitalistic democracy.
Floyd Hunter[edit]
The elite theory analysis of power was also applied on the micro scale in community power studies such as that by Floyd Hunter (1953). Hunter examined in detail the power of relationships evident in his "Regional City" looking for the "real" holders of power rather than those in obvious official positions. He posited a structural-functional approach which mapped the hierarchies and webs of interconnection operating within the city—mapping relationships of power between businessmen, politicians, clergy etc. The study was promoted to debunk current concepts of any "democracy" present within urban politics and reaffirm the arguments for a true representative democracy.[7] This type of analysis was also used in later, larger scale, studies such as that carried out by M. Schwartz examining the power structures within the sphere of the corporate elite in the United States.[8]
G. William Domhoff[edit]
In his controversial book Who Rules America?, G. William Domhoff researched local and national decision making process networks in order to illustrate the power structure in the United States. He asserts, much like Hunter, that an elite class that owns and manages large income-producing properties (like banks and corporations) dominate the American power structure politically and economically.[9]
James Burnham[edit]
Burnham’s early work The Managerial Revolution sought to express the movement of all functional power into the hands of managers rather than politicians or businessmen—separating ownership and control.[10] Many of these ideas were adapted by paleoconservatives Samuel T. Francis and Paul Gottfried in their theories of the managerial state. Burnham's thoughts on elite theory were elucidated more specifically in his book The Machiavellians which discusses the thoughts of, among others, Pareto, Mosca, and Michels; it is here that Burnham attempts a scientific analysis of both elites and politics generally.
Robert D. Putnam[edit]
Putnam saw the development of technical and exclusive knowledge among administrators and other specialist groups as a mechanism by which power is stripped from the democratic process and slipped sideways to the advisors and specialists influencing the decision-making process.[11]
"If the dominant figures of the past hundred years have been the entrepreneur, the businessman, and the industrial executive, the ‘new men’ are the scientists, the mathematicians, the economists, and the engineers of the new intellectual technology."[12]
Thomas R. Dye[edit]
Dye in his book Top Down Policymaking, argues that U.S. public policy does not result from the "demands of the people", but rather from elite consensus found in Washington, D.C.-based non-profit foundations, think tanks, special-interest groups, and prominent lobbying and law firms. Dye's thesis is further expanded upon in his works: The Irony of Democracy, Politics in America, Understanding Public Policy, and Who's Running America?.
George A. Gonzalez[edit]
In his book Corporate Power and the Environment, George A. Gonzalez writes on the power of U.S. economic elites to shape environmental policy for their own advantage. In The Politics of Air Pollution: Urban Growth, Ecological Modernization and Symbolic Inclusion and also in Urban Sprawl, Global Warming, and the Empire of Capital Gonzalez employs elite theory to explain the interrelationship between environmental policy and urban sprawl in America. His most recent work, Energy and Empire: The Politics of Nuclear and Solar Power in the United States demonstrates that economic elites tied their advocacy of the nuclear energy option to post-1945 American foreign policy goals, while at the same time these elites opposed government support for other forms of energy, such as solar, that cannot be dominated by one nation.
See also: global warming, urban growth, and corporate power
Ralf Dahrendorf[edit]
In his book Reflections on the Revolution in Europe,[13] Ralf Dahrendorf asserts that, due to advanced level of competence required for political activity, a political party tends to become actually a provider of "political services", that is administration of local and governmental public offices. During the electoral campaign, each party tries to convince voters it is the most suitable for managing the state business. The logical consequence would be to acknowledge this character and openly register the parties as service providing companies. In this way, the ruling class would include the members and associates of legally acknowledged companies and the "class that is ruled" would select by election the state administration company that best fits its interests.
Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page[edit]
In their statistical analysis of 1,779 policy issues Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page found "that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence."[14][verification needed]
See also[edit]
Elitism
Iron law of oligarchy
Mass society
Positive political theory
The Power Elite
Ruling class
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "The World's Most Powerful People". Forbes. 2009-11-11. Retrieved 2015-09-09.
Jump up ^ Deric., Shannon, (2011-01-01). Political sociology : oppression, resistance, and the state. Pine Forge Press. ISBN 9781412980401. OCLC 746832550.
Jump up ^ Woolley and Papa 1998, 165
Jump up ^ Schattschneider 1960, 30-36
Jump up ^ Bottomore, T. (1993). Elites and Society (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. p. 25.
Jump up ^ Mills, C. Wright (1956). The Power Elite. p. 274. ISBN 0-19-541759-3.
Jump up ^ Hunter, Floyd (1953). Community Power Structure: A Study of Decision Makers. p. 6. ISBN 0-8078-0639-0.
Jump up ^ Schwartz, M. (ed.) (1987). The Structure of Power in America: The Corporate Elite as a Ruling Class. New York: Holmes & Meier. ISBN 0-8419-0764-1. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
Jump up ^ Domhoff, G. William (1967). Who Rules America?. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-7674-1637-6.
Jump up ^ Bottomore, T. (1993). Elites and Society (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. p. 59.
Jump up ^ Putnam, Robert D. (1977). "Elite Transformation in Advance Industrial Societies: An Empirical Assessment of the Theory of Technocracy". Comparative Political Studies. 10 (3): 383–411 (p.385).
Jump up ^ Putnam, Robert D. (1976). The Comparative Study of Political Elites. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. p. 384. ISBN 0-13-154195-1.
Jump up ^ Dahrendorf, Ralf (1990) Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: In a letter intended to have been sent to a gentleman in Warsaw. New York: Random House
Jump up ^ Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens (Fall 2014)
Bibliography[edit]
Amsden, Alice (2012) The Role of Elites in Economic Development, Oxford University Press, 2012. with Alisa Di Caprio and James A. Robinson.
Bottomore, T. (1993) Elites and Society (2nd Edition). London: Routledge.
Burnham, J. (1960) The Managerial Revolution. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Domhoff. G. William (1967–2009) Who Rules America? McGraw-Hill.
Dye, T. R. (2000) Top Down Policymaking New York: Chatham House Publishers.
Gonzalez, G. A. (2012) Energy and Empire: The Politics of Nuclear and Solar Power in the United States. Albany: State University of New York Press
Gonzalez, G. A. (2009) Urban Sprawl, Global Warming, and the Empire of Capital. Albany: State University of New York Press
Gonzalez, G. A. (2006) The Politics of Air Pollution: Urban Growth, Ecological Modernization, And Symbolic Inclusion. Albany: State University of New York Press
Gonzalez, G. A. (2001) Corporate Power and the Environment. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Hunter, Floyd (1953) Community Power Structure: A Study of Decision Makers.
Lerner, R., A. K. Nagai, S. Rothman (1996) American Elites. New Haven CT: Yale University Press
Mills, C. Wright (1956) The Power Elite.
Neumann, Franz Leopold (1944). Behemoth: The Structure and Practice of National Socialism, 1933 - 1944. Harper.
Putnam, R. D. (1976) The Comparative Study of Political Elites. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Putnam, R. D. (1977) ‘Elite Transformation in Advance Industrial Societies: An Empirical Assessment of the Theory of Technocracy’ in Comparative Political Studies Vol. 10, No. 3, pp383–411.
Schwartz, M. (ed.) (1987) The Structure of Power in America: The Corporate Elite as a Ruling Class. New York: Holmes & Meier.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Elite theory
"Who Rules America?" website
Forbes Magazine list of the 67 'most powerful people in the world.'
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The dragon (Beowulf)
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Beowulf battles his nemesis, the dragon, shown in a 1908 illustration by J. R. Skelton
The final act of the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf is about the hero Beowulf's fight with a dragon, the third monster he encounters in the epic. On his return from Heorot, where he killed Grendel and Grendel's mother, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats and rules peacefully for fifty winters until a slave awakens and angers a dragon by stealing a jewelled cup from its lair. When the angry dragon mercilessly burns the Geats' homes and lands, Beowulf decides to fight and kill the monster personally. He and his thanes climb to the dragon's lair where, upon seeing the beast, the thanes flee in terror, leaving only Wiglaf to battle at Beowulf's side. When the dragon wounds Beowulf fatally, Wiglaf slays it.
This depiction indicates the growing importance and stabilization of the modern concept of the dragon within European mythology. Beowulf is the first piece of English literature to present a dragonslayer. Although many motifs common to the Beowulf dragon existed in the Scandinavian and Germanic literature, the Beowulf poet was the first to combine features and present a distinctive fire-breathing dragon. The Beowulf dragon was later copied in literature with similar themes such as J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937), one of the forerunners of modern high fantasy.
The dragon fight, occurring at the end of the poem, is foreshadowed in earlier scenes. The dragon fight symbolizes Beowulf's stand against evil and destruction, and, as the hero, he knows that failure will bring destruction to his people after many years of peace. The dragon himself acts as a mock "gold-king"; one who sees attacking Beowulf's kingdom as suitable retribution for the theft of just a single cup.[1] The scene is structured in thirds, ending with the deaths of the dragon and Beowulf.
Contents
1 Story
2 Background
3 Characterization
4 Importance
5 Critical reception
5.1 Before Tolkien
5.2 Tolkien, 1936: The Monsters and the Critics
5.3 After Tolkien
5.3.1 Scholarly opinion
5.4 General opinion
6 Legacy
7 In popular culture
8 References
9 Sources
Story[edit]
After his battles against Grendel's mother and Grendel, Beowulf returns to homeland and becomes king of the Geats. Fifty years pass with Beowulf leading as a wise king, when a local dragon is angered when a slave enters its lair and takes a cup from its treasure. The creature attacks the neighboring towns in revenge. Beowulf and a troop of men (“the Geats”) leave to find the dragon’s lair. The Geats run away in fear, leaving only Beowulf and his young companion Wiglaf to slay the dragon. Beowulf receives a fatal wound from the dragon, but Wiglaf impales the dragon’s belly to reduce the flames, and Beowulf deals the fatal blow. In his death-speech, Beowulf nominates Wiglaf as his heir, and that of the treasure.
Background[edit]
Sigurd and Fafnir by Arthur Rackham, from his 1911 illustrations for Richard Wagner's Siegfried and The Twilight of the Gods
Beowulf is the oldest extant heroic poem in English literature and the first to present a dragon slayer. The legend of the dragonslayer already existed in Norse sagas such as the tale of Sigurd and Fafnir, and the Beowulf poet incorporates motifs and themes common to dragon-lore in the poem.[2] Beowulf is the earliest surviving piece of Anglo-Saxon literature to feature a dragon, and it is possible that the poet had access to similar stories from Germanic legend.[3] Secular Germanic literature and the literature of Christian hagiography featured dragons and dragon fights.[4] Although the dragons of hagiography were less fierce than the dragon in Beowulf, similarities exist in the stories such as presenting the journey to the dragon's lair, cowering spectators, and the sending of messages relaying the outcome of the fight.[5]
The dragon with his hoard is a common motif in early Germanic literature with the story existing to varying extents in the Norse sagas, but it is most notable in the Völsunga saga and in Beowulf.[6] Beowulf preserves existing medieval dragon-lore, most notably in the extended digression recounting the Sigurd/Fafnir tale.[2] Nonetheless, comparative contemporary narratives did not have the complexity and distinctive elements written into Beowulf's dragon scene. Beowulf is a hero who previously killed two monsters. The scene includes extended flashbacks to the Geatish-Swedish wars, a detailed description of the dragon and the dragon-hoard, and ends with intricate funerary imagery.[7]
Beowulf scholar J. R. R. Tolkien considered the dragon in Beowulf to be one of only two real dragons in northern European literature, writing of it, "dragons, real dragons, essential both to the machinery and the ideas of a poem or tale, are actually rare. In northern literature there are only two that are significant ... we have but the dragon of the Völsungs, Fáfnir, and Beowulf's bane."[8] Furthermore, Tolkien believes the Beowulf poet emphasizes the monsters Beowulf fights in the poem and claims the dragon is as much of a plot device as anything. Tolkien expands on Beowulf's dragon in his own fiction, which indicates the lasting impact of the Beowulf poem.[2] Within the plot structure, however, the dragon functions differently in Beowulf than in Tolkien's fiction. The dragon fight ends Beowulf, while Tolkien uses the dragon motif (and the dragon's love for treasure) to trigger a chain of events in The Hobbit.[9]
Characterization[edit]
See also: European dragon
The Beowulf dragon is the earliest example in literature of the typical European dragon and first incidence of a fire-breathing dragon.[10] The Beowulf dragon is described with Old English terms such as draca (dragon), and wyrm (reptile, or serpent), and as a creature with a venomous bite.[11] Also, the Beowulf poet created a dragon with specific traits: a nocturnal, treasure-hoarding, inquisitive, vengeful, fire-breathing creature.[12]
The fire is likely symbolic of the hellfire of the devil, reminiscent of the monster in the Book of Job. In the Septuagint Bible, Job's monster is characterized as a draco, and identified with the devil.[10] Job's dragon would have been accessible to the author of Beowulf, as a Christian symbol of evil, the "great monstrous adversary of God, man and beast alike."[13]
A study of German and Norse texts reveals three typical narratives for the dragonslayer: a fight for the treasure, a battle to save the slayer's people, or a fight to free a woman.[14] The characteristics of Beowulf's dragon appear to be specific to the poem, and the poet may have melded together dragon motifs to create a dragon with specific traits that weave together the complicated plot of the narrative.[12]
Importance[edit]
The third act of the poem differs from the first two. In Beowulf's two earlier battles, Grendel and Grendel's mother are characterised as descendants of Cain: "[Grendel] had long lived in the land of monsters / since the creator cast them out / as the kindred of Cain"[15] and seem to be humanoid: in the poet's rendition they can be seen as giants, trolls, or monsters. The dragon, therefore, is a stark contrast to the other two antagonists.[16] Moreover, the dragon is more overtly destructive. He burns vast amounts of territory and the homes of the Geats: "the dragon began to belch out flames / and burn bright homesteads".[17][18]
Beowulf's fight with the dragon has been described variously as an act of either altruism[19] or recklessness.[20] In contrast with the previous battles, the fight with the dragon occurs in Beowulf's kingdom and ends in defeat, whereas Beowulf fought the other monsters victoriously in a land distant from his home. The dragon fight is foreshadowed with earlier events: Scyld Shefing's funeral and Sigmund's death by dragon, as recounted by a bard in Hrothgar's hall. Beowulf scholar Alexander writes that the dragon fight likely signifies Beowulf's (and by extension, society's) battle against evil.[21] The people's fate depend on the outcome of the fight between the hero and the dragon, and, as a hero, Beowulf must knowingly face death.[22]
Wiglaf is the single warrior to stay and witness the death of the hero. Illustration by J.R. Skelton.
Beowulf's eventual death from the dragon presages "warfare, death, and darkness" for his Geats.[23] The dragon's hoard symbolizes the vestige of an older society, now lost to wars and famine, left behind by a survivor of that period. His imagined elegy foreshadows Beowulf's death and elegy to come.[24] Before he faces the dragon, Beowulf thinks of his past: his childhood and wars the Geats endured during that period, foreshadowing the future. At his death, peace in his lands will end, and his people will again suffer a period of war and hardship.[25] An embattled society without "social cohesion" is represented by the avarice of the "dragon jealously guarding its gold hoard",[26] and the elegy for Beowulf becomes an elegy for the entire culture.[27] The dragon's hoard is representative of a people lost and antique, which is juxtaposed against the Geatish people, whose history is new and fleeting.[28] As king of his people, Beowulf defends them against the dragon, and when his thanes desert him, the poem shows the disintegration of a "heroic society" which "depends upon the honouring of mutual obligations between lord and thane".[29]
Wiglaf remains loyal to his king and stays to confront the dragon. The parallel in the story lies with the similarity to Beowulf's hero Sigemund and his companion: Wiglaf is a younger companion to Beowulf and, in his courage, shows himself to be Beowulf's successor.[30][31] The presence of a companion is seen as a motif in other dragon stories, but the Beowulf poet breaks hagiographic tradition with the hero's suffering (hacking, burning, stabbing) and subsequent death.[32] Moreover, the dragon is vanquished through Wiglaf's actions: although Beowulf dies fighting the dragon, the dragon dies at the hand of the companion.[29]
The dragon battle is structured in thirds: the preparation for the battle, the events prior to the battle, and the battle itself. Wiglaf kills the dragon halfway through the scene, Beowulf's death occurs "after two-thirds" of the scene,[33] and the dragon attacks Beowulf three times.[34] Ultimately, as Tolkien writes in Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics (1936), the death by dragon "is the right end for Beowulf," for he claims, "a man can but die upon his death-day".[35]
Critical reception[edit]
Before Tolkien[edit]
In 1918, William Witherle Lawrence argued in his article "The Dragon and His Lair in Beowulf" that the fight between Beowulf and the dragon tends to receive less critical attention than other portions of the poem, commenting that "Grendel and his dam have, as it were, become more beloved of the commentators".[36] Conversely, Kemp Malone writes in "The Kenning in Beowulf" that Beowulf's fight with the dragon receives much critical attention, but that commentators fail to note that "the dragon was no fighter. Not that it refused to fight when challenged, but that it did not seek out Beowulf or anyone else. It left Beowulf to do the seeking out".[37] In his 1935 work Beowulf and the Seventh Century, Ritchie Girvan writes that Beowulf should be seen as having some degree of historical accuracy despite the presence of a dragon in it; he argues that "Tales of dragons as well as a belief in dragons survived till recent times, and the popular mind is apt to accept with credulity stories of water-monsters. The stories, moreover, are often attached to real persons and localized precisely in time and place. The habit is so well known that examples are superfluous".[38] Raymond Wilson Chambers, in his Beowulf: An Introduction to the Study of the Poem with a Discussion of the Stories of Offa and Finn, says that Beowulf's dragon acts like "the typical dragon of Old English proverbial lore" because he guards treasure.[39] W. P. Ker criticized the inclusion of Beowulf's fight with the dragon and his subsequent death in the poem, writing "It is as if to the end of the Odyssey there had been added some later books telling in full of the old age of Odysseus, far from the sea, and his death at the hands of Telegonus".[40]
Tolkien, 1936: The Monsters and the Critics[edit]
Main article: Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics
In Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, J. R. R. Tolkien noted that the dragon and Grendel are "constantly referred to in language which is meant to recall the powers of darkness which Christian men felt themselves to be encompassed. They are 'inmates of hell', 'adversaries of God', 'offspring of Cain', 'enemies of mankind'....And so Beowulf, for all that he moves in the world of the primitive Heroic Age of the Germans, nevertheless is almost a Christian knight".[41]
After Tolkien[edit]
Scholarly opinion[edit]
Peter Gainsford noted in the article "The Deaths of Beowulf and Odysseus: Narrative Time and Mythological Tale Types" that "In the twenty-first century Beowulf does not lack for commentators to defend the literary merit of the dragon episode".[40] Adrien Bonjour opined in 1953 that the dragon's "ultimate significance in the poem" remains a "mystery".[42]
General opinion[edit]
The New Yorker's Joan Acocella wrote that "unlike Grendel and his mother, [the dragon] is less a monster than a symbol. He is not sad or weird. Indeed, he is rather glamorous".[43] According to Seamus Heaney, the dragon "could be read as a projection of Beowulf's own chthonic wisdom refined in the crucible of experience".[44] James Parker of The Atlantic argues that because Beowulf dies even though he killed the dragon, "There is no transcendence in Beowulf, and no redemption....kill the dragon—but the dragon will get you anyway".[45]
Legacy[edit]
In From Homer to Harry Potter: A Handbook on Myth and Fantasy, Matthew Dickerson and David O'Hara argue that the Beowulf poet added the figure of the dragon to "the pot...that is ladeled out of by most modern fantasy writers"; they argued that both numerous works with villainous dragons, as well as literature with benign dragons like the My Father's Dragon books and the Pern series by Anne McCaffrey, were influenced by Beowulf's dragon. Dickerson and O'Hara further elaborated that through its dragon, Beowulf turned the "notion of having a monstrous evil (and not mere human foes) as the enemy" into "a hallmark of modern fantasy" present in C. S. Lewis' Narnia books, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea books, and the Thomas Covenant series by Stephen Donaldson.[46] J. R. R. Tolkien used the dragon story of Beowulf as a template for Smaug of The Hobbit; in each case, the dragon awakens upon the hoard being disturbed by one stealing a chalice and goes into a wrathful rampage until slain by another person.[47] Aia Hussein of the National Endowment for the Humanities has written that the fight between Harry Potter and the Hungarian Horntail in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000) by J. K. Rowling was influenced by the confrontation between the dragon and the title character in Beowulf.[48] James Parker of The Atlantic saw similarities between the dragon in Beowulf and the dragons in Game of Thrones (2011–present).[45]
The tale of Beowulf was translated and rewritten in prose as a children's story by Rosemary Sutcliff in 1961, titled Dragon Slayer.[49]
In popular culture[edit]
The dragon appears in Beowulf, voiced by Ray Winstone. Here the dragon is the son of Beowulf and Grendel’s mother, who had seduced Beowulf. The dragon can also take the form of a golden man. The dragon is ultimately killed when Beowulf tears out its heart, sending both falling into the ocean below.
References[edit]
Footnotes
Jump up ^ Nitzsche, Jane C. "The Structural Unity of Beowulf: The Problem of Grendel's Mother". Poetry Criticism, vol. 22. 1999. p. 290.
^ Jump up to: a b c Evans, pp. 25–26
Jump up ^ Rauer, p.135
Jump up ^ Rauer, p. 4
Jump up ^ Rauer, p. 74
Jump up ^ Evans, pp. 29
Jump up ^ Rauer, p.32
Jump up ^ Tolkien, p. 4
Jump up ^ Evans, p. 30
^ Jump up to: a b Brown, Alan K. (1980). "The firedrake in Beowulf". Abstract from Neophilologus. Springer Netherlands. 64 (3): 439–460. doi:10.1007/BF01513838. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
Jump up ^ Rauer, p. 32, p .63
^ Jump up to: a b Rauer, p. 35
Jump up ^ Rauer, p. 52
Jump up ^ Evans, p.28
Jump up ^ Alexander, p. 6
Jump up ^ Mellinkoff, Ruth. Cain's monstrous progeny in Beowulf: part I, Noachic tradition Anglo-Saxon England (1979), 8 : 143–162 Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 2010-05-18
Jump up ^ Heaney, p.157
Jump up ^ Rauer, p. 74–75
Jump up ^ Clark, 43
Jump up ^ Crossley-Holland, p. xiv
Jump up ^ Alexander, pp. xxiv–xxv
Jump up ^ Alexander, pp. xxx–xxxv
Jump up ^ Crossley-Holland, p. vii
Jump up ^ Crossley-Holland, p. xvi
Jump up ^ Crossley-Holland, p. xvii
Jump up ^ Crossley-Holland, p. xix
Jump up ^ Crossley-Holland, p. xxvi
Jump up ^ Clark, Handbook, p. 289
^ Jump up to: a b Alexander, p. xxxvi
Jump up ^ Crossley-Holland, p. xviii
Jump up ^ Beowulf and some fictions of the Geatish succession by Frederick M. Biggs.
Jump up ^ Raurer, p. 74
Jump up ^ Rauer, p. 31
Jump up ^ Alexander, p. xxv
Jump up ^ Tolkien, p. 14
Jump up ^ Lawrence, William Witherle (1918). "The Dragon and His Lair in Beowulf". JSTOR 456981.
Jump up ^ Malone, Kemp (July 1928). "The Kenning in Beowulf". JSTOR 27703161.
Jump up ^ George, Jodi-Ann (2010). "Beowulf". Macmillan Publishers Limited. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
Jump up ^ Chambers, Raymond Wilson (1921). "Beowulf". Cambridge University Press. p. 349. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
^ Jump up to: a b Hinge, George (1921). "Classica et Mediaevalia vol. 63". Museum Tusculanum Press. pp. 247–248. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
Jump up ^ Fulk, Robert Dennis (1991). "Interpretations of Beowulf: A Critical Anthology". Indiana University Press. p. 25.
Jump up ^ Bonjour, Adrien (March 1953). "Monsters Crouching and Critics Rampant: Or the Beowulf Dragon Debated". JSTOR 459922.
Jump up ^ Acocella, Joan (June 2, 2014). "Slaying Monsters". The New Yorker. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
Jump up ^ Heaney, Seamus (November 4, 1999). "A New 'Beowulf'". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
^ Jump up to: a b Parker, James (April 2017). "Beowulf Is Back!". The Atlantic. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
Jump up ^ Dickerson, Matthew; O'Hara, David (2006). "From Homer to Harry Potter: A Handbook on Myth and Fantasy". Brazos Press. pp. 124–125.
Jump up ^ Clark, p. 31
Jump up ^ Hussein, Aia (June 14, 2011). "Old English, New Influences". National Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
Jump up ^ Alexander, p. xxiv
Sources[edit]
Alexander, Michael (2003-02-27) [1973]. Beowulf: a verse translation (2003 ed.). London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-044931-0. Retrieved 2010-05-18.
Clark, George (2003) [1998]. "The Hero and the Theme". In Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D. A Beowulf Handbook. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-6150-1. Retrieved 2010-05-18.
Crossley-Holland, Kevin (1999). O'Donohue, Heather, ed. Beowulf: The fight at Finnsburh. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-283320-4. Retrieved 2010-05-18.
Evans, Jonathan (2003) [2000]. "The Dragon-Lore of Middle-earth: Tolkien and Old English and Old Norse Tradition". In Clark, George; Timmons, Daniel. J.R.R. Tolkien and his literary resonances: views of Middle-earth. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-30845-4. Retrieved 2010-05-18.
Heaney, Seamus (2001). Beowulf: A New Verse Translation. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-32097-8. Retrieved 2010-05-19.
Rauer, Christine (2003). Beowulf and the Dragon: Parallels and Analogues. Cambridge: Brewer. ISBN 0-85991-592-1. Retrieved 2010-05-18.
Tolkien, J.R.R. (25 November 1936). "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics". Sir Israel Gollancz Lecture 1936. Archived from the original on 3 November 2009. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
The dragon (Beowulf)
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Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary
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Pollen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Pollen (disambiguation).
"Exine" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Exene.
Tulip anther with many grains of pollen
Closeup image of a cactus flower and its stamens
Scanning electron microscope image of pollen grains from a variety of common plants: sunflower (Helianthus annuus), morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea), prairie hollyhock (Sidalcea malviflora), oriental lily (Lilium auratum), evening primrose (Oenothera fruticosa), and castor bean (Ricinus communis).
Pollen is a fine to coarse powdery substance comprising pollen grains which are male microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophytes during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the female cone of coniferous plants. If pollen lands on a compatible pistil or female cone, it germinates, producing a pollen tube that transfers the sperm to the ovule containing the female gametophyte. Individual pollen grains are small enough to require magnification to see detail. The study of pollen is called palynology and is highly useful in paleoecology, paleontology, archaeology, and forensics.
Pollen in plants is used for transferring haploid male genetic material from the anther of a single flower to the stigma of another in cross-pollination. In a case of self-pollination, this process takes place from the anther of a flower to the stigma of the same flower.
Contents
[hide]
1 The structure and formation of pollen
1.1 Formation
1.2 Structure
2 Pollination
3 Pollen in the fossil record
4 Allergy to pollen
4.1 Treatment
5 Nutrition
5.1 In humans
5.2 Parasites
6 Forensic palynology
7 See also
8 References
9 Bibliography
10 External links
The structure and formation of pollen[edit]
Triporate pollen of Oenothera speciosa
Pollen of Lilium auratum showing single sulcus (monosulcate)
Arabis pollen has three colpi and prominent surface structure.
Pollens/Microspores of Lycopersicon esculentum at coenocytic tetrad stage of development observed through oil immersion microscope; the chromosomes of what will become four pollen grains can be seen.
Apple pollen under microscopy
Pollen itself is not the male gamete.[1] Each pollen grain contains vegetative (non-reproductive) cells (only a single cell in most flowering plants but several in other seed plants) and a generative (reproductive) cell. In flowering plants the vegetative tube cell produces the pollen tube, and the generative cell divides to form the two sperm cells.
Formation[edit]
Pollen is produced in the microsporangia in the male cone of a conifer or other gymnosperm or in the anthers of an angiosperm flower. Pollen grains come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and surface markings characteristic of the species (see electron micrograph, right). Pollen grains of pines, firs, and spruces are winged. The smallest pollen grain, that of the forget-me-not (Myosotis spp.),[which?] is around 6 µm (0.006 mm) in diameter.[citation needed] Wind-borne pollen grains can be as large as about 90–100 µm.[2]
In angiosperms, during flower development the anther is composed of a mass of cells that appear undifferentiated, except for a partially differentiated dermis. As the flower develops, four groups of sporogenous cells form within the anther. The fertile sporogenous cells are surrounded by layers of sterile cells that grow into the wall of the pollen sac. Some of the cells grow into nutritive cells that supply nutrition for the microspores that form by meiotic division from the sporogenous cells.
In a process called microsporogenesis, four haploid microspores are produced from each diploid sporogenous cell (microsporocyte, pollen mother cell or meiocyte), after meiotic division. After the formation of the four microspores, which are contained by callose walls, the development of the pollen grain walls begins. The callose wall is broken down by an enzyme called callase and the freed pollen grains grow in size and develop their characteristic shape and form a resistant outer wall called the exine and an inner wall called the intine. The exine is what is preserved in the fossil record. Two basic types of microsporogenesis are recognised, simultaneous and successive. In simultaneous microsporogenesis meiotic steps I and II are completed prior to cytokinesis, whereas in successive microsporogenesis cytokinesis follows. While there may be a continuum with intermediate forms, the type of microsporogenesis has systematic significance. The predominant form amongst the monocots is successive, but there are important exceptions.[3]
During microgametogenesis, the unicellular microspores undergo mitosis and develop into mature microgametophytes containing the gametes.[4] In some flowering plants,[which?] germination of the pollen grain may begin even before it leaves the microsporangium, with the generative cell forming the two sperm cells.
Structure[edit]
Except in the case of some submerged aquatic plants, the mature pollen grain has a double wall. The vegetative and generative cells are surrounded by a thin delicate wall of unaltered cellulose called the endospore or intine, and a tough resistant outer cuticularized wall composed largely of sporopollenin called the exospore or exine. The exine often bears spines or warts, or is variously sculptured, and the character of the markings is often of value for identifying genus, species, or even cultivar or individual. The spines may be less than a micron in length (spinulus, plural spinuli) referred to as spinulose (scabrate), or longer than a micron (echina, echinae) referred to as echinate. Various terms also describe the sculpturing such as reticulate, a net like appearance consisting of elements (murus, muri) separated from each other by a lumen (plural lumina).
The pollen wall protects the sperm while the pollen grain is moving from the anther to the stigma; it protects the vital genetic material from drying out and solar radiation. The pollen grain surface is covered with waxes and proteins, which are held in place by structures called sculpture elements on the surface of the grain. The outer pollen wall, which prevents the pollen grain from shrinking and crushing the genetic material during desiccation, is composed of two layers. These two layers are the tectum and the foot layer, which is just above the intine. The tectum and foot layer are separated by a region called the columella, which is composed of strengthening rods. The outer wall is constructed with a resistant biopolymer called sporopollenin.
Pollen apertures are regions of the pollen wall that may involve exine thinning or a significant reduction in exine thickness.[5] They allow shrinking and swelling of the grain caused by changes in moisture content. Elongated apertures or furrows in the pollen grain are called colpi (singular: colpus) or sulci (singular: sulcus). Apertures that are more circular are called pores. Colpi, sulci and pores are major features in the identification of classes of pollen.[6] Pollen may be referred to as inaperturate (apertures absent) or aperturate (apertures present). The aperture may have a lid (operculum), hence is described as operculate.[7] However the term inaperturate covers a wide range of morphological types, such as functionally inaperturate (cryptoaperturate) and omniaperturate.[3] Inaperaturate pollen grains often have thin walls, which facilitates pollen tube germination at any position.[5] Terms such as uniaperturate and triaperturate refer to the number of apertures present (one and three respectively).
The orientation of furrows (relative to the original tetrad of microspores) classifies the pollen as sulcate or colpate. Sulcate pollen has a furrow across the middle of what was the outer face when the pollen grain was in its tetrad.[8] If the pollen has only a single sulcus, it is described as monosulcate, has two sulci, as bisulcate, or more, as polysulcate.[9][10] Colpate pollen has furrows other than across the middle of the outer faces.[8] Eudicots have pollen with three colpi (tricolpate) or with shapes that are evolutionarily derived from tricolpate pollen.[11] The evolutionary trend in plants has been from monosulcate to polycolpate or polyporate pollen.[8]
Pollination[edit]
Main article: Pollination
European honey bee carrying pollen in a pollen basket back to the hive
Marmalade hoverfly, pollen on its face and legs, sitting on a rockrose.
Diadasia bee straddles flower carpels while visiting yellow Opuntia engelmannii cactus
The transfer of pollen grains to the female reproductive structure (pistil in angiosperms) is called pollination. This transfer can be mediated by the wind, in which case the plant is described as anemophilous (literally wind-loving). Anemophilous plants typically produce great quantities of very lightweight pollen grains, sometimes with air-sacs. Non-flowering seed plants (e.g. pine trees) are characteristically anemophilous. Anemophilous flowering plants generally have inconspicuous flowers. Entomophilous (literally insect-loving) plants produce pollen that is relatively heavy, sticky and protein-rich, for dispersal by insect pollinators attracted to their flowers. Many insects and some mites are specialized to feed on pollen, and are called palynivores.
In non-flowering seed plants, pollen germinates in the pollen chamber, located beneath the micropyle, underneath the integuments of the ovule. A pollen tube is produced, which grows into the nucellus to provide nutrients for the developing sperm cells. Sperm cells of Pinophyta and Gnetophyta are without flagella, and are carried by the pollen tube, while those of Cycadophyta and Ginkgophyta have many flagella.
When placed on the stigma of a flowering plant, under favorable circumstances, a pollen grain puts forth a pollen tube, which grows down the tissue of the style to the ovary, and makes its way along the placenta, guided by projections or hairs, to the micropyle of an ovule. The nucleus of the tube cell has meanwhile passed into the tube, as does also the generative nucleus, which divides (if it hasn't already) to form two sperm cells. The sperm cells are carried to their destination in the tip of the pollen tube. Double-strand breaks in DNA that arise during pollen tube growth appear to be efficiently repaired in the generative cell that carries the male genomic information to be passed on to the next plant generation.[12] However, the vegetative cell that is responsible for tube elongation appears to lack this DNA repair capability.[12]
Pollen in the fossil record[edit]
Main article: Palynology
Pollen's sporopollenin outer sheath affords it some resistance to the rigours of the fossilisation process that destroy weaker objects; it is also produced in huge quantities. There is an extensive fossil record of pollen grains, often disassociated from their parent plant. The discipline of palynology is devoted to the study of pollen, which can be used both for biostratigraphy and to gain information about the abundance and variety of plants alive — which can itself yield important information about paleoclimates. Pollen is first found in the fossil record in the late Devonian period[verification needed] and increases in abundance until the present day.
Allergy to pollen[edit]
See also: Allergy season
[hide]This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate. (September 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
This section needs expansion with: information about allergies not in the nose, e.g., skin reactions. You can help by adding to it. (March 2013)
(Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Nasal allergy to pollen is called pollinosis, and allergy specifically to grass pollen is called hay fever. Generally, pollens that cause allergies are those of anemophilous plants (pollen is dispersed by air currents.) Such plants produce large quantities of lightweight pollen (because wind dispersal is random and the likelihood of one pollen grain landing on another flower is small), which can be carried for great distances and are easily inhaled, bringing it into contact with the sensitive nasal passages.
In the US, people often mistakenly blame the conspicuous goldenrod flower for allergies. Since this plant is entomophilous (its pollen is dispersed by animals), its heavy, sticky pollen does not become independently airborne. Most late summer and fall pollen allergies are probably caused by ragweed, a widespread anemophilous plant.[13]
Arizona was once regarded as a haven for people with pollen allergies, although several ragweed species grow in the desert. However, as suburbs grew and people began establishing irrigated lawns and gardens, more irritating species of ragweed gained a foothold and Arizona lost its claim of freedom from hay fever.
Anemophilous spring blooming plants such as oak, birch, hickory, pecan, and early summer grasses may also induce pollen allergies. Most cultivated plants with showy flowers are entomophilous and do not cause pollen allergies.
The number of people in the United States affected by hay fever is between 20 and 40 million,[14] and such allergy has proven to be the most frequent allergic response in the nation. There are certain evidential suggestions pointing out hay fever and similar allergies to be of hereditary origin. Individuals who suffer from eczema or are asthmatic tend to be more susceptible to developing long-term hay fever.[15]
In Denmark, decades of rising temperatures cause pollen to appear earlier and in greater numbers, as well as introduction of new species such as ragweed.[16]
The most efficient way to handle a pollen allergy is by preventing contact with the material. Individuals carrying the ailment may at first believe that they have a simple summer cold, but hay fever becomes more evident when the apparent cold does not disappear. The confirmation of hay fever can be obtained after examination by a general physician.[17]
Treatment[edit]
Main article: Allergic rhinitis § treatment
Antihistamines are effective at treating mild cases of pollinosis, this type of non-prescribed drugs includes loratadine, cetirizine and chlorpheniramine. They do not prevent the discharge of histamine, but it has been proven that they do prevent a part of the chain reaction activated by this biogenic amine, which considerably lowers hay fever symptoms.
Decongestants can be administered in different ways such as tablets and nasal sprays.
Allergy immunotherapy (AIT) treatment involves administering doses of allergens to accustom the body to pollen, thereby inducing specific long-term tolerance.[18] Allergy immunotherapy can be administered orally (as sublingual tablets or sublingual drops), or by injections under the skin (subcutaneous). Discovered by Leonard Noon and John Freeman in 1911, allergy immunotherapy represents the only causative treatment for respiratory allergies.
Nutrition[edit]
Most major classes of predatory and parasitic arthropods contain species that eat pollen, despite the common perception that bees are the primary pollen-consuming arthropod group. Many other Hymenoptera other than bees consume pollen as adults, though only a small number feed on pollen as larvae (including some ant larvae). Spiders are normally considered carnivores but pollen is an important source of food for several species, particularly for spiderlings, which catch pollen on their webs. It is not clear how spiderlings manage to eat pollen however, since their mouths are not large enough to consume pollen grains.[citation needed] Some predatory mites also feed on pollen, with some species being able to subsist solely on pollen, such as Euseius tularensis, which feeds on the pollen of dozens of plant species. Members of some beetle families such as Mordellidae and Melyridae feed almost exclusively on pollen as adults, while various lineages within larger families such as Curculionidae, Chrysomelidae, Cerambycidae, and Scarabaeidae are pollen specialists even though most members of their families are not (e.g., only 36 of 40000 species of ground beetles, which are typically predatory, have been shown to eat pollen—but this is thought to be a severe underestimate as the feeding habits are only known for 1000 species). Similarly, Ladybird beetles mainly eat insects, but many species also eat pollen, as either part or all of their diet. Hemiptera are mostly herbivores or omnivores but pollen feeding is known (and has only been well studied in the Anthocoridae). Many adult flies, especially Syrphidae, feed on pollen, and three UK syrphid species feed strictly on pollen (syrphids, like all flies, cannot eat pollen directly due to the structure of their mouthparts, but can consume pollen contents that are dissolved in a fluid).[19] Some species of fungus, including Fomes fomentarius, are able to break down grains of pollen as a secondary nutrition source that is particularly high in nitrogen.[20] Pollen may be valuable diet supplement for detritivores, providing them with nutrients needed for growth, development and maturation.[21] It was suggested that obtaining nutrients from pollen, deposited on the forest floor during periods of pollen rains, allows fungi to decompose nutritionally scarce litter.[21]
Some species of Heliconius butterflies consume pollen as adults, which appears to be a valuable nutrient source, and these species are more distasteful to predators than the non-pollen consuming species.[22][23]
Although bats, butterflies and hummingbirds are not pollen eaters per se, their consumption of nectar in flowers is an important aspect of the pollination process.
In humans[edit]
A variety of producers have started selling bee pollen for human consumption, often marketed as a food (rather than a dietary supplement). The largest constituent is carbohydrates, with protein content ranging from 7 to 35 percent depending on the plant species collected by bees.[24]
Honey produced by bees from natural sources contains pollen derived p-coumaric acid, an antioxidant.[25]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not found any harmful effects of bee pollen consumption, except from the usual allergies. However, FDA does not allow bee pollen marketers in the United States to make health claims about their produce, as no scientific basis for these has ever been proven. Furthermore, there are possible dangers not only from allergic reactions but also from contaminants such as pesticides and from fungi and bacteria growth related to poor storage procedures. A manufacturers's claim that pollen collecting helps the bee colonies is also controversial.[26]
Pine pollen (송화가루; Songhwa Garu) is traditionally consumed in Korea as an ingredient in sweets and beverages.
Parasites[edit]
The growing industries in pollen harvesting for human and bee consumption rely on harvesting pollen baskets from honey bees as they return to their hives using a pollen trap.[27] When this pollen has been tested for parasites, it has been found that a multitude of pollinator viruses and eukaryotic parasites are present in the pollen.[28][29] It is currently unclear if the parasites are introduced by the bee that collected the pollen or if it is from contamination to the flower.[29][30] Though this is not likely to pose a risk to humans, it is a major issue for the bumblebee rearing industry that relies on thousands of tonnes of honey bee collected pollen per year.[31] Several sterilization methods have been employed, though no method has been 100% effective at sterilizing, without reducing the nutritional value, of the pollen [32]
Forensic palynology[edit]
Main article: Forensic palynology
An SEM micrograph of Redbud pollen. Scanning electron microscopes are major instruments in palynology.
In forensic biology, pollen can tell a lot about where a person or object has been, because regions of the world, or even more particular locations such a certain set of bushes, will have a distinctive collection of pollen species.[33] Pollen evidence can also reveal the season in which a particular object picked up the pollen.[34] Pollen has been used to trace activity at mass graves in Bosnia,[35] catch a burglar who brushed against a Hypericum bush during a crime,[36] and has even been proposed as an additive for bullets to enable tracking them.[37]
See also[edit]
European Pollen Database
Evolution of sex
Microsporangia
Pollen calendar
Pollen count
Pollen source
Polyphenol antioxidant
Palynology
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Johnstone, Adam (2001). Biology: facts & practice for A level. Oxford University Press. p. 95. ISBN 0-19-914766-3.
Jump up ^ Pleasants, J. M.; Hellmich, R. L.; Dively, G. P.; Sears, M. K.; Stanley-Horn, D. E.; Mattila, H. R.; Foster, J. E.; Clark, P.; Jones, G. D. (2001). "Corn pollen deposition on milkweeds in and near cornfields". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 98 (21): 11919–24. doi:10.1073/pnas.211287498. PMC 59743  . PMID 11559840.
^ Jump up to: a b Furness, Carol A.; Rudall, Paula J. (January 2001). "Pollen and anther characters in monocot systematics". Grana. 40 (1–2): 17–25. doi:10.1080/00173130152591840.
Jump up ^ Pollen Development — University of Leicester
^ Jump up to: a b Furness, Carol A.; Rudall, Paula J. (2004-03-01). "Pollen aperture evolution--a crucial factor for eudicot success?". Trends in Plant Science. 9 (3): 154–158. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2004.01.001. PMID 15003239.
Jump up ^ Davis, Owen. "Aperture". geo.arizona.edu.
Jump up ^ Furness, Carol A.; Rudall, Paula J. (November 2003). "Apertures with Lids: Distribution and Significance of Operculate Pollen in Monocotyledons". International Journal of Plant Sciences. 164 (6): 835–854. doi:10.1086/378656.
^ Jump up to: a b c Sporne, Kenneth R. (1972). "Some Observations on the Evolution of Pollen Types in Dicotyledons". New Phytologist. 71 (1): 181–185. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.1972.tb04826.x.
Jump up ^ Simpson, Michael G. (2011). "Palynology". Plant Systematics. Academic Press. pp. 453–464. ISBN 978-0-08-051404-8. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
Jump up ^ Singh, Gurcharan (2004-01-01). "Palynology". Plant Systematics: An Integrated Approach. p. 142. ISBN 9781578083510. Retrieved 23 January 2014. In Singh (2004).
Jump up ^ Judd, Walter S. & Olmstead, Richard G. (2004). "A survey of tricolpate (eudicot) phylogenetic relationships". American Journal of Botany. 91 (10): 1627–1644. doi:10.3732/ajb.91.10.1627. PMID 21652313.
^ Jump up to: a b Hirano T, Takagi K, Hoshino Y, Abe T (2013). "DNA damage response in male gametes of Cyrtanthus mackenii during pollen tube growth". AoB Plants. 5: plt004. doi:10.1093/aobpla/plt004. PMC 3583183  . PMID 23550213.
Jump up ^ Oder, Tom. "Dear allergy sufferers: Don't blame goldenrod". mnn.com. Mother Nature Network. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
Jump up ^ Skoner, DP (July 2001). "Allergic rhinitis: definition, epidemiology, pathophysiology, detection, and diagnosis". The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 108 (1 Suppl): S2–8. PMID 11449200.
Jump up ^ Allergies and Hay Fever WebMD. Retrieved on 2010-03-09
Jump up ^ Siewertsen, Bjarne. "Hård nyser for allergikere i varm fremtid" (English: Hard sneeze for allergic people in warm future) Danish Meteorological Institute, 18 April 2015. Retrieved: 19 April 2015.
Jump up ^ Bee, grass pollen allergy symptoms. allergiesandtreatments.com. Retrieved on 2010-03-09
Jump up ^ Van Overtvelt L. et al. Immune mechanisms of allergen-specific sublingual immunotherapy. Revue française d'allergologie et d'immunologie clinique. 2006; 46: 713–720.
Jump up ^ "The Pollen Feeders". Relationships of Natural Enemies and Non-Prey Foods. 7. 2009. pp. 87–11. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-9235-0_6. ISBN 978-1-4020-9234-3.
Jump up ^ Schwarze, Francis W. M. R.; Engels, Julia; Mattheck, Claus (2000). Fungal Strategies of Wood Decay in Trees. Springer. p. 61. ISBN 978-3-540-67205-0. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Jump up to: a b Filipiak, Michał (2016-01-01). "Pollen Stoichiometry May Influence Detrital Terrestrial and Aquatic Food Webs". Behavioral and Evolutionary Ecology: 138. doi:10.3389/fevo.2016.00138.
Jump up ^ Salcledo, Christian. "Evidence of Pollen Digestion at Nocturnal Aggregations of Heliconius Sara in Costa Rica (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)." Trop. Lepid. Res. 20.1 (2010): 35–37. Web.
Jump up ^ Cardoso MZ, Gilbert LE; Gilbert (June 2013). "Pollen feeding, resource allocation and the evolution of chemical defence in passion vine butterflies". Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 26 (6): 1254–60. doi:10.1111/jeb.12119. PMID 23662837.
Jump up ^ Sanford, Malcolm T. Producing Pollen at the Wayback Machine (archived January 13, 2007), University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences; citing P. Witherell, "Other Products of the Hive," Chapter XVIII, The Hive and the Honey Bee, Dadant & Sons, Inc., Hamilton, IL, 1975
Jump up ^ Mao W, Schuler MA, Berenbaum MR; Schuler; Berenbaum (May 2013). "Honey constituents up-regulate detoxification and immunity genes in the western honey bee Apis mellifera". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 110 (22): 8842–6. doi:10.1073/pnas.1303884110. PMC 3670375  . PMID 23630255. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
Jump up ^ Sanford, Malcolm T. "Producing Pollen". University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Archived from the original on 2007-01-13. Retrieved 2007-08-30. . Document ENY118. Original publication date November 1, 1994. Revised February 1, 1995. Reviewed May 1, 2003.
Jump up ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBP9pw2rNk4
Jump up ^ Graystock, Peter; Yates, Kathryn; Evison, Sophie E. F.; Darvill, Ben; Goulson, Dave; Hughes, William O. H. (July 2013). "The Trojan hives: pollinator pathogens, imported and distributed in bumblebee colonies". Journal of Applied Ecology: n/a–n/a. doi:10.1111/1365-2664.12134.
^ Jump up to: a b Singh, Rajwinder; Levitt, Abby L.; Rajotte, Edwin G.; Holmes, Edward C.; Ostiguy, Nancy; vanEngelsdorp, Dennis; Lipkin, W. Ian; dePamphilis, Claude W.; Toth, Amy L.; Cox-Foster, Diana L.; Traveset, Anna (22 December 2010). "RNA Viruses in Hymenopteran Pollinators: Evidence of Inter-Taxa Virus Transmission via Pollen and Potential Impact on Non-Apis Hymenopteran Species". PLoS ONE. 5 (12): e14357. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014357. PMC 3008715  . PMID 21203504.
Jump up ^ Graystock, Peter; Goulson, Dave; Hughes, William O. H. (5 August 2015). "Parasites in bloom: flowers aid dispersal and transmission of pollinator parasites within and between bee species". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 282 (1813): 20151371. doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.1371. PMC 4632632  . PMID 26246556.
Jump up ^ Graystock, Peter; Blane, Edward J.; McFrederick, Quinn S.; Goulson, Dave; Hughes, William O.H. (October 2015). "Do managed bees drive parasite spread and emergence in wild bees?". International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife. 5: 64–75. doi:10.1016/j.ijppaw.2015.10.001.
Jump up ^ Graystock, P.; Jones, J.C.; Pamminger, T.; Parkinson, J.F.; Norman, V.; Blane, E.J.; Rothstein, L.; Wäckers, F.; Goulson, D.; Hughes, W.O.H. (May 2016). "Hygienic food to reduce pathogen risk to bumblebees". Journal of Invertebrate Pathology. 136: 68–73. doi:10.1016/j.jip.2016.03.007. PMID 26970260.
Jump up ^ Bryant, Vaughn M. "Forensic Palynology: A New Way to Catch Crooks". crimeandclues.com. Archived from the original on 2007-02-03.
Jump up ^ Stackhouse, Robert (17 April 2003). "Forensics studies look to pollen". The Battalion.
Jump up ^ Wood, Peter (9 September 2004). "Pollen helps war crime forensics". BBC News.
Jump up ^ D. Mildenhall (2006). "Hypericum pollen determines the presence of burglars at the scene of a crime: An example of forensic palynology". Forensic Science International. 163 (3): 231–235. doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2005.11.028. PMID 16406430.
Jump up ^ Wolf, Lauren K. (18 August 2008). "Newscripts". Chemical & Engineering News. 86 (33): 88. doi:10.1021/cen-v086n033.p088.
Bibliography[edit]
Davis, Owen (1999). "Palynology — Pollen". University of Arizona. Department of Geosciences.
Simpson, Michael G. (2011). Plant Systematics. Academic Press. ISBN 0-08-051404-9. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
Singh, Gurcharan (2004). Plant Systematics: An Integrated Approach. Science Publishers. ISBN 1-57808-351-6. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pollen.
Pollen and Spore Identification Literature
Pollen micrographs at SEM and confocal microscope
The flight of a pollen cloud
PalDat (database comprising palynological data from a variety of plant families)
YouTube video of pollen clouds from Juncus gerardii plants
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "article name needed". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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values:
https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuifmeel
Stuifmeel – Afrikaans
af
af
interlanguage-link-target

values: حبوب اللقاح – Arabic

values: Цветен прашец – Bulgarian

values:
https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polen
Polen – Bosnian
bs
bs
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyl
Pyl – Czech
cs
cs
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paill
Paill – Welsh
cy
cy
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values:
https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollen
Pollen – Danish
da
da
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values:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollen
Pollen – German
de
de
interlanguage-link-target

values: Γύρη – Greek

values:
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polen
Polen – Spanish
es
es
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values:
https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poleno
Poleno – Esperanto
eo
eo
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values:
https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polen
Polen – Basque
eu
eu
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values:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollen
Pollen – French
fr
fr
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pailin
Pailin – Irish
ga
ga
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://gd.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poilean
Poilean – Scottish Gaelic
gd
gd
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole
Pole – Galician
gl
gl
interlanguage-link-target

values: Ծաղկափոշի – Armenian

values: पराग – Hindi

values:
https://io.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poleno
Poleno – Ido
io
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https://ia.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polline
Polline – Interlingua
ia
ia
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https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polline
Polline – Italian
it
it
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values: אבקה (בוטניקה) – Hebrew

values: Тозаң – Kazakh

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https://sw.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbelewele
Mbelewele – Swahili
sw
sw
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values:
https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollen
Pollen – Latin
la
la
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values:
https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debunga
Debunga – Malay
ms
ms
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https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuifmeel
Stuifmeel – Dutch
nl
nl
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values:
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollen
Pollen – Norwegian
no
no
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values:
https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polen
Polen – Romanian
ro
ro
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values:
https://qu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisa
Sisa – Quechua
qu
qu
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values: Пыльца – Russian

values:
https://sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollen
Pollen – Scots
sco
sco
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelod
Pelod – Slovenian
sl
sl
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://sh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelud
Pelud – Serbo-Croatian
sh
sh
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values:
https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollen
Pollen – Swedish
sv
sv
interlanguage-link-target

values: மகரந்தம் – Tamil

values: పుప్పొడి – Telugu

values: ละอองเรณู – Thai

values:
https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polen
Polen – Turkish
tr
tr
interlanguage-link-target

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Tozgajyk – Turkmen
tk
tk
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