Abstract
A geographer of a different cast of mind, Alfred Crosby described assemblages of portmanteau biotas, a concept recognizing associated micro-communities of animals and plants within which human societies are ensconced, and to which they respond culturally and evolutionarily. Crosby then historically reinterprets the clash between European and Amerindian populations during the Age of Exploration through the lens of portmanteau biotas. This third chapter reframes and reinterprets Crosby’s original insights, by conceptually expanding portmanteau biotas to include mutualisms propagated absent anthropogenic intervention. With Crosby’s portmanteau biota thus expanded into Symbiotic Portmanteau Assemblages, one can then reconstruct the early history of European colonization of the Americas. So situated, one can see that colonization systematically selected for relatively fast life history survivors, compounding direct destruction of Amerindian populations and sociopolitical structures.
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Hertler, S.C., Figueredo, A.J., Peñaherrera-Aguirre, M., Fernandes, H.B.F., Woodley of Menie, M.A. (2018). Alfred W. Crosby: Adapting Within a Matrix of Flora and Fauna. In: Life History Evolution. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90125-1_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90125-1_3
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