Acclimatisation society
Encyclopedia
Acclimatisation societies were societies created in order to enrich the fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...

 of a region with animals and plants
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...

 from around the world. The first such society was La Societé Zoologique d'Acclimatation founded in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in 1854 by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was a French zoologist and an authority on deviation from normal structure. He coined the term ethology.He was born in Paris, the son of Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire...

. Such societies spread quickly around the world, particularly to European colonies in the Americas and Australasia. In many instances they existed both as societies for the study of natural history as well as to improve the success rate of introduced species.

The appeal of acclimatisation societies in colonies, particularly New Zealand, was the belief that the local fauna was in some way deficient or impoverished; there was also an element of nostalgia in colonists who desired to see familiar species. Naturalisations also occurred in order to introduce commercially valuable species or game species.

In some instances the effects were disastrous, such as the effect of rabbits on the ecology of Australia
Rabbits in Australia
In Australia, rabbits are a serious mammalian pest and are an invasive species. Annually, European rabbits cause millions of dollars of damage to crops.-Effects on Australia's ecology:...

.

See also

  • Introduced species
    Introduced species
    An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...

  • Invasive species
    Invasive species
    "Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....

  • Assisted migration
    Assisted migration
    Assisted migration is the practice of deliberately populating members of a species from their present habitat to a new region with the intent of establishing a permanent presence there, generally in response to the degradation of the natural habitat due to human action...

  • Acclimatisation societies in New Zealand
  • American Acclimatization Society
    American Acclimatization Society
    The American Acclimatization Society was a group founded in New York City in 1871 dedicated to introducing European flora and fauna into North America for both economic and cultural reasons...

  • Queensland Acclimatisation Society
    Queensland Acclimatisation Society
    The Queensland Acclimatisation Society was an acclimatisation society based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia which operated from 1862 to 1956. Its primary interest was in the introduction of exotic plants to Queensland, both for economic and ornamental purposes....


External references

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