An Ocean of Locusts - The Perception and Control of Insect Pests in Prussian Brandenburg (1700-1850)

Abstract

Since the beginning of agrarian societies, coping with animal pests has been an important part of the interaction between humans and their environment. Analysing historical pest-related discourses reveals contemporary knowledge of special aspects of the natural world, the way of dealing with natural hazards, as well as societal changes in the valuation of nature. The eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were characterised by substantial transformations in the confronting of animal pests. Important foundations leading to the later development of modern pest control were set in this time. The study examines the perception and distribution as well as the damage caused by and control of different insect pests in agriculture and forestry. It concentrates on Prussian Brandenburg in the northeast of today's Germany between 1700 and 1850. Handwritten administrative documents as well as printed silvicultural, agricultural and entomological literature serve as underlying sources. The analysis focuses on pine caterpillars in forestry and migratory locusts in agriculture. It also gives an overview of the perception of animal pests in general.

Pragas, patógenos e plantas na história dos sistemas agroecológicos

“…Neste longo processo que levou ao desenvolvimento da agricultura, os coletivos humanos tiveram de lidar com os organismos que passaram a competir pela biomassa das plantas cultivadas (Sprenger, 2015). O cultivo sistemático das espécies que se mostraram úteis e convenientes para alimentação, vestuário, cultos e habitação propiciou a coevolução de insetos e microrganismos com hospedeiros que foram selecionados para a lavoura, com resultante especialização no parasitismo dessas plantas.…”

Iberians against locusts: fighting cross-border bio-invaders (1898-1947)

“…Kritsky, 1997;Aharoni, 1938;Curtis, 1883). Several studies were recently published on these outbreaks (Sprenger, 2015;Deveson & Martinez, 2017;Gugliuzzo & Restifo, 2017;Loskutova & Fedotova, 2015;Deveson, 2011). Focusing on agricultural losses, studies generally examine distribution, impacts, control measures and perceptions, centering the analysis on a single country, which prevents the exploration of the transnational dynamics regarding how the fight against locusts was carried out 1 .…”