Towards Synthesis: Research and Discovery in Neolithic North-East England

2011 ◽  
Vol 77 ◽  
pp. 279-319
Author(s):  
Clive Waddington ◽  
Peter Marshall ◽  
David G. Passmore
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Bayesian Modelling ◽  
Robust Estimate ◽  
North East ◽  
Chronological Sequence ◽  
New Type ◽  
Landscape Research ◽  
Land Use Practices

The Tweed Valley and its tributaries, and particularly the Milfield Basin in north Northumberland, is an area of strategic significance in the geography of the British Isles and it hosts a rich and varied multi-period archaeological and palaeoenvironmental record. This paper summarises some of the key findings for the Neolithic resulting from a long-term and in-depth landscape research project and provides a new chronological sequence for the Neolithic of the region.Attention is drawn to the discovery of what appears to be a new type of Neolithic structure associated with settlement activity hitherto unrecognised in Britain: post-built timber buildings based on a triangular arrangement of timbers. The paper then turns to a consideration of subsistence and land-use practices and the evidence for cereal agriculture from the immediate outset of the Neolithic in the region. Since 1999 many more radiocarbon measurements have become available for Neolithic activity in the area and, together with those obtained before 1999, have been recalibrated and subjected to Bayesian modelling to produce more precise estimates for Neolithic activity. Important findings include the provision of a more robust estimate for dating the onset of the Neolithic in the region, as well as establishing a chronological framework for the Neolithic–Beaker period ceramic sequence. It also reveals that the current dating available for the henge monuments indicates that this ritual complex most likely dates to the Beaker period and not to the Neolithic proper as they do in some other parts of Britain. Truly ‘Neolithic’ ceremonial monuments in the Milfield Basin remain elusive and few of the potential sites that have so far been identified have yet to be tested by excavation and scientific dating. A clear zoning of rock art is apparent, with hundreds of sites all clustered on the Fellsandstone escarpment, while a variety of Neolithic burial types is attested suggesting the region formed a meeting ground for different cultural influences.

scholarly journals Tropical forest hydrology and the role of the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme

1999 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Bonell
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Tropical Forest ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Humid Tropics ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Forest Hydrology ◽  
Forest Land ◽  
North East

Abstract. The paper outlines a perspective on tropical forest hydrology within the context of an international hydrological programme. Experience in tropical forest hydrology research in North East Australia is a focal point for comparison with international activities elsewhere. The impacts of climate variability and change are considered briefly, as well as those of reforestation of degraded land on the land use hydrology, which requires a longer term vision and support of long term experimental catchments. Sadly, too few long term experimental catchments have been maintained in the humid tropics and there have been some significant closures even of these sites in recent years. Yet the case for long-term experiments is strengthened by the problematic issue of separating anthropogenic influences (such as land use change) on the hydrology of landscapes from the effects of climate variability at a time of escalation in population and related socio-economic pressures in the humid tropics. Particular emphasis is made of the need for greater consideration for the social and cultural dimensions of forest management within forest hydrology. Furthermore, scientists must be committed to incorporating ‘societal needs' in their planning of research projects, as well as in publicizing the applications of their results, within the framework of forest-land-water policy. Alarm is expressed at the extensive disregard for the application of existing forest hydrology ‘know how' in forest-land management manipulations associated with the humid tropics.

scholarly journals Human Land-Use Practices Lead to Global Long-Term Increases in Photosynthetic Capacity

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 5717-5731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Mueller ◽  
Gunnar Dressler ◽  
Compton Tucker ◽  
Jorge Pinzon ◽  
Peter Leimgruber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Photosynthetic Capacity ◽  
Human Land Use ◽  
Land Use Practices

scholarly journals Trait-based responses to forestry and animal husbandry modify long-term changes in forest understories

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konsta Happonen ◽  
Lauralotta Muurinen ◽  
Risto Virtanen ◽  
Eero Kaakinen ◽  
John-Arvid Grytnes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Forest Understory ◽  
Vegetation Changes ◽  
Large Herbivores ◽  
Reindeer Husbandry ◽  
Understory Communities ◽  
Land Use Practices

AbstractAimLand use is the foremost cause of global biodiversity decline, but species do not respond equally to land-use practices. Instead, responses are mediated by species traits, but long-term data on the trait-mediated effects of land-use on communities is scarce. Here we study how forest understory communities have been affected by common land-use practices during 4–5 decades, and whether changes in diversity are related to changes in functional composition.LocationFinlandTime period1968–2019Major taxa studiedVascular plantsMethodsWe resurveyed 245 semi-permanent vegetation plots in boreal herb-rich forest understories, and used path analysis to relate changes in diversity, species composition, average plant size, and leaf economic traits to reindeer husbandry, forest management intensity, and changes in canopy cover and canopy traits.ResultsForestry affected understories indirectly by increasing canopy shading, which increased understory SLA and decreased LDMC over the study period. Intensive management also decreased species richness and increased turnover. In areas with reindeer husbandry, reindeer density had increased along with understory evenness and diversity. Areas with reindeer husbandry also had lower temporal community turnover. Plant height had increased in areas without reindeer, but this trend was suppressed or even reversed within the reindeer herding area.Main conclusionsFunctional traits are useful in connecting vegetation changes to the mechanisms that drive them. Forest management causes directional selection on light-interception traits by altering shade. Reindeer husbandry seems to buffer forest understory communities against compositional changes by altering selection on whole-plant traits such as size. These trait-dependent selection effects could inform which species benefit and which suffer from different types of land use, and point to the potential usefulness of large herbivores as tools for managing vegetation changes under global change.

scholarly journals People have shaped most of terrestrial nature for at least 12,000 years

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (17) ◽  
pp. e2023483118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erle C. Ellis ◽  
Nicolas Gauthier ◽  
Kees Klein Goldewijk ◽  
Rebecca Bliege Bird ◽  
Nicole Boivin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Cultural Landscapes ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Vertebrate Species ◽  
Biodiversity Crisis ◽  
Indigenous Lands ◽  
Tropical Woodlands ◽  
Land Use Practices

Archaeological and paleoecological evidence shows that by 10,000 BCE, all human societies employed varying degrees of ecologically transformative land use practices, including burning, hunting, species propagation, domestication, cultivation, and others that have left long-term legacies across the terrestrial biosphere. Yet, a lingering paradigm among natural scientists, conservationists, and policymakers is that human transformation of terrestrial nature is mostly recent and inherently destructive. Here, we use the most up-to-date, spatially explicit global reconstruction of historical human populations and land use to show that this paradigm is likely wrong. Even 12,000 y ago, nearly three quarters of Earth’s land was inhabited and therefore shaped by human societies, including more than 95% of temperate and 90% of tropical woodlands. Lands now characterized as “natural,” “intact,” and “wild” generally exhibit long histories of use, as do protected areas and Indigenous lands, and current global patterns of vertebrate species richness and key biodiversity areas are more strongly associated with past patterns of land use than with present ones in regional landscapes now characterized as natural. The current biodiversity crisis can seldom be explained by the loss of uninhabited wildlands, resulting instead from the appropriation, colonization, and intensifying use of the biodiverse cultural landscapes long shaped and sustained by prior societies. Recognizing this deep cultural connection with biodiversity will therefore be essential to resolve the crisis.

Nitrate leaching to groundwater

1982 ◽  
Vol 296 (1082) ◽  
pp. 477-489 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Potable Water ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Agricultural Land Use ◽  
Supply Industry ◽  
Land Use Practices

Groundwater provides over 30% of developed supplies of potable water in Britain. The outcrops of the important aquifers form extensive tracts of agricultural land. Groundwater resources largely originate as rainfall that infiltrates this land. During the 1970s, growing concern about rising, or elevated, groundwater nitrate concentrations, in relation to current drinking water standards, stimulated a major national research effort on the extent of diffuse pollution resulting from agricultural land-use practices. The results presented derive from intensive and continuing studies of a number of small groundwater catchments in eastern England. It is in this predominantly arable region that the groundwater nitrate problem is most widespread and severe. The distribution of nitrate in the unsaturated and saturated zones of the aquifers concerned is summarized. These data have important implications for the water-supply industry, but their interpretation is discussed primarily in relation to what can be deduced about both the recent and long-term histories of leaching from the more permeable agricultural soils.

scholarly journals Bacterial community dissimilarity in soils is driven by long‐term land‐use practices

age ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aditi Sengupta ◽  
Janani Hariharan ◽  
Parwinder S. Grewal ◽  
Warren A. Dick
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Bacterial Community ◽  
Community Dissimilarity ◽  
Land Use Practices

scholarly journals Misinterpreting carbon accumulation rates in records from near-surface peat

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dylan M. Young ◽  
Andy J. Baird ◽  
Dan J. Charman ◽  
Chris D. Evans ◽  
Angela V. Gallego-Sala ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Policy ◽  
Carbon Accumulation ◽  
Accumulation Rates ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Carbon Accumulation Rates ◽  
Surface Peat ◽  
Land Use Practices ◽  
Over Time

AbstractPeatlands are globally important stores of carbon (C) that contain a record of how their rates of C accumulation have changed over time. Recently, near-surface peat has been used to assess the effect of current land use practices on C accumulation rates in peatlands. However, the notion that accumulation rates in recently formed peat can be compared to those from older, deeper, peat is mistaken – continued decomposition means that the majority of newly added material will not become part of the long-term C store. Palaeoecologists have known for some time that high apparent C accumulation rates in recently formed peat are an artefact and take steps to account for it. Here we show, using a model, how the artefact arises. We also demonstrate that increased C accumulation rates in near-surface peat cannot be used to infer that a peatland as a whole is accumulating more C – in fact the reverse can be true because deep peat can be modified by events hundreds of years after it was formed. Our findings highlight that care is needed when evaluating recent C addition to peatlands especially because these interpretations could be wrongly used to inform land use policy and decisions.

Central Otago - Built on gold, growing on grass.

2014 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 15-23
Author(s):  
Barrie J. Wills
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Land Use ◽  
National Economy ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Economic Potential ◽  
District Council ◽  
Definition Of

A warm welcome to our "World of Difference" to all delegates attending this conference - we hope your stay is enjoyable and that you will leave Central Otago with an enhanced appreciation of the diversity of land use and the resilient and growing economic potential that this region has to offer. Without regional wellbeing the national economy will struggle to grow, something Central Government finally seems to be realising, and the Central Otago District Council Long Term Plan 2012-2022 (LTP) signals the importance of establishing a productive economy for the local community which will aid in the economic growth of the district and seeks to create a thriving economy that will be attractive to business and residents alike. Two key principles that underpin the LTP are sustainability and affordability, with the definition of sustainability being "… development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

Interrelationships between municipal spatial policy strategy and airport operation and development. Lodz Airport case study

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-79
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Nikorowicz-Zatorska
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Spatial Management ◽  
The One ◽  
Surrounding Areas

Abstract The present paper focuses on spatial management regulations in order to carry out investment in the field of airport facilities. The construction, upgrades, and maintenance of airports falls within the area of responsibility of local authorities. This task poses a great challenge in terms of organisation and finances. On the one hand, an active airport is a municipal landmark and drives local economic, social and cultural development, and on the other, the scale of investment often exceeds the capabilities of local authorities. The immediate environment of the airport determines its final use and prosperity. The objective of the paper is to review legislation that affects airports and the surrounding communities. The process of urban planning in Lodz and surrounding areas will be presented as a background to the problem of land use management in the vicinity of the airport. This paper seeks to address the following questions: if and how airports have affected urban planning in Lodz, does the land use around the airport prevent the development of Lodz Airport, and how has the situation changed over the time? It can be assumed that as a result of lack of experience, land resources and size of investments on one hand and legislative dissonance and peculiar practices on the other, aviation infrastructure in Lodz is designed to meet temporary needs and is characterised by achieving short-term goals. Cyclical problems are solved in an intermittent manner and involve all the municipal resources, so there’s little left to secure long-term investments.

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