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Abstract：
The anther-smut host-pathogen system has provided extensive insights into the evolutionary ecology of disease resistance, transmission modes, host shifts, pathogen specialization, and disease evolution in metapopulations. It also has led to unexpected insights into sex ratio distorters, sex chromosome evolution, and transposable elements in fungi. In addition, anther-smut disease played a major role in Linnaeus\' germ theory and the correspondence on parasitic castration between Darwin and Becker, one of the first female botanists. Here, we explicitly highlight some of the realities in the process of science, using an unusual autobiographical approach to describe how we came to collaborate on this system in the 1980s. Using perspectives from our different career stages, we present a surprising narrative that could not be deduced from merely reading the published papers. While our work was grounded in previous ecological and evolutionary theory, it was the product as much of empirical failures and intellectual roadblocks, as the result of a progressive scientific method. Our experiences illustrate not only the \"human dimension of science\" but more importantly show that linear sequences of hypothesis testing do not necessarily lead to new study systems and new ideas. We suggest there is a need to re-evaluate the scientific method in ecology and evolution, especially where the challenge is to engage in a productive dialog between natural history and theory.
摘要：
花药-黑穗病宿主-病原体系统为抗病的进化生态学提供了广泛的见解，传输模式,主机轮班，病原体特化，和群体中的疾病进化。这也导致了对性别比例扭曲者的意外见解，性染色体进化，和真菌中的转座因子。此外,花药黑穗病在Linnaeus\'胚芽理论以及达尔文和贝克尔之间寄生去势的对应关系中起着重要作用，最早的女性植物学家之一。这里,我们明确强调了科学过程中的一些现实，使用一种不寻常的自传方法来描述我们在20世纪80年代如何在这个系统上进行合作。使用我们不同职业阶段的观点，我们提出了一个令人惊讶的叙述，不能从仅仅阅读发表的论文中推断出来。虽然我们的工作基于以前的生态和进化理论，它是大量经验失败和智力障碍的产物，作为进步科学方法的结果。我们的经验不仅说明了“科学的人类维度”，而且更重要的是表明，假设检验的线性序列不一定会导致新的研究系统和新的想法。我们建议有必要重新评估生态学和进化中的科学方法，尤其是在面临的挑战是在自然历史和理论之间进行富有成效的对话。
