American Desires for Ecological Independence

美国人试图利用科学和主权来影响哪些新种类的有机体将生活在他们的国境内。这种兴趣涉及到有前景的外来物种的进口，创造适应美国环境的品种，以及排除外来害虫。借用阿尔弗雷德·克罗斯比对生态帝国主义的比喻，我将这些担忧称为“美国人对生态独立的渴望”。我的项目调查了民族自决的这些生物维度的历史。利用园艺家制作的大量出版和手稿记录--一个鲜有学术研究的生物技术网络--我研究了从革命到现在的一系列关键事件。其中包括关于北美旧大陆栽培植物退化的争论，对黑蝇破坏小麦的担忧，创造和定义美洲水果的努力，关于草原造林的讨论，完全消灭吉普赛飞蛾和麦蝇等外来害虫的努力，以及当代关于控制生物入侵者和恢复本地生态系统的计划的讨论。我的重点是美国大陆的温带潮湿地区，但我也考虑了佛罗里达州南部偏远的热带边缘地区，作为对比。这个项目融合了科学、技术、国际关系、环境和民族主义的历史，将为美国人在过去两个世纪改变非洲大陆物种的方式提供一个新的视角。这将导致一本书，加深公众对生物技术在塑造美国国家中的广泛构想的地位的理解。它还将对环境规范的评估产生更集中的影响：一项强调科学观点的多样性和决策中的不确定性的学术研究将推动有关迁徙生物的合理和有效的政策。

Americans have sought to use science and sovereignty to influence what new kinds of organisms would live within their national borders. This interest has involved the importation of promising exotic species, the creation of varieties adapted to American environments, and the exclusion of alien pests. Drawing on Alfred Crosby's metaphor of ecological imperialism, I call these concerns "American desires for ecologicalindependence." My project investigates the history of these biotic dimensions of national self-determination. Utilizing the extensive published and manuscript records produced by horticulturists--a biotechnological network that has been the subject of little scholarly research--I examine a series of critical events from the Revolution to the present. These include the debates over the degeneration of cultured Old World plants in North America, fears about the destruction of wheat by the Hessian fly, efforts to create and defineAmerican fruits, discussions regarding the forestation of the prairies, efforts to exterminate completely such alien pests as the gypsy moth and the medfly, and contemporary discussions plans to control biological invaders and to restore native ecosystems. My focus is on the temperate humid regions of the continental United States, but I also consider, as a contrasting case, the outlying tropical margin of southernFlorida. This project, integrating history of science, technology, international relations, environment, and nationalism, will offer a new perspective on the ways Americans have altered the continent's species in the last two centuries. It will result in a book that will deepen public understanding of the place of biotechnology, broadly conceived, in the shaping of the American nation. It will also have a more focused impact on assessments of environmental norms: a scholarly study emphasizing the diversity of scientific perspectives and the uncertainties in decision-making will advance reasoned and effective policies regarding migrating organisms.