Article ID: CBB028448046

Stowaway Beetles: Carl Lindroth, the Ballast Theory, and Transatlantic Science in the Cold War (2021)

unapi

In his Faunal Connections between Europe and North America (1957), a landmark study of ecological introductions from Europe to North America that prefigured Alfred Crosby’s Columbian Exchange by three decades, Carl Lindroth sought to explain the distribution of fauna and particularly insects across the North Atlantic. It was the culmination of a multi-year investigation begun in 1949 that had seen the Swedish ecologist and entomologist collect insects in Newfoundland, compare his findings with other North American and European regions, and trace the origins of introduced insects to various sites in southwestern England. Through this work, he identified the ballast of sailing ships as a primary vector of insect introduction to the Americas, argued for the importance of recurring introductions of breeding pairs in successful colonization, and demonstrated the importance of examining a broad range of species introductions, not just those that directly mattered to human history. Conceived and executed in the context of the Cold War, Lindroth’s project benefited from governmental and institutional support that sought to promote transatlantic scientific cooperation and northern research. His path to researching and writing Faunal Connections reveals both the influence of geopolitics in shaping environmental ideas and the capacity for scientists to benefit from strategic funding opportunities while contributing little of strategic value. Lindroth’s work deserves reexamination, both for its substance and for what it can tell us about the ideas behind foundational texts like The Columbian Exchange and, indeed, the making of ideas about global ecological change.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB028448046/

Similar Citations

Book Sagarin, Rafe; Pauchard, Aníbal; (2012)
Observation and Ecology: Broadening the Scope of Science to Understand a Complex World (/isis/citation/CBB001421416/)

Article Citino, Nathan J.; (2019)
The Middle East and the Cold War (/isis/citation/CBB084361778/)

Article Jan Zofka; Vámos, Péter; Sören Urbansky; (2018)
Beyond the Kremlin’s reach? Eastern Europe and China in the Cold War Era (/isis/citation/CBB048222699/)

Article Jan Zofka; (2018)
China as a role model? The ‘Economic Leap’ campaign in Bulgaria (1958-1960) (/isis/citation/CBB698728570/)

Article Karamouzi, Eirini; Chourchoulis, Dionysios; (2019)
Troublemaker or peacemaker? Andreas Papandreou, the Euromissile Crisis, and the policy of peace, 1981–86 (/isis/citation/CBB063853984/)

Article Forsberg, Carl; (2019)
Iraq, the United States, and the long shadow of the Cold War (/isis/citation/CBB479739334/)

Article Jersild; (2018)
Socialist exhibits and Sino-Soviet relations, 1950–60 (/isis/citation/CBB312896155/)

Article Libby Robin; Jon C. Day; (2020)
Maxwell Frank Cooper Day 1915–2017 (/isis/citation/CBB742627209/)

Article Miller-Rushing, Abraham; Primack, Richard; Bonney, Rick; (2012)
The History of Public Participation in Ecological Research (/isis/citation/CBB001320029/)

Article Cohen, Alan; (2002)
Roland Trimen and the Merope Harem (/isis/citation/CBB000201157/)

Book Höhler, Sabine; (2014)
Spaceship Earth in the Environmental Age, 1960--1990 (/isis/citation/CBB001422488/)

Thesis Lindseth, Brian Sewell; (2013)
From Radioactive Fallout to Environmental Critique: Ecology and the Politics of Cold War Science (/isis/citation/CBB001562882/)

Authors & Contributors
Zofka, Jan
Péter Vámos
Gnoinska, Margaret K.
Karamouzi, Eirini
Rispoli, Giulia
Forsberg, Carl
Concepts
Cold War
Geopolitics
International relations
Political science
Ecology
Environmentalism
Time Periods
20th century
19th century
21st century
20th century, late
Places
United States
China
Soviet Union
Middle and Near East
Eastern Europe
North America
Institutions
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON)
Institut Pasteur d'Iran
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
International Red Cross
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment