Spatializing the History of Ecology

Sites, Journeys, Mappings

Raf De Bont, Jens Lachmund (Herausgeber)

Buch | Hardcover

250 Seiten

2017
Routledge (Verlag)
978-1-138-72703-8 (ISBN)

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Throughout its history, the discipline of ecology has always been profoundly entangled with the history of space and place. On the one hand, ecology is a field science that has thrived on the study of concrete spatial entities, such as islands, forests or rivers. These spaces are the workplaces in which ecological phenomena are identified, observed and experimented on. They provide both epistemic opportunities and constraints that structure the agenda and the analytical sensibilities of ecological researchers. On the other hand, ecological knowledge and practices have become important resources through which spaces and places are classified, delineated, explained, experienced and managed. The impact of these activities reaches far beyond the realms of the ecological discipline. Many ecological concepts such as "biotopes," "ecosystems" and "the biosphere" have become entities that widely resonate in public life and policy making.

This book explores the mutual entanglement between space and knowledge-making in the history of ecology. Its first goal is to explore to which extent a spatial perspective can shed new light on the history of ecological science. Second, it uses ecology as a critical site to gain broader insights into the history of the environment in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Via a series of case studies – discussing topics that range from ecological field stations in the early-twentieth century Caribbean over wisent breeding in Nazi Germany to computer modelling in North American deserts – the book offers a tour through the changing landscapes of modern ecology.

Raf de Bont is a Lecturer in the History Department at Maastricht University. Jens Lachmund is a Lecturer in Science and Technology Studies at Maastricht University.

1. Introduction: Knowing Nature, Making Space

Raf De Bont and Jens Lachmund

Part I: Crafting Zones and Regions

2. Mapping Heimat: Amateur Natural History and Plant Ecology in Imperial Germany

Nils Güttler

3. Life Zones: The Rise and Decline of a Theory of the Geographic Distribution of Species

Roderick P. Neumann

4. A Laboratory for Tropical Ecology: Colonial Models and American Science at Cinchona, Jamaica

Megan Raby

5. Field Stations and the Problem of Scale: Local, Regional, and Global at the Desert Lab

Jeremy Vetter

6. Ecology and Rehabilitation: The West Highland Survey

Mark Toogood

Part II: Modelling Systems

7. Ecosystem Simulation as a Practice of Emplacement: The Desert Biome Project, 1970-1974

Etienne S. Benson

8. The City as an Ecosystem: Paul Duvigneaud and the Ecological Study of Brussels

Jens Lachmund

Part III: Fashioning Objects of Conservation

9. Extinct in the Wild: Finding a Place for the European Bison, 1919-1952

Raf De Bont

10. Islands and Bioregions: Global Reserve Design Models and the Making of National Parks, 1960-2000

Simone Schleper and Hans Schouwenburg

11. Space, Place, Land, and Sea: The "Ecological Discovery" of the Global Wadden Sea

Anna-Katharina Wöbse

Epilogue

Raf De Bont and Jens Lachmund

Erscheinungsdatum	05.07.2017
Reihe/Serie	Routledge Studies in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine
Zusatzinfo	9 Line drawings, black and white; 8 Halftones, black and white; 17 Illustrations, black and white
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Gewicht	453 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Geschichtstheorie / Historik
	Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Ökologie / Naturschutz
	Technik ► Umwelttechnik / Biotechnologie
ISBN-10	1-138-72703-2 / 1138727032
ISBN-13	978-1-138-72703-8 / 9781138727038
Zustand	Neuware