In this Book
- All Things Harmless, Useful, and Ornamental: Environmental Transformation through Species Acclimatization, from Colonial Australia to the World
- Book
- 2019
- Published by: The University of North Carolina Press
- Series: Why read?
summary
Species acclimatization--the organized introduction of organisms to a new region--is much maligned in the present day. However, colonization depended on moving people, plants, and animals from place to place, and in centuries past, scientists, landowners, and philanthropists formed acclimatization societies to study local species and conditions, form networks of supporters, and exchange supposedly useful local and exotic organisms across the globe.
Pete Minard tells the story of this movement, arguing that the colonies, not the imperial centers, led the movement for species acclimatization. Far from attempting to re-create London or Paris, settlers sought to combine plants and animals to correct earlier environmental damage and to populate forests, farms, and streams to make them healthier and more productive. By focusing particularly on the Australian colony of Victoria, Minard reveals a global network of would-be acclimatizers, from Britain and France to Russia and the United States. Although the movement was short-lived, the long reach of nineteenth-century acclimatization societies continues to be felt today, from choked waterways to the uncontrollable expansion of European pests in former colonies.
Pete Minard tells the story of this movement, arguing that the colonies, not the imperial centers, led the movement for species acclimatization. Far from attempting to re-create London or Paris, settlers sought to combine plants and animals to correct earlier environmental damage and to populate forests, farms, and streams to make them healthier and more productive. By focusing particularly on the Australian colony of Victoria, Minard reveals a global network of would-be acclimatizers, from Britain and France to Russia and the United States. Although the movement was short-lived, the long reach of nineteenth-century acclimatization societies continues to be felt today, from choked waterways to the uncontrollable expansion of European pests in former colonies.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Title Page, Copyright
- pp. i-iv
- Abbreviations in the Text
- pp. ix-xii
- Introduction
- pp. 1-6
- Acclimatization Gets Organized
- pp. 7-22
- Local Acclimatization Theories
- pp. 23-42
- Colonial Creations
- pp. 43-56
- Aquaculture
- pp. 72-84
- Hunting Victoria
- pp. 85-107
- The Decline of Terrestrial Acclimatization
- pp. 108-120
- The Transformation of Fish Acclimatization
- pp. 121-132
- Acknowledgments
- pp. 137-138
- Appendix: Tables
- pp. 139-148
- Bibliography
- pp. 175-192
Additional Information
ISBN
9781469651637
Related ISBN(s)
9781469651606, 9781469651613, 9781469651620, 9798890852793
MARC Record
OCLC
1098174151
Pages
208
Launched on MUSE
2019-05-19
Language
English
Open Access
No