Superorganism: American Ecology and National Development

Ecology became a distinct science with recognized institutional standing in the early twentieth century, in the wake of the American frontier. Just as economics provided a ‘scientific’ language for the discussion of policies aimed at preserving social stability, maximizing production and recovering from crises such as the Great Depression, so too was ecology proposed as a science for minimizing the social conflicts generated by ecological disasters such as the Dust Bowl crisis of the 1930s. Organicist and communitarian metaphors were favoured by early discipline-builders such as Frederic Clements, whose analysis of the processes of ‘succession’ leading to the dynamic equilibrium of the ‘climax community’ (or ‘superorganism’) arose from detailed studies of the remnant vegetation of the grasslands of the Great Plains—albeit as they appeared following the violent removal of Indigenous peoples and vast herds of bison from them. The work of Clements and his peers gained institutional recognition in the wake of the anthropogenic and climactic ‘disequilibrium’ of the Dust Bowl, and ecologists gained influence as expert advisors to institutions sponsored by the New Deal tasked with the rationalization of forestry, rangeland management, agriculture, and conservation in the service of long-term, stable development.