TY - BOOK ID - 77868009 TI - American perceptions of immigrant and invasive species PY - 2006 SN - 1282759507 9786612759505 0520933257 1433700034 9780520933255 9781429440103 1429440104 9780520249301 0520249305 0520249305 9781282759503 9781433700033 PB - Berkeley University of California Press DB - UniCat KW - Introduced organisms KW - Alien organisms KW - Alien species KW - Exotic organisms KW - Exotic species KW - Foreign organisms (Introduced organisms) KW - Foreign species (Introduced organisms) KW - Introduced species KW - Invaders (Organisms) KW - Invasive alien species KW - Invasive organisms KW - Invasive species KW - Naturalised organisms KW - Naturalized organisms KW - Non-indigenous organisms KW - Non-indigenous species KW - Non-native organisms KW - Non-native species KW - Nonindigenous organisms KW - Nonindigenous species KW - Nonnative organisms KW - Nonnative species KW - Translocated organisms KW - Translocated species KW - Organisms KW - History. KW - Biology. KW - Life sciences KW - Biomass KW - Life (Biology) KW - Natural history KW - biology. KW - botany. KW - conservation. KW - conservationism. KW - cultural history. KW - ecological identity. KW - english sparrow. KW - environmental conservation protection. KW - environmental justice. KW - environmentalism. KW - environmentalists. KW - eucalyptus tree. KW - human immigration. KW - hybridized plants. KW - invading plants. KW - native american species. KW - natural sciences. KW - natural world. KW - plant nerds unite. KW - thought-provoking book. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:77868009 AB - Sometimes by accident and sometimes on purpose, humans have transported plants and animals to new habitats around the world. Arriving in ever-increasing numbers to American soil, recent invaders have competed with, preyed on, hybridized with, and carried diseases to native species, transforming our ecosystems and creating anxiety among environmentalists and the general public. But is American anxiety over this crisis of ecological identity a recent phenomenon? Charting shifting attitudes to alien species since the 1850's, Peter Coates brings to light the rich cultural and historical aspects of this story by situating the history of immigrant flora and fauna within the wider context of human immigration. Through an illuminating series of particular invasions, including the English sparrow and the eucalyptus tree, what he finds is that we have always perceived plants and animals in relation to ourselves and the polities to which we belong. Setting the saga of human relations with the environment in the broad context of scientific, social, and cultural history, this thought-provoking book demonstrates how profoundly notions of nationality and debates over race and immigration have shaped American understandings of the natural world. ER -