original nature

Original Nature

Consider an example--restoring the ecosystem at the Savannah River Plant

government facility no longer needed to make bomb material
new task--clean up the mess
restore the ecosystem
but even the natural areas have been changed by wild pigs and invasive species
what was there before you built the reactors was exhausted farmland in bad shape

If we have messed up the environment and want to restore it to its original state, what is that original state?

before there were any human beings there?
when the indians lived there?

what was it like in 1492?
what was it like when the Europeans started farming there?

before settlers really changed things a lot?

Watch out for "common sense" assumptions that may be wrong, such as:

there is a balance of nature and all we have to do is restore that
the native Americans lived in harmony with the environment and didn't mess it up

The natural state of the natural world isn't balance:

the natural state of some piece of land is something that changes over time as the environment changes
do ecosystems have a natural equilibrium?
"Except for a catastrophic event such as a widespread fire, for example, a forest will maintain itself and its inhabitants over a long period of time. If there is a catastrophic event, the ecosystem will reestablish itself through succession over a period of time, and eventually return to a stable populations of plants and animals." source
is this true? Not most of the time. Are those catastrophic events not a part of nature?
even setting aside catastrophic events, the pattern of an ecosystem is always shifting
since the balance of nature is a myth, it is hard to figure out what ecosystem to restore

Human beings have affected the environment long before the 20th century

even Native Americans modified the environment in fundamental ways (see below)
human beings have changed the environment in a lot of different ways--do we count some and not others?
what if we ask what was the environment like before there were people there

Continental drift

200 million years ago all the continents had combined to form Pangaea
when they split North America stayed with Europe at first, so the plants and animals are less different
the plants and animals in Australia and New Zealand were more different because they were isolated for so long

What is result of the continents separating?

a painting showing many different australian mammals

plants and animals developed differently in each one
partly to fit the local environment and partly by accident of what plants and animals were there in the first place
you would think in each place the animals would evolve to be best suited to the local environment, so animals coming in from outside wouldn't have much chance
but it turns out to be more complicated than that
big question running through most of the book--why were European plant and animals in many cases able to take over and displace the native plants and animals

What happened when the first human beings arrived in some of the isolated areas?

the ice ages lowered sea level and connected the continents that had been isolated
human beings are able to quickly adapt to new areas--they don't have to wait for evolution
humans arrived in Australia about 40,000 years ago, North America later
some 10,000 years ago with the end of the ice ages isolation resumed
they changed the environment
some large mammals disappeared shortly thereafter (extinction of the megafauna), but probably not just from hunting
human-started fires shaped the longleaf pine-wiregrass ecosystem of the sandhills and other environments

sculpture of california condor to show size

Consider the California Condor:

it was part of the ecosystem with the megafauna
has been in decline since the extinction of the megafauna
it would probably be going extinct even if civilization hadn't come along
should we save it?
Europeans came into an environment that was not stable, it was changing

The people of Australia and the Americas did not develop as advanced technology and farming as the people of Europe and Asia. In particular they had far fewer kinds of domestic animals and were particularly short on animals to do work

Elevation map of Çatal Hüyük, Southern Anatolia, Turkey
Neolithic , from 6500 up to 5700 years BP

Around 5000 years ago the people of Mesopotamia (Sumerians) had a full range of domesticated livestock and cities and writing appeared (Crosby lumps this with the invention of agriculture, but there are two steps, agriculture and irrigation)

Weeds, varmits (mice, rats, flies, etc.), and diseases were problems Europeans struggled with on an ongoing basis

Particularly in winter animals were often stabled in the ground floor of the family home
Living in close proximity to livestock meant diseases went back and forth (eg. smallpox, influenza)
People lived in crowded conditions and and raised tightly packed crops
People coming from a crowded area have a disease advantage when they spread to other areas.

Even in Siberia, which had almost the same plants and animals as Europe, the indigenous people were laid low by diseases brought by Europeans

smallpox

What happens when the European people and system of farming arrive in other places with different histories?

This page written and copyright Pamela E. Mack
Hist 124
last updated 8/28/2009