Acclimatisation society

Acclimatisation societies were voluntary associations in the 19th and 20th centuries that encouraged the introduction of non-native species in various places around the world with the hope of their acclimatisation and adaptation. The motivation at the time was a sense that introducing these species of plants and animals would enrich the flora and fauna of a region. These societies were born during a period of colonialism when Europeans began to settle in unfamiliar environments, and the movement sought to establish familiar plants and animals (mainly from Europe) in new areas while also bringing exotic and useful foreign plants and animals into the European centres. Today it is widely understood that introducing species can be harmful to native species and their ecosystems; for example, in Australia plants were harmed by rabbits' overgrazing; in North America house sparrows displace and kill native birds; and around the world, salamander populations are today threatened by introduced fungal infections. At the time of acclimatisation societies, however, this was insufficiently understood.

A definition of acclimatisation was attempted by Alfred Russel Wallace in his entry in the 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911). Here Wallace tried to differentiate the idea from other terms like domestication and naturalization. He noted that a domesticated animal could live in environments controlled by humans. Naturalization, he suggested included the process of acclimatization which involved "gradual adjustment". The idea, at least in France, was associated with Lamarckism and Wallace noted that there were some like Charles Darwin who denied the possibility of forcing individual animals to adjust. Wallace however pointed out that there was the possibility that there were variations among individuals and that some could have the ability to adapt to new environments.

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