This article explores the history of the Devils Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis), regarded by scientists as having the smallest range of any vertebrate species in the world, a single 10 × 60 ft pool in the Amargosa Valley of southern Nye County, Nevada, USA. It considers the impact of ‘scientific environments’ on the possibilities for pupfish survival as well as potential human uses of the desert. Scientific environment is defined as the knowledge and conceptualization of the environment produced from particular questions and methods and that influence how a species, habitat or region is managed. Three successive scientific environments have shaped the conservation of the pupfish since the 1890s: the first led by taxonomic analyses of the pupfish, the second by ecological and hydrological investigations of Devils Hole, as well as its surrounding desert, and the third by genetic analysis of pupfish DNA. The science in each era has shaped (and responded to) the way in which federal and state agencies have worked to conserve this critically endangered species. The article contributes to an understanding of how concepts and practices at the heart of ecological sciences develop from, and impact, particular spaces and species.

本文探讨了魔鬼洞p（Cyprinodon diabolis）的历史。），被科学家认为是世界上脊椎动物物种范围最小的物种，位于美国内华达州南奈县南部Amargosa山谷中一个10×60英尺的水池中。它考虑了“科学环境”对p鱼生存的可能性以及人类对沙漠的潜在利用的影响。科学环境被定义为对特定问题和方法所产生的环境的知识和概念化，并且会影响物种，栖息地或区域的管理方式。自1890年代以来，三个连续的科学环境影响了up鱼的保护：第一个由对tax的生物分类学分析主导，第二个由对魔鬼洞及其周围沙漠的生态和水文研究引起，第三个由对of鱼的遗传分析引起。 fishDNA。每个时代的科学都已经塑造（并做出了回应）联邦和州机构保护这一极度濒危物种的工作方式。本文有助于理解生态科学核心概念和实践如何从特定的空间和物种发展并产生影响。