American Tropics

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The origins of biodiversity as a concept in international conservation are explored through the lens of early 20th-century U.S. tropical fieldwork and imperial expansion. Megan Raby highlights how ecologists utilized U.S. landholdings in the circum-Caribbean to establish permanent field stations that facilitated long-term research. This led to the emergence of a community of American "tropical biologists" who shaped both the scientific principles and the ideological values that underpin contemporary discussions of biodiversity.