随着野生动物在城市中的蓬勃发展，我们有机会创造既服务于人又服务于动物的充满活力的城市生态系统。
《偶然生态系统》讲述了美国城市如何从几乎没有野生动物，戏剧性地、出乎意料地充满野生动物的故事。如今，这些城市中有许多生活在其中的大型和有魅力的野生动物比至少过去150年中的任何时候都多。为什么在世界其他大部分地区野生动物数量减少的情况下，地球生态系统中人为和人为控制最为严重的城市却拥有丰富的野生动物？在这个日益城市化的星球上，这一悖论对人类、野生动物和自然意味着什么？
《偶然生态系统》是第一本从深层历史角度解释这一现象的书，其重点包括广泛的物种和城市。覆盖的城市包括纽约、洛杉矶、旧金山、匹兹堡、奥斯丁、迈阿密、芝加哥、西雅图、圣地亚哥、亚特兰大、费城和巴尔的摩。这本书深入研究了城市的自然历史，揭示了我们对野生意味着什么的概念，为为什么动物在城市里比在城市外更为繁衍生息提供了引人入胜的背景。作者彼得·S·阿拉戈纳（Peter S.Alagona）认为，动物在城市中的扩散在很大程度上是人类出于与野生动物本身无关的原因而做出的决定的意外结果。考虑到生活在多样、多物种的社区意味着什么，并探索社区中的人类和非人类成员如何共同繁荣，阿拉戈纳超越了那些拥抱城市野生动物激增的人和那些认为动物具有入侵性或公共安全危害的人之间的紧张关系。《偶然生态系统》呼吁读者重新思考共享栖息地中的物种间共存，以及基于公正、人道和可持续方法的政策。
The Accidental Ecosystem: People and Wildlife in American Cities
With wildlife thriving in cities, we have the opportunity to create vibrant urban ecosystems that serve both people and animals.
The Accidental Ecosystem tells the story of how cities across the United States went from having little wildlife to filling, dramatically and unexpectedly, with wild creatures. Today, many of these cities have more large and charismatic wild animals living in them than at any time in at least the past 150 years. Why have so many cities—the most artificial and human-dominated of all Earth’s ecosystems—grown rich with wildlife, even as wildlife has declined in most of the rest of the world? And what does this paradox mean for people, wildlife, and nature on our increasingly urban planet?
The Accidental Ecosystem is the first book to explain this phenomenon from a deep historical perspective, and its focus includes a broad range of species and cities. Cities covered include New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Austin, Miami, Chicago, Seattle, San Diego, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Digging into the natural history of cities and unpacking our conception of what it means to be wild, this book provides fascinating context for why animals are thriving more in cities than outside of them. Author Peter S. Alagona argues that the proliferation of animals in cities is largely the unintended result of human decisions that were made for reasons having little to do with the wild creatures themselves. Considering what it means to live in diverse, multispecies communities and exploring how human and non-human members of communities might thrive together, Alagona goes beyond the tension between those who embrace the surge in urban wildlife and those who think of animals as invasive or as public safety hazards. The Accidental Ecosystem calls on readers to reimagine interspecies coexistence in shared habitats, as well as policies that are based on just, humane, and sustainable approaches.
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