Trees, Forested Landscapes and Grazing Animals

Trees, Forested Landscapes and Grazing Animals PDF Author: Ian D. Rotherham
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113624221X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 429

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Book Description
In this comprehensive book, the critical components of the European landscape – forest, parkland, and other grazed landscapes with trees are addressed. The book considers the history of grazed treed landscapes, of large grazing herbivores in Europe, and the implications of the past in shaping our environment today and in the future. Debates on the types of anciently grazed landscapes in Europe, and what they tell us about past and present ecology, have been especially topical and controversial recently. This treatment brings the current discussions and the latest research to a much wider audience. The book breaks new ground in broadening the scope of wood-pasture and woodland research to address sites and ecologies that have previously been overlooked but which hold potential keys to understanding landscape dynamics. Eminent contributors, including Oliver Rackham and Frans Vera, present a text which addresses the importance of history in understanding the past landscape, and the relevance of historical ecology and landscape studies in providing a future vision.

Trees, Forested Landscapes and Grazing Animals

Trees, Forested Landscapes and Grazing Animals PDF Author: Ian D. Rotherham
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113624221X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 429

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Book Description
In this comprehensive book, the critical components of the European landscape – forest, parkland, and other grazed landscapes with trees are addressed. The book considers the history of grazed treed landscapes, of large grazing herbivores in Europe, and the implications of the past in shaping our environment today and in the future. Debates on the types of anciently grazed landscapes in Europe, and what they tell us about past and present ecology, have been especially topical and controversial recently. This treatment brings the current discussions and the latest research to a much wider audience. The book breaks new ground in broadening the scope of wood-pasture and woodland research to address sites and ecologies that have previously been overlooked but which hold potential keys to understanding landscape dynamics. Eminent contributors, including Oliver Rackham and Frans Vera, present a text which addresses the importance of history in understanding the past landscape, and the relevance of historical ecology and landscape studies in providing a future vision.

Grazing Ecology and Forest History

Grazing Ecology and Forest History PDF Author: F. W. M. Vera
Publisher: CABI
ISBN: 9780851994420
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 506

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Book Description
It is a widely held belief that a climax vegetation of closed forest systems covered the lowlands of Central and Western Europe before man intervened in prehistoric times to develop agriculture. If this intervention had not taken place, the forest would still be there, and if left the grassland vegetation and fields now present would revert to a natural closed forest state, although with a reduced number of wild species. This book, which an updated and expanded version of the author's 1997 thesis (presented to the Wageningen University, Netherlands), challenges the traditional view, using examples from history, pollen analyses and studies on the ecology of tree and shrub species such as oak and hazel. It tests the hypothesis that the climax vegetation is a closed canopy forest, against the alternative hypothesis that species composition and vegetational succession were governed by large herbivores, and that the Central and Western European lowlands were covered by a park-like landscape consisting of grasslands, scrub, solitary trees and groves bordered by a mantle and fringe vegetation. Comparative information from the eastern USA is also included throughout the book (this was not present in the thesis), because the forests there are commonly regarded as being analogous to the primeval vegetation in Europe. The book is arranged in 7 chapters: (1) General introduction and formulation of the problem; (2) Succession, the climax forest and the role of large herbivores; (3) Palynology, the forest as climax in prehistoric times and the effects of humans; (4) The use of the wilderness from the Middle Ages up to 1900; (5) Spontaneous succession in forest reserves in the lowlands of Western and Central Europe - including examples from France, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Sweden, Poland; (6) Establishment of trees and shrubs in relation to light and grazing; and (7) Final synthesis and conclusions. Twelve appendices are included giving further information, and there are 67 pages of references and a subject index.

Silvopasture

Silvopasture PDF Author: Steve Gabriel
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603587314
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
In this how-to guide, ecologist and forest farmer Steve Gabriel explores the philosophy and techniques behind silvopasture - the integration of trees, animals, and forages in a whole-system approach that creates a number of benefits for livestock, farmers, and the environment. This system not only provides a sustainable farm income, but also holds the key to restoring land, building soil carbon, and creating climate resilience.--COVER.

European Wood-pastures in Transition

European Wood-pastures in Transition PDF Author: Tibor Hartel
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135139032
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Wood-pastures are important elements of European cultural identity and have an exceptional ecological value, yet they are in decline all over Europe. The structure of wood-pastures is strongly influenced by grazing and multiple other land uses and by local and regional environmental conditions. This book examines the diverse expressions of wood-pastures across Europe. It provides a new perspective, using a social-ecological framework to explore social and ecological values, governing institutions, threats and conservation approaches. It explores the major drivers of decline, which are shown to be related to accelerated cultural, institutional and developmental changes occurring across Europe over the past century. Case studies are included from North-Western, Southern, and Eastern Europe. Written by renowned scholars and conservationists, the book contributes to developing better, locally adapted conservation policies and management approaches for wood-pastures.

What did Capability Brown do for Ecology? The legacy for biodiversity, landscapes, and nature conservation

What did Capability Brown do for Ecology? The legacy for biodiversity, landscapes, and nature conservation PDF Author: Christine Handley (eds)
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1904098657
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
This book is based on a major conference with Historic England, Natural England, the Ancient Tree Forum and others which took place in 2016 as part of the celebrations for the tercentenary of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. The event brought together ecologists, landscape historians and archaeologists, land managers and conservationists to look critically at the impact of Brown and his successors on the UK's landscape. The book addresses the paradigms of these designed landscapes. It considers the issues around the legacy of Brown's creations and ideas and the repercussions that are still apparent today. It makes for a thought-provoking and rich discussion covering habitat conservation and creation, drainage and the release of alien species. This is the untold story of the ecology of Capability Brown and the landscape school which followed.

Conservation’s Roots

Conservation’s Roots PDF Author: Abigail P. Dowling
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1789206936
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Book Description
The ideas and practices that comprise “conservation” are often assumed to have arisen within the last two centuries. However, while conservation today has been undeniably entwined with processes of modernity, its historical roots run much deeper. Considering a variety of preindustrial European settings, this book assembles case studies from the medieval and early modern eras to demonstrate that practices like those advocated by modern conservationists were far more widespread and intentional than is widely acknowledged. As the first book-length treatment of the subject, Conservation’s Roots provides broad social, historical, and environmental context for the emergence of the nineteenth-century conservation movement.

Restoration of Multifunctional Cultural Landscapes

Restoration of Multifunctional Cultural Landscapes PDF Author: Stefan Zerbe
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030955729
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 723

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Book Description
This book offers perspectives on how to develop a sustainable global balance of urbanization, land-use intensification, land abandonment, and multifunctional cultural landscapes. The focus is on the latter by describing the large variety of traditional cultural landscapes having evolved through centuries or even millennia by the use of the natural, terrestrial and aquatic resources. Those cultural landscapes encompass pasture, agroforestry, terraced, irrigation, coastal, monastic, and sacred landscapes as well as lake-, river-, and saltscapes. The restoration of low-input land-use systems which often carry a high biodiversity on the species, ecosystem, and landscape level as well as agrobiodiversity and agrodiversity is outlined. The restoration of multifunctional and diverse landscapes, however, is not only an ecological issue but encompasses many socio-economic aspects such as e.g., the revitalization of villages, eco-tourism, healthy food production, infrastructure, and rural-urban partnerships. Global environmental problems, which are related to urbanization and the intensification of the use of land and water resources are comprehensively outlined. Land abandonment which occurs on all continents is qualitatively and quantitatively assessed and the consequences for natural and cultural heritage loss is highlighted. With the presentation of current rural development and landscape conservation strategies on the national as well as international level, the topic reflects the high significance of environmental policy on the global scale. The global implementation of natural and cultural heritage conservation is, for example, given by the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, National Parks, Biosphere Reserves, Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Sites, High Nature Value Farmland, and the Satoyama initiative. However, also the “every-day” landscapes can contribute to biodiversity and strong sustainability. This comprehensive compendium, based on about 4,000 references of scientific studies, literature reviews, project reports, and environmental policy papers is thought for all students, scholars, and stakeholders from multifaceted disciplines, interested in multifunctional cultural landscapes and how traditions and innovation on the landscape level can be merged for a sustainable future on our planet. Case studies from all over the world are presented which can be used in Higher Education or to demonstrate the numerous approaches of sustainable rural development.

Environmental History in the Making

Environmental History in the Making PDF Author: Estelita Vaz
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319410857
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
This book is the product of the 2nd World Conference on Environmental History, held in Guimarães, Portugal, in 2014. It gathers works by authors from the five continents, addressing concerns raised by past events so as to provide information to help manage the present and the future. It reveals how our cultural background and examples of past territorial intervention can help to combat political and cultural limitations through the common language of environmental benefits without disguising harmful past human interventions. Considering that political ideologies such as socialism and capitalism, as well as religion, fail to offer global paradigms for common ground, an environmentally positive discourse instead of an ecological determinism might serve as an umbrella common language to overcome blocking factors, real or invented, and avoid repeating ecological loss. Therefore, agency, environmental speech and historical research are urgently needed in order to sustain environmental paradigms and overcome political, cultural an economic interests in the public arena. This book intertwines reflections on our bonds with landscapes, processes of natural and scientific transfer across the globe, the changing of ecosystems, the way in which scientific knowledge has historically both accelerated destruction and allowed a better distribution of vital resources or as it, in today’s world, can offer alternatives that avoid harming those same vital natural resources: water, soil and air. In addition, it shows the relevance of cultural factors both in the taming of nature in favor of human comfort and in the role of the environment matters in the forging of cultural identities, which cannot be detached from technical intervention in the world. In short, the book firstly studies the past, approaching it as a data set of how the environment has shaped culture, secondly seeks to understand the present, and thirdly assesses future perspectives: what to keep, what to change, and what to dream anew, considering that conventional solutions have not sufficed to protect life on our planet.

The Culture of Cultivation

The Culture of Cultivation PDF Author: Raffaella Fabiani Giannetto
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000098451
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
By seeking to rediscover the profession's agricultural roots, this volume proposes a 21st-century shift in thinking about landscape architecture that is no longer driven by binary oppositions, such as urban and rural; past and present; aesthetics and ecology; beautiful and productive, but rather prioritizes a holistic and cross-disciplinary framing. The illustrated collection of essays written by academics, researchers and experts in the field seeks to balance and redirect a current approach to landscape architecture that prioritizes a narrow definition of the regional in an effort to tackle questions of continuous urban growth and its impact on the environment. It argues that an emphasis on conurbation, which occurs at the expense of the rural, often ignores the reality that certain cultivation and management practices taking place on land set aside for production can be as harmful to the environment as is unchecked urbanization, contributing to loss of biodiverstiy, soil erosion and climate change. By contrast, the book argues that by expanding the expertise of design professionals to include the productive, food systems, soil conservation and the preservation of cultural landscapes, landscape architects would be better equipped to participate in the stewardship of our planet. Written primarily for landscape practitioners and academics, cultural and environmental historians and conservationists, The Culture of Cultivation will appeal to anyone interested in a thorough rethinking of the role and agency of landscape architecture.

Self-regulating ecosystem dynamics in future wilderness development driven by large herbivore-wildfire-vegetation interactions

Self-regulating ecosystem dynamics in future wilderness development driven by large herbivore-wildfire-vegetation interactions PDF Author: Kiowa Alraune Schulze
Publisher: kassel university press GmbH
ISBN: 3737606765
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
In the context of the rewilding Europe debate, the German national strategy on biodiversity aims to dedicate two percent of the German state area to wilderness development until 2020. Many of these potential large wilderness reserves harbor open habitats that require protection according to the Flora-Fauna-Habitat-directive of the European Union. As forests prevail in potential natural vegetation, research is required in future wilderness development in Central Europe, to which extent wild large herbivores and natural disturbances may create semi-open landscape patterns in the long-term. The spatially explicit process-based ecosystem model “WoodPaM” was used to simulate various potential future wilderness scenarios in order to analyze the long-term interactions between wild intermediate foraging large herbivores, natural wildfires and vegetation dynamics. It required the integrative analysis of future wilderness dynamics in the context of a balanced representation of all relevant processes to reveal the emergence of the ecosystem property “self-regulation” in wilderness landscapes as well as of novel landscape patterns in future wilderness areas.