Eugen Warming: a Danish unveils The Brazilian cerrado

Abstract

The botanist Johannes Eugenius Bülow Warming (1841-1924) served as professor of botany at the University of Copenhagen and the University of Stockholm and was also dean at both and director of the Copenhagen Botanical Garden. He visited several countries on scientific expeditions and as a speaker at events, including Brazil. A prominent figure in the history of plant ecology, Warming influenced the generation of young botanists and ecologists who succeeded him, mainly due to the systemic approach to the “cerrado”. Some ecologists even consider that he coined the expression “ecological factors”. The purpose of this article is to present Warming’s biographical information highlighting his studies on the “cerrado” and his role in defining lines of research in plant ecology. Warming has been in Brazil, more precisely in Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais, from 1863 to 1866. During this period, he collected, described and recorded in drawings and photos the vegetation and representatives of the “cerrado” flora of that region. He was not limited to the aesthetic aspects but associated the vegetation and flora of the “cerrado” with climatic and edaphic characteristics and the occurrence of fire. The importance of his work lies in the way he proceeded in his research. He published the first study on the Brazilian “cerrado” in the Danish language, which was translated into Portuguese as Lagoa Santa: contribution to phytobiologica geography by Johan Albert Constantin Löfgren (1854-1918) in 1908.