Illustration as a way to explain the complex structures of foraminifera. The scientific drawing of Lukas Hottinger. In memoriam (1933-2011)
Abstract
Scientific illustration is a fundamental tool for transmitting scientific knowledge because it allows to define aspects that cannot be appreciated just by text description, or by means of photography. This study is based on the collection of illustrations created by the paleontologist Lukas Hottinger (1933-2011) during his extensive career. Hottinger studied, described and illustrated foraminifera for more than fifty years. The use of illustration is essential for studying, describing and clasifying these marine microfossils. Foraminifera are a constituent of marine sedimentary rocks; the study of their internal anatomy often is made from thin sections of rocks, a destructive technique which provides only two dimensional sections. The internal three-dimensional morphology of a species must be interpreted and reconstructed from numerous random two-dimensional sections. New technologies, such as SEM or more recently X-ray Microtomography provided progressively better images of the internal structure but this information, while useful, is still insufficient to explain with simplicity and efficacy what an illustration of a synthetic 3D model shows at a glance. This study is based on a review of 78 publications by Lukas Hottinger on foraminiferal inner structure. In addition, up to 150 illustrations by Hottinger were analyzed, as well as other works written by his colleagues during the same years (1956-2009). Hottinger's work includes several reference papers on the structure and systematics of different groups of larger foraminifera in which his three dimensional models play a fundamental role in synthesizing and making understandable the complexity of these shells. Illustrations of 3D models were particularly selected because of their conceptual complexity. They do not represent a view of the foraminiferal structure that can be observe directly, but a synthetic abstraction constructed from the observation and interpretation of many random two-dimensional sections of diverse individuals. We also analyzed the evolution of the method and techniques of representation through the different papers, coming to the conclusion that they changed according to the printing methods and the current technology (e.g. computer drawing software), but the basic concept of drawings has not been highly modified. The preliminary results demonstrate that illustrations are a necessary and fundamental element in the study of foraminiferal structure, and that it is beneficial for the scientist to have a good knowledge of the various skills involved in drawing and illustration, in order to better disseminate the results of his research with clarity and make complexity comprehensible.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFMPA21B..07L
- Keywords:
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- 3030 MARINE GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS / Micropaleontology;
- 6699 PUBLIC ISSUES / General or miscellaneous