scholarly journals Large ecosystem-scale effects of restoration fail to mitigate impacts of land-use legacies in longleaf pine savannas

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (17) ◽  
pp. e2020935118
Author(s):  
Lars A. Brudvig ◽  
Nash E. Turley ◽  
Savannah L. Bartel ◽  
Lukas Bell-Dereske ◽  
Sabrie Breland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Scale Effects ◽  
Longleaf Pine ◽  
Legacy Effects ◽  
Human Land Use ◽  
History Of ◽  
Land Use Legacies ◽  
Pine Savannas

Ecological restoration is a global priority, with potential to reverse biodiversity declines and promote ecosystem functioning. Yet, successful restoration is challenged by lingering legacies of past land-use activities, which are pervasive on lands available for restoration. Although legacies can persist for centuries following cessation of human land uses such as agriculture, we currently lack understanding of how land-use legacies affect entire ecosystems, how they influence restoration outcomes, or whether restoration can mitigate legacy effects. Using a large-scale experiment, we evaluated how restoration by tree thinning and land-use legacies from prior cultivation and subsequent conversion to pine plantations affect fire-suppressed longleaf pine savannas. We evaluated 45 ecological properties across four categories: 1) abiotic attributes, 2) organism abundances, 3) species diversity, and 4) species interactions. The effects of restoration and land-use legacies were pervasive, shaping all categories of properties, with restoration effects roughly twice the magnitude of legacy effects. Restoration effects were of comparable magnitude in savannas with and without a history of intensive human land use; however, restoration did not mitigate numerous legacy effects present prior to restoration. As a result, savannas with a history of intensive human land use supported altered properties, especially related to soils, even after restoration. The signature of past human land-use activities can be remarkably persistent in the face of intensive restoration, influencing the outcome of restoration across diverse ecological properties. Understanding and mitigating land-use legacies will maximize the potential to restore degraded ecosystems.

Accumulation patterns of soil organic matter in forests as a legacy of historical charcoal burning

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Schneider ◽  
Alexander Bonhage ◽  
Florian Hirsch ◽  
Alexandra Raab ◽  
Thomas Raab
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Organic Matter ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Legacy Effects ◽  
Charcoal Production ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Land Use Legacies

<p>Human land use and occupation often lead to a high heterogeneity of soil stratigraphy and properties in landscapes within small, clearly delimited areas. Legacy effects of past land use also are also abundant in recent forest areas. Although such land use legacies can occur on considerable fractions of the soil surface, they are hardly considered in soil mapping and inventories. The heterogenous spatial distribution of land use legacy soils challenges the quantification of their impacts on the landscape scale. Relict charcoal hearths (RCH) are a widespread example for the long-lasting effect of historical land use on soil landscapes in forests of many European countries and also northeastern USA. Soils on RCH clearly differ from surrounding forest soils in their stratigraphy and properties, and are most prominently characterized by a technogenic substrate layer with high contents of charcoal. The properties of RCH soils have recently been studied for several regions, but their relevance on the landscape scale has hardly been quantified.</p><p>We analyse and discuss the distribution and ecological relevance of land use legacy soils across scales for RCH in the state of Brandenburg, Germany, with a focus on soil organic matter (SOM) stocks. Our analysis is based on a large-scale mapping of RCH from digital elevation models (DEM), combined with modelled SOM stocks in RCH soils. The distribution of RCH soils in the study region shows heterogeneity at different scales. The large-scale variation is related to the concentration of charcoal production to specific forest areas and the small-scale accumulation pattern is related to the irregular distribution of single RCH within the charcoal production fields. Considerable fractions of the surface area are covered by RCH soils in the major charcoal production areas within the study region. The results also show that RCH can significantly contribute to the soil organic matter stocks of forests, even for areas where they cover only a small fraction of the soil surface. The study highlights that considering land use legacy effects can be relevant for the results of soil mapping and inventories; and that prospecting and mapping land use legacies from DEM can contribute to improving such approaches.</p>

scholarly journals The history of settlement and agrarian land use in a boreal forest in Värmland, Sweden, new evidence from pollen analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sigrún Dögg Eddudóttir ◽  
Eva Svensson ◽  
Stefan Nilsson ◽  
Anneli Ekblom ◽  
Karl-Johan Lindholm ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Pollen Grains ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Archaeological Survey ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractShielings are the historically known form of transhumance in Scandinavia, where livestock were moved from the farmstead to sites in the outlands for summer grazing. Pollen analysis has provided a valuable insight into the history of shielings. This paper presents a vegetation reconstruction and archaeological survey from the shieling Kårebolssätern in northern Värmland, western Sweden, a renovated shieling that is still operating today. The first evidence of human activities in the area near Kårebolssätern are Hordeum- and Cannabis-type pollen grains occurring from ca. 100 bc. Further signs of human impact are charcoal and sporadic occurrences of apophyte pollen from ca. ad 250 and pollen indicating opening of the canopy ca. ad 570, probably a result of modification of the forest for grazing. A decrease in land use is seen between ad 1000 and 1250, possibly in response to a shift in emphasis towards large scale commodity production in the outlands. Emphasis on bloomery iron production and pitfall hunting may have caused a shift from agrarian shieling activity. The clearest changes in the pollen assemblage indicating grazing and cultivation occur from the mid-thirteenth century, coinciding with wetter climate at the beginning of the Little Ice Age. The earliest occurrences of anthropochores in the record predate those of other shieling sites in Sweden. The pollen analysis reveals evidence of land use that predates the results of the archaeological survey. The study highlights how pollen analysis can reveal vegetation changes where early archaeological remains are obscure.

Formation and Land-Use History of Celtic Fields in North-West Europe – an Interdisciplinary Case Study at Zeijen, the Netherlands

2003 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theo Spek ◽  
Willy Groenman-van Waateringe ◽  
Maja Kooistra ◽  
Lideweij Bakker
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Soil Tillage ◽  
North West ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
History Of

Celtic field research has so far been strongly focused on prospection and mapping. As a result of this there is a serious lack of knowledge of formation and land-use processes of these fields. This article describes a methodological case study in The Netherlands that may be applied to other European Celtic fields in the future. By interdisciplinary use of pedological, palynological and micromorphological research methods the authors were able to discern five development stages in the history of the field, dating from the late Bronze Age to the early Roman Period. There are strong indications that the earthen ridges, very typical for Celtic fields in the sandy landscapes of north-west Europe, were only formed in the later stages of Celtic field agriculture (late Iron Age and early Roman period). They were the result of a determined raising of the surface by large-scale transportation of soil material from the surroundings of the fields. Mainly the ridges were intensively cultivated and manured in the later stages of Celtic field cultivation. In the late Iron Age a remarkable shift in Celtic field agriculture took place from an extensive system with long fallow periods, a low level of manuring and extensive soil tillage to a more intensive system with shorter fallow periods, a more intensive soil tillage and a higher manuring intensity. There are also strong indications that rye (Secale cereale) was the main crop in the final stage of Celtic field agriculture.

scholarly journals Environmental Differences between Migratory and Resident Ungulates—Predicting Movement Strategies in Rocky Mountain Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) with Remotely Sensed Plant Phenology, Snow, and Land Cover

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (17) ◽  
pp. 1980
Author(s):  
Benjamin Robb ◽  
Qiongyu Huang ◽  
Joseph Sexton ◽  
David Stoner ◽  
Peter Leimgruber
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Mule Deer ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Odocoileus Hemionus ◽  
Remotely Sensed ◽  
Land Use Impacts ◽  
Human Land Use

Migration is a valuable life history strategy for many species because it enables individuals to exploit spatially and temporally variable resources. Globally, the prevalence of species’ migratory behavior is decreasing as individuals forgo migration to remain resident year-round, an effect hypothesized to result from anthropogenic changes to landscape dynamics. Efforts to conserve and restore migrations require an understanding of the ecological characteristics driving the behavioral tradeoff between migration and residence. We identified migratory and resident behaviors of 42 mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) based on GPS locations and correlated their locations to remotely sensed indicators of forage quality, land cover, snow cover, and human land use. The model classified mule deer seasonal migratory and resident niches with an overall accuracy of 97.8% and cross-validated accuracy of 81.2%. The distance to development was the most important variable in discriminating in which environments these behaviors occur, with resident niche space most often closer to developed areas than migratory niches. Additionally, snow cover in December was important for discriminating summer migratory niches. This approach demonstrates the utility of niche analysis based on remotely sensed environmental datasets and provides empirical evidence of human land use impacts on large-scale wildlife migrations.

scholarly journals Holocene history of fire, vegetation and land use from the central Pyrenees (France)

2012 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damien Rius ◽  
Boris Vanniére ◽  
Didier Galop
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Landscape Management ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Subsequent Reduction ◽  
Human Land Use ◽  
History Of ◽  
In Fire ◽  
Central Pyrenees

Located on a mountain pass in the west-central Pyrenees, the Col d'Ech peat bog provides a Holocene fire and vegetation record based upon nine 14C (AMS) dates. We aim to compare climate-driven versus human-driven fire regimes in terms of frequency, fire episodes distribution, and impact on vegetation. Our results show the mid-Holocene (8500–5500 cal yr BP) to be characterized by high fire frequency linked with drier and warmer conditions. However, fire occurrences appear to have been rather stochastic as underlined by a scattered chronological distribution. Wetter and colder conditions at the mid-to-late Holocene transition (4000–3000 cal yr BP) led to a decrease in fire frequency, probably driven by both climate and a subsequent reduction in human land use. On the contrary, from 3000 cal yr BP, fire frequency seems to be driven by agro-pastoral activities with a very regular distribution of events. During this period fire was used as a prominent agent of landscape management.

scholarly journals Natural history features of the high-country and drylands of the South Island, New Zealand

2018 ◽  
pp. 27-32
Author(s):  
William G Lee
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The South ◽  
Agricultural Impacts ◽  
Human Land Use ◽  
Environmental Limits

The high-country and dryland zone of the South Island of New Zealand includes the Southern Alpsand eastern mountains and basins. Formed by post-Pliocene tectonic, glacial and alluvial processes, theseareas contain a range of landforms across extreme climatic gradients. Diverse habitats support plantsand animals which have a distinctive and long natural history. New Zealand’s short (c. 700 years) historyof human land use has been highly disruptive for indigenous biodiversity. We have misunderstood theeco-evolutionary vulnerabilities of the native biota, the extent of environmental limits, and the impacts ofintroduced weeds and pests. Recent large-scale capture of water and addition of nutrients for agriculture areexcluding indigenous biodiversity in many ecosystems. Predicted climate change and competition for waterresources will exacerbate agricultural impacts, but the remaining indigenous biodiversity can be resilient ifrepresentative areas are protected.

scholarly journals Anthropogenic Biomes: 10,000 BCE to 2015 CE

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erle C. Ellis ◽  
Arthur H.W. Beusen ◽  
Kees Klein Goldewijk
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Substantial Reduction ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Major Advance ◽  
Terrestrial Biosphere ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
History Of ◽  
Time Periods

Human populations and their use of land have reshaped landscapes for thousands of years, creating the anthropogenic biomes (anthromes) that now cover most of the terrestrial biosphere. Here we introduce the first global reconstruction and mapping of anthromes and their changes across the 12,000-year interval from 10,000 BCE to 2015 CE; the Anthromes 12K dataset. Anthromes were mapped using gridded global estimates of human population density and land use from the History of the Global Environment database (HYDE version 3.2) by a classification procedure similar to that used for prior anthrome maps. Anthromes 12K maps generally agreed with prior anthrome maps for the same time periods, though significant differences were observed, including a substantial reduction in Rangelands anthromes in 2000 CE but with increases before that time. Differences between maps resulted largely from improvements in HYDE’s representation of land use, including pastures and rangelands, compared with the HYDE 3.1 input data used in prior anthromes maps. The larger extent of early land use in Anthromes 12K also agrees more closely with empirical assessments than prior anthrome maps; the result of an evidence-based paradigm shift in characterizing the history of Earth’s transformation through land use, from a mostly recent large-scale conversion of uninhabited wildlands, to a long-term trend of increasingly intensive transformation and use of already inhabited and used landscapes. The spatial history of anthropogenic changes depicted in Anthromes 12K remain to be validated, especially for earlier time periods. Nevertheless, Anthromes 12K is a major advance over all prior anthrome datasets and provides a new platform for assessing the long-term environmental consequences of human transformation of the terrestrial biosphere.

Later Holocene vegetation history of the Isles of Scilly, UK: coastal influence and human land use in a small island context

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 764-778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Perez ◽  
Ralph M. Fyfe ◽  
Dan J. Charman ◽  
W. Roland Gehrels
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Vegetation History ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Human Land Use ◽  
History Of
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