Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Introduced Species, Homogenizing Biotas and Cultures

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Linking Ecology and Ethics for a Changing World

Part of the book series: Ecology and Ethics ((ECET,volume 1))

Abstract

Introduced species tend to homogenize biotas, and this biotic homogenization contributes to a pervasive biocultural homogenization fostered by urbanization and commercial globalization. Antipathy towards biological invasions today is primarily focused on their many ecological, economic, and public health impacts. However, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, aesthetic considerations dominated much of the opposition to introduced species. Aldo Leopold’s “land aesthetic,” based on detailed knowledge of the ecology of a region and the evolutionary history of its denizens, strongly opposed introduced species on aesthetic grounds just as his land ethic opposed them on ecological grounds. Some authors contend that the animus towards introduced species is partly associated with xenophobia or nativism, and that stated aesthetic or ecological considerations mask underlying xenophobic motives. Evidence for this motivation in current views of introduced species is scant or non-existent. Unease about introduced species because of their role in biotic homogenization is certainly not based on xenophobia. Rather, it springs from the same source as the desire to preserve native languages from extinction and regional cuisines from being swamped by McDonalds and Starbucks. The struggle to redress biocultural homogenization will have to incorporate prevention of many species introductions and effective management of both newly arrived and certain long-established invaders. Technologies exist to aid this effort; the impediments are frequently more sociopolitical than scientific.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 219.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 279.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Agar N (2001) Life’s intrinsic value: science, ethics, and nature. Columbia University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson LWJ (2005) California’s reaction to Caulerpa taxifolia: a model for invasive species rapid response. Biol Invasions 7:1003–1016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown JH (1989) Patterns, modes and extents invasions by vertebrates. In: Drake JA et al (eds) Biological invasions: a global perspective. Wiley, Chichester, pp 85–109

    Google Scholar 

  • Buhs JB (2004) The fire ant wars. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Burdick A (2005) Out of Eden. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Callicott JB (1983) Leopold’s land aesthetic. J Soil Water Conserv 38:329–332

    Google Scholar 

  • Callicott JB (1994) The land aesthetic. In: Chapple C (ed) Ecological prospects: scientific, religious, and aesthetic perspectives. State University of New York Press, Albany, pp 169–183

    Google Scholar 

  • Callicott JB (2008) Leopold’s land aesthetic. In: Carlson A, Lintott S (eds) Nature, aesthetics, and environmentalism. From beauty to duty. Columbia University Press, New York, pp 105–118

    Google Scholar 

  • Capella WD (1998) Pasos cordilleranos, grupos sociales y procesos hegemónicos en norpatagonia hacia fines del siglo XIX. Revista de Historia – Universidad de Concepción 7:215–228

    Google Scholar 

  • Carrier L, Bort KS (1916) The history of Kentucky bluegrass and white clover in the United States. Agron J 8:256–267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chew MK (2011) Invasion biology: historical precedents. In: Simberloff D, Rejmánek M (eds) Encyclopedia of biological invasions. University of California Press, Berkeley, pp 369–375

    Google Scholar 

  • Clout MN, Williams PA (eds) (2009) Invasive species management. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Coates P (2006) Strangers on the land. American perceptions of immigrant and invasive species. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Coates P (2011) Over here: American animals in Britain. In: Rotherham ID, Lambert RA (eds) Invasive and introduced plants and animals. Human perceptions, attitudes and approaches to management. Earthscan, London, pp 39–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Council of Europe (2000) Declaration on cultural diversity. Council of Europe, Strasbourg

    Google Scholar 

  • Cronon W (1996) Introduction: in search of nature. In: Cronon W (ed) Uncommon ground. Rethinking the human place in nature. W.W. Norton, New York, pp 23–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Crooks JA (2011) Lag times. In: Simberloff D, Rejmánek M (eds) Encyclopedia of biological invasions. University of California Press, Berkeley, pp 404–410

    Google Scholar 

  • Crosby AW (1986) Ecological imperalism: the biological expansion of Europe, 900–1900. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Dahlsten DL (1986) Control of invaders. In: Mooney HA, Drake JA (eds) Ecology of biological invasions of North America and Hawaii. Springer, New York, pp 275–302

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Darwin C (1839) Voyages of the adventure and beagle, vol III – Journal and remarks. 1832–1836. Henry Colburn, London. Reprinted 1972 as The Voyage of the Beagle. Bantam, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis MA, Chew MK, Hobbs RJ, Lugo AE, Ewel JJ, Vermeij GJ, Brown JH, Rosenzweig ML, Gardener MR, Carroll SP, Thompson K, Pickett STA, Stromberg JC, Del Tredici P, Suding KN, Ehrenfeld JG, Grime JP, Mascaro J, Briggs JC (2011) Don’t judge species on their origins. Nature 474:153–154

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dorcas ME, Willson JD, Reed RN, Snow RW, Rochford MR, Miller MA, Meshaka WE Jr, Andreadis PW, Mazzotti FJ, Romagosa CM, Hart KM (2012) Severe mammal declines coincide with proliferation of invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 109:2418–2422

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrenfeld JG (2010) Ecosystem consequences of biological invasions. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 41:59–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eliade M (2004) Shamanism: archaic techniques of ecstasy. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Elton CS (1958) The ecology of invasions by animals and plants. Methuen, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ewers J (1955) The horse in Blackfoot Indian culture: with comparative material from other western tribes. United States Government Printing Office, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Foderaro LW (2013) New Jersey wins fight against a tiny invader. New York Times, 23 March, p A15

    Google Scholar 

  • Fowler AJ, Lodge DM, Hsia JF (2007) Failure of the Lacey Act to protect US ecosystems against animal invasions. Front Ecol Environ 5:353–359

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fowler L (1987) Shared symbols, contested meanings: Gros Ventre culture and history, 1778–1984. Cornell University Press, Ithaca

    Google Scholar 

  • Genovesi P (2011) Are we turning the tide? Eradications in times of crisis: how the global community is responding to biological invasions. In: Veitch CR et al (eds) Island invasives: eradication and management. IUCN, Gland

    Google Scholar 

  • Helford RM (2000) Constructing nature as constructing science: expertise, activist science, and public conflict in the Chicago wilderness. In: Gobster PH, Hull RB (eds) Restoring nature: perspectives from the social sciences and humanities. Island Press, Washington, DC, pp 119–142

    Google Scholar 

  • Helmreich AL (1997) Re-presenting nature: ideology, art, and science in William Robinson’s “Wild Garden”. In: Wolschke-Bulmahn J (ed) Nature and ideology. Natural garden design in the twentieth century. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC, pp 81–111

    Google Scholar 

  • Hettinger N (2001) Exotic species, naturalisation, and biological nativism. Environ Values 10:193–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leopold A (1940) Farm arboretum adds to home beauty. Wis Agric Farmer 67(10):4

    Google Scholar 

  • Leopold A (1949) A Sand County almanac, with essays on conservation from round river. Ballantine Books, 1970, New York. Originally published as A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin S (2006) Biologists score rare victory under the sea. Los Angeles Times, 13 July, p B2

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood JL, McKinney ML (2001) Biotic homogenization. Kluwer, Dordrecht

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Long JL (2003) Introduced mammals of the world. CAB International, Wallingford

    Google Scholar 

  • MacClellan JP (2012) Minding nature: a defense of a sentiocentric approach to environmental ethics. Doctoral dissertation, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

    Google Scholar 

  • Maffi L (ed) (2001) On biocultural diversity. Linking language, knowledge, and the environment. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Maffi L (2010) Introduction: why a sourcebook on biocultural diversity? In: Maffi L, Woodley E (eds) Biocultural diversity conservation. A global sourcebook. Earthscan, London, pp xix–xxii

    Google Scholar 

  • Marchetti MP, Lockwood JL, Light T (2006) Effects of urbanization on California’s fish diversity: differentiation, homogenization and the influence of spatial scale. Biol Conserv 127:310–318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marsh GP (1864) Man and nature. Scribner, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • McKinney ML (2006) Urbanization as a major cause of biotic homogenization. Biol Conserv 127:247–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKinney ML, Lockwood JL (1999) Biotic homogenization: a few winners replacing many losers in the next mass extinction. Trends Ecol Evol 14:450–453

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Meinesz A (2001) Killer algae, 2nd edn. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Musters GC (1964) Vida entre los patagones. Ediciones Solar, Buenos Aires

    Google Scholar 

  • Naik G (2001) A fish-tank favorite becomes a killer weed beneath the waves. Wall Street Journal, 13 August, p 1

    Google Scholar 

  • Norgaard RB (2001) Possibilities after progress. In: Maffi L (ed) On biocultural diversity. Linking language, knowledge, and the environment. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, pp 533–539

    Google Scholar 

  • Nuñez MA, Simberloff D (2005) Invasive species and the cultural keystone concept. Ecol Soc 10(1):r4 (online). URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol10/iss1/resp4/

    Google Scholar 

  • Olden JD, Poff NL, McKinney ML (2006) Forecasting faunal and floral homogenization associated with population geography in North America. Biol Conserv 127:261–271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olick JK, Robbins J (1998) Social memory studies: from “collective memory” to the historical sociology of mnemonic practices. Annu Rev Sociol 24:105–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olmsted FL (1888) Letter to the editor. Foreign plants and American scenery. Gard For 1:418–419

    Google Scholar 

  • Pauly PJ (1996) The beauty and menace of the Japanese cherry trees. Isis 87:51–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perry T, Mehta S (2000) Invader threatens Southland waters. Los Angeles Times, 6 July, p A3

    Google Scholar 

  • Pimentel D, McNair S, Janecka J et al (2002) Economic and environmental threats of alien plant, animal, and microbe invasions. In: Pimentel D (ed) Biological invasions. Economic and environmental costs of alien plant, animal, and microbe species. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 307–330

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Posey DA (2001) Biological and cultural diversity: the inextricable, linked by language and politics. In: Maffi L (ed) On biocultural diversity. Linking language, knowledge, and the environment. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, pp 379–396

    Google Scholar 

  • Putz FE (1998) Halt the homogeocene: a frightening future filled with too few species. Palmetto 18:7–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Raby P (2001) Alfred Russel Wallace: a life. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Raffles H (2011) Mother nature’s melting pot. New York Times, 3 April, p WK12

    Google Scholar 

  • Rahel FJ (2000) Homogenization of fish faunas across the United States. Science 288:854–856

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ritzer G (1993) The McDonaldization of society. Sage, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodman J (1993) Restoring nature: natives and exotics. In: Bennett J, Chaloupka W (eds) The nature of things: language, politics, and the environment. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, pp 139–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Rozzi R (2012) Biocultural ethics: recovering the vital links between the inhabitants, their habits, and habitats. Environ Ethic 34:27–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rozzi R, Massardo F, Silander J Jr, Dollenz O, Connolly B, Anderson C, Turner N (2003) Árboles nativos y exóticos en las plazas de Magallanes. Anales Instituto Patagonia, Chile 31:27–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Rozzi R, Arango X, Massardo F, Anderson C, Heidinger K, Moses K (2008) Field environmental philosophy and biocultural conservation: the Omora Ethnobotanical Park educational program. Environ Ethic 30:325–336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sargent CS (1888) Editorial. Gard For 1:266

    Google Scholar 

  • Scoch D (2000) “Killer alga” invades Orange County. Los Angeles Times, 23 September, p B1

    Google Scholar 

  • Shore D (1997) Controversy erupts over restoration in Chicago area. Restor Manage Note 15:25–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Simberloff D (1996) Letter to the editor. Isis 87:676–677

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simberloff D (2001) Biological invasions – how are they affecting us, and what can we do about them? West N Am Nat 61:308–315

    Google Scholar 

  • Simberloff D (2003) Confronting introduced species: a form of xenophobia? Biol Invasions 5:179–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simberloff D (2009) We can eliminate invasions or live with them! – high-tech and low-tech success stories. Biol Invasions 11:149–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simberloff D (2010) Charles Elton – neither founder nor siren, but prophet. In: Richardson DM (ed) Fifty years of invasion ecology. Wiley, New York, pp 11–24

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Simberloff D (2011a) How common are invasion-induced ecosystem impacts? Biol Invasions 13:1255–1268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simberloff D (2011b) The rise of modern invasion biology and American attitudes towards introduced species. In: Rotherham ID, Lambert RA (eds) Invasive and introduced plants and animals. Human perceptions, attitudes and approaches to management. Earthscan, London, pp 121–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Simberloff D (2012a) Integrity, stability, and beauty: Aldo Leopold’s evolving view of non-native species. Environ Hist 17:487–511

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simberloff D (2012b) Nature, natives, nativism, and management: worldviews underlying controversies in invasion biology. Environ Ethic 34:5–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simberloff D, Von Holle MB (1999) Positive interactions of nonindigenous species: invasional meltdown? Biol Invasions 1:21–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simberloff D, Martin JL, Genovesi P, Maris V, Wardle DA, Aronson J, Courchamp F, Galil B, García-Berthou E, Pascal M, Pyšek P, Sousa R, Tabacchi E, Vilà M (2013) Impacts of biological invasions – what’s what and the way forward. Trends Ecol Evol 28:58–66

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Simons M (1997) A delicate Pacific seaweed is now a monster of the deep. New York Times, 16 August, p A1, A4

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith B (1943) A tree grows in Brooklyn. Harper & Bros, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Spear RJ (2005) The great gypsy moth war. University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst

    Google Scholar 

  • Steadman DW (2006) Extinction and biogeography of tropical Pacific birds. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Tennessen T (2012) Trouble in paradise: conflict over introduced wildlife on Alaska’s Kodiak Archipelago. Doctoral dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison

    Google Scholar 

  • Thresher RE, Hayes K, Bax NJ, Teem J, Benfey TJ, Gould F (2013) Genetic control of invasive fish: technological options and its role in integrated pest management. Biol Invas (in press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Trigger DS (2008) Indigeneity, ferality, and what ‘belongs’ in the Australian bush: aboriginal responses to ‘introduced’ animals and plants in a settler-descendant society. J R Anthropol Inst 14:628–646

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO (2001) UNESCO universal declaration on cultural diversity. UNESCO, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Environment Programme (1992) Convention on biological diversity (1760 UNTS 79; 31 ILM 818 [1992]). United Nations Environment Programme, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Vigne JD (1992) Zooarchaeology and the biogeographical history of the mammals of Corsica and Sardinia since the last ice age. Mammal Rev 22:87–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vince G (2011) Embracing invasives. Science 331:1383–1384

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • von Humboldt A (1806) Ideen zu einer Physiognomik der Gewächse. Cotta, Tübingen

    Google Scholar 

  • Vreysen MJB, Robinson AS, Hendrichs J (eds) (2007) Area-wide control of insect pests. Springer, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallace AW (1881) Island life. Harper & Brothers, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams T (2002) America’s largest weed. Audubon 104(1):24–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Wills J (2006) Brighty, donkeys and conservation in the Grand Canyon. Endeavour 30:113–117

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Witzgall P, Stelinski L, Gut L, Thomson D (2007) Codling moth management and chemical ecology. Annu Rev Entomol 53:503–522

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolschke-Bulmahn J (1992) The ‘Wild Garden’ and the ‘Nature Garden’ – aspects of the garden ideology of William Robinson and Willy Lange. J Gard Hist 12:183–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolschke-Bulmahn J (1995) Review of R.E. Grese, “Jens Jensen: maker of natural parks and gardens”. J Gard Hist 15:54–55

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolschke-Bulmahn J (1997a) Introduction. In: Wolschke-Bulmahn J (ed) Nature and ideology. Natural garden design in the twentieth century. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC, pp 1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolschke-Bulmahn J (1997b) The nationalization of nature and the naturalization of the German nation: ‘Teutonic’ trends in early twentieth-century landscape design. In: Wolschke-Bulmahn J (ed) Nature and ideology. Natural garden design in the twentieth century. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC, pp 187–219

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolschke-Bulmahn J, Gröning G (1992) The ideology of the nature garden. Nationalistic trends in garden design in Germany during the early twentieth century. J Gard Hist 12:73–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zaitzevsky C (1982) Frederick Law Olmsted and the Boston park system. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

I thank Sara Kuebbing and Tander Simberloff for many suggestions on an earlier draft of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, 569 Dabney Hall, Knoxville, TN, 37996-1610, USA

    Daniel Simberloff

Authors
  1. Daniel Simberloff
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Simberloff .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Texas, Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Department of Philosophy and Religion St, Denton, USA

    Ricardo Rozzi

  2. Plant Ecology, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York, USA

    S.T.A. Pickett

  3. Department of Philosophy, Texas A&M University, College Station, USA

    Clare Palmer

  4. Departamento de Ecología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Juan J. Armesto

  5. Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies, University of North Texas, Denton, USA

    J. Baird Callicott

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Simberloff, D. (2013). Introduced Species, Homogenizing Biotas and Cultures. In: Rozzi, R., Pickett, S., Palmer, C., Armesto, J., Callicott, J. (eds) Linking Ecology and Ethics for a Changing World. Ecology and Ethics, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7470-4_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation