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Nematology is the scientific discipline concerned with the study of , or roundworms. Although nematological investigation dates back to the days of Aristotle or even earlier, nematology as an independent discipline has its recognizable beginnings in the mid to late 19th century.Chen, Z. X., Chen, S. Y., and Dickson, D. W. (2004). "A Century of Plant Nematology", pp. 1–42 in Nematology Advances and Perspectives, Vol 1. Tsinghua University Press, Beijing, China.Chitwood, B. G., and Chitwood, M. B. (1950). "An Introduction to Nematology", pp. 1–5 in Introduction to Nematology. University Park Press, Baltimore.
Before 1750, a large number of nematode observations were recorded, many by the notable great minds of ancient civilization. HippocratesHippocrates (460-375 B.C.) 1849. Works of Hippocrates, translated by F. Adams. London, "Aphorisms." (), AristotleAristotle (384-322 B.C.) 1910. Historia animalium. Translated by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson. In: Works. J. A. Smith and W. D. Ross, eds. Vol. IV. Garrison Morton. (), CelsusCelsus, A. C. (53 B.C.-7 A.D.) 1657. De medicina libri octo, ex recognitione Joh. Antonidae von Linden D. & Prof. Med. Pract. Ord. (), GalenGalen, C. (130–200) 1552. De simplicum medicamentorum faculatibus libre xi. Lugdoni. () and Francesco RediRedi, F. (1684) p. 253 in Osservazioni...intorno agli animali viventi che si trovano negli animali viventi. 26 pls. Firenze. (1684) all described nematodes parasitizing humans or other large animals and birds. Pierre BorelBorellus, P. (1653) p. 240 in Historiarum, et observationum medicophysicarum, centuria prima, etc. Castris. (1653) was the first to observe and describe a free-living nematode, which he dubbed the "vinegar eel;" and Tyson (1683) used a crude microscope to describe the rough anatomy of the human intestinal roundworm, Ascaris lumbricoides.
Other well-known microscopists spent time observing and describing free-living and animal-parasitic nematodes: Robert HookeHooke, R. (1667). Micrographia: etc. London. (1683), LeeuwenhoekLeeuwenhoek, A. (1722). Opera omnia seu arcana naturae (etc.). Lugduni Batavorum. (1722), John Needham (1743), and SpallanzaniSpallanzani, L. (1769). Nouvelles recherches sur les decouvertes microscopiques, etc. Londres & Paris. (1769) are among these. Observations and descriptions of plant parasitic nematodes, which were less conspicuous to ancient scientists, did not receive as much or as early attention as did animal parasites. The earliest allusion to a plant parasitic nematode is, however, preserved in famous writ. "Sowed cockle, reap'd no corn," a line by William Shakespeare penned in 1594 in Love's Labour's Lost, Act IV, Scene 3, most certainly has reference to blighted wheat caused by the plant parasite, Anguina tritici.Thorne, G. (1961). "Introduction", pp. 1–21 in Principles of Nematology. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York.
Needham (1743) solved the "riddle of cockle" when he crushed one of the diseased wheat grains and observed "Aquatic Animals...denominated Worms, Eels, or Serpents, which they very much resemble." It is likely that few or no other recorded observations of plant parasitic nematodes or their effects are to be found in ancient literature.Steiner, G. (1960). "Nematology-An Outlook", pp. 3–7 in Nematology: Fundamentals and Recent Advances. J. N. Sasser and W. R. Jenkins, eds. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.
From 1750 to the early 1900s, nematology research continued to be descriptive and taxonomic, focusing primarily on free-living nematodes and plant and animal parasites.Van Gundy, S. D. (1987). "Perspectives on Nematology Research", pp. 28–31 in Vistas on Nematology. J. A. Veech and D. W. Dickson, eds. Society of Nematologists, Inc. Hyattsville, Maryland. During this period a number of productive researchers contributed to the field of nematology in the United States and abroad. Beginning with Needham and continuing to Cobb, nematologists compiled and continuously revised a broad descriptive morphological taxonomy of nematodes.
Although 18th and 19th century scientists yielded a considerable amount of important fundamental and applied knowledge about nematode biology, nematology research really began to advance in quality and quantity near the turn of the 20th century. In 1918, the first permanent nematology field station was constructed in the U.S. Post Office in Salt Lake City, Utah under the direction of Harry B. Shaw, after scientists observed the sugar beet nematode in a field south of the city. In this same year, Nathan Cobb (1918) published his Contributions to a Science of Nematology and his lab manual "Estimating the Nema Population of Soil".Cobb, N. A. (1918). "Estimating the nema population of soil". U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bur. Plant. Industry, Agr. Tech. Cir. 1:1–48. These two publications provide definitive resources for many methods and apparatus used in nematology even to this day.
Of Cobb's far-reaching influence on nematology research, Jenkins and TaylorJenkins, W. R., and Taylor, D. P. (1967). "Introduction", p. 7 in Plant Nematology. Reinhold Publishing Corporation, New York. write:
Perhaps no one person has had as favorable an impact on the field of nematology as has Nathan Augustus Cobb.
From 1900 to 1925 various state-run agricultural experimental stations investigated important problems relating to agro-economy, though few stations devoted much attention to plant-parasitic nematodes. Accounts of the history of nematology (the few that exist) mention three major events occurring between 1926 and 1950 that affected the relative importance of nematodes in the eyes of farmers, legislators and the U.S. public in general. These same events had profound worldwide effects on the course of nematology research over the next fifty to seventy-five years.
First, the discovery of the golden nematode in the potato fields of Long Island led to a trip by U.S. quarantine officials to the potato fields of Europe, where the devastating effects of this parasite had been known for many years. This excursion allayed all skepticism about the seriousness of this agricultural pest. Second, the introduction of the soil fumigants, D-D and EDB made available for the first time nematicides that could be used effectively and practically on a field scale. Third, the development of nematode-resistant crop cultivars brought substantial government funding to applied nematology research.Christie, J. R. (1960). "The Role of the Nematologist", pp. 8–11 in Nematology: Fundamentals and Recent Advances. J. N. Sasser and W. R. Jenkins, eds. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.
These events contributed to a shift from broad taxonomy-based nematology research to deep, yet focused investigations of plant parasitic nematodes, especially the control of agricultural pests. From the early 1930s until recently, the bulk of researchers studying nematodes have been plant pathologists by training. Consequently, nematological research leaned heavily toward answering plant pathological and agro-economical questions for the last three-quarters of the 20th century.
Caenorhabditis elegans is a widely used model species, initially for neural development, and then for genetics. WormBase collates research on the species.
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