The micro-worlds of galls: the cecidological collection of Alessandro Trotter at the Botanical Museum of the University of Padua

The purpose of the project is to study and valorize the collection of galls (abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, presenting a typical structure, caused by interaction with any one of various external organisms, such as insects, mites, bacteria or fungi), put together by Alessandro Trotter (1874-1967), pupil of Pier Andrea Saccardo (1845-1920), and housed today in the Botanical Museum of the University of Padua. There are three objectives: 1) to enumerate the samples of Trotter's cecidological herbarium, in collaboration with Professor Mauro Mandrioli (Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia); 2) to reconstruct the history of how “cecidology” — the science of galls (cecidia) — was founded and institutionalized disciplinarily as a point of intersection between botany, entomology and agricultural sciences; 3) to raise public awareness on matters of biodiversity, by reflecting on the interspecific relationships that characterize the formation of galls; Accordingly, to valorize the role of historical naturalistic collections and the importance of interdisciplinary dialogue between the natural sciences and the history of sciences. In effect, the cecidological herbarium can be regarded as a ‘boundary collection’ occupying a place at the intersection of different disciplinary areas: historical-scientific, naturalistic, anthropological.