Once There Were So Many: Animals as Ecological Baselines

Abstract

The observations of naturalists and explorers have been used as historical sources for determining baseline wildlife conditions from the earliest practice of modern ecology. These sources are rarely critically analyzed, however, and are often incorporated into contemporary scientific literature advocating the conservation and restoration of wildlife. This essay argues that combining approaches from environmental history and recent ecological research will allow for the interrogation of original sources and the application of scientific concepts that questions the assumptions underlying historical baselines.