In October 1970 at the Conférence Internationale sur la Conservation de la Nature et de ses Ressources à Madagascar, the French botanist Monique Keraudren-Aymonin argued that the Humbertiaceae and Didiereaceae plant groups “can be considered among the most remarkable biological units on the globe.” Whereas the Didiereaceae was considered commonplace, the single species of the Humbertiaceae, Humbertia madagascariensis, was judged by the French colonial botanist Henri Humbert (her former graduate advisor) as an endemic tree so rare that it was considered extinct in 1947. Utilizing the category of rarity allowed Keraudren-Aymonin to stress the anxiety between the absence of botanical knowledge and the speculation of its extinction. As counting species numbers became the constant metric in creating a global ecology by reframing biological diversity as an emerging category of statistics, species deemed rare would create unexpected conceptual and practical challenges for an accessible, predictable, and legible conservation methodology. This talk will examine (1) the history of biological rarity, (2) how Keraudren-Aymonin utilized Humbert’s colonial plant specimens and his field instructions to reconstruct the history of biological rarity as a function of endemism, and (3) the conundrum biologists faced in studying rare species in postcolonial Madagascar.

Nuala Proinnseas Caomhánach is an assistant professor in the International History and Politics Department at the Geneva Graduate Institute and a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History. Her research  focuses on the modern life sciences, particularly evolutionary theory and ecology, as it intersections with environmental law, museums, biotechnology, and the climate crisis. 

For the Zoom link, please email instructingnaturalhistory@uu.se