post medieval land use and vegetation change in upland ribblesdale, yorkshire dales, uk [helen shaw]
DESCRIPTION
Post Medieval land use and vegetation change in upland Ribblesdale, Yorkshire Dales, UK. Presented by Helen Shaw at the "Perth II: Global Change and the World's Mountains" conference in Perth, Scotland in September 2010.TRANSCRIPT
Post Medieval land use and vegetation change in
upland Ribblesdale, Yorkshire Dales, UK. Helen Shaw and Ian Whyte
Lancaster Environment Centre
Lancaster University
“Over the past 50 years, humans have
changed ecosystems more rapidly and
extensively than in any comparable period
of time in human history” (MEA, 2005).
Very little if any land in Europe is natural.
“Traditional agricultural knowledge
commonly promotes sustainable
production systems” (MEA 2005 Mountain
Systems p683)
CBD use traditional knowledge where
“relevant for the conservation and
sustainable use of biological diversity”
MEA 2005: http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Condition.aspx
Article 8(j): Traditional Knowledge, Innovations and Practices
http://www.cbd.int/traditional/
Research Rationale
Two major caveats
Generalised view at global scale.
(Need to scale down to the local or
regional environment to understand
relevance)
Ecology and traditional management
are both driven by processes with
adaptation strategies as change
occurs. (We need to understand
impacts and dynamics at a local scale).
… and a question!
How much do we really know about the
impact of traditional management on
biodiversity – is it sustainable?
Use palaeoecology and landscape history to
determine vegetation change and likely
drivers of that change
Examining post-medieval landscape
change in upland England
Aims driven by
lack of long-term data in ecology for
conservation management
lack of data on impacts of traditional
management
need to understand ecological
dynamics
Research
Pollen residue
Data output and interpretation
Peat
Co
re
Palaeoecology/Palynology method
Send to
lab for 14C
dating
Local Local Regional
Small hollows provide proxies for local vegetation
Source area, pollen-vegetation and depth- time relationships
Jacobson & Bradshaw 1981. Quat. Res., 16, 80-96.
TIM
E
Quantity of a
pollen type as a
percentage of
total pollen
counted
Peat/Sediment Core
Several local scale sites can illustrate variance in landscape
through space and time.
English uplands: Cultural landscapes
What is traditional management?
Is traditional management relevant to
sustaining biodiversity?
100 km British National Grid Squares
Ribblehead catchment area between the
mountains of Ingleborough (724m) and
Pen y Ghent (694m)
Ingleborough National Nature Reserve
Ribblesdale Area Map
Case study area: Ribblesdale
Wife Park
core
Pollen-vegetation relationship Grasses (P= 0.001)
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
90.0
100.0
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0 100.0
Grass % vegetation cover
Gra
ss p
olle
n %
NA
P
Sedges (P=0.001)
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
45.0
50.0
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0
Sedges vegetation % cover
Sedge %
polle
n n
ap
Herbs (P=0.015)
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
45.0
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0
Herb vegetation % cover
He
rb p
olle
n %
na
p
Heaths (P=0.2(ns) P=0.001 (2 outliers removed))
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
45.0
50.0
0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0 35.0
Heaths % vegetation cover to 50m
Heath
s p
erc
enta
ge N
AP
Wife Park age-depth model
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
depth (cm)
Years
cal.A
D
Atmospheric data from Reimer et al (2004);OxCal v3.10 Bronk Ramsey (2005); cub r:5 sd:12 prob usp[chron]
1400CalAD 1600CalAD 1800CalAD 2000CalAD
Calibrated date
-200BP
0BP
200BP
400BP
600BP
Rad
ioca
rbon d
eter
min
atio
n
SUERC-27859 : 230±30BP
68.2% probability 1640AD (35.8%) 1670AD 1780AD (26.0%) 1800AD 1940AD ( 6.4%) 1960AD 95.4% probability 1630AD (44.7%) 1690AD 1730AD (39.5%) 1810AD 1930AD (11.3%) 1960AD
Atmospheric data from Reimer et al (2004);OxCal v3.10 Bronk Ramsey (2005); cub r:5 sd:12 prob usp[chron]
1100CalAD 1200CalAD 1300CalAD 1400CalAD 1500CalAD
Calibrated date
400BP
500BP
600BP
700BP
800BP
900BP
Rad
ioca
rbon d
eter
min
atio
n
SUERC-27860 : 700±30BP
68.2% probability 1270AD (61.7%) 1300AD 1370AD ( 6.5%) 1380AD 95.4% probability 1260AD (76.3%) 1310AD 1350AD (19.1%) 1390AD
Wife Park SCP curve
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
SCPs (as a percentage of pollen)
Dep
th (
cm
)
Wife Park Age-depth Model
14C dates at 20cm and 40cm and SCP curve rise in 1950’s peak c. 1979
Wife Park summary pollen data D
epth
(cm
)/T
ime y
ears
AD
Percentage of total land pollen 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
0-1
2-3
4-5
6-7
8-9
10-10.5
12-12.5
14-14.5
16-16.5
18-18.5
20-20.5
22-22.5
24-24.5
26-26.5
28-28.5
30-30.5
32-32.5
34-34.5
36-36.5
38-38.5
2007
2001
1995
1988
1982
1977
1961
1937
1883
1830
1799
1756
1712
1669
1625
1582
1538
1495
1451
1408
Coniferoustrees
Broadleavedtrees
Shrubs
Heaths
Herbs
Wild grasses
Grass pollenannulus >8μm
Sedges
Wife Park summary pollen data (nap) D
epth
(cm
)/T
ime y
ears
AD
Percentage of total non arboreal pollen
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
0-1
2-3
4-5
6-7
8-9
10-10.5
12-12.5
14-14.5
16-16.5
18-18.5
20-20.5
22-22.5
24-24.5
26-26.5
28-28.5
30-30.5
32-32.5
34-34.5
36-36.5
38-38.5
2007
2001
1995
1988
1982
1977
1961
1937
1883
1830
1799
1756
1712
1669
1625
1582
1538
1495
1451
1408
Heaths
Herbs
Wild grasses
Grass pollenannulus >8μm
Sedges
Wife Park possible management impacts in pollen data D
ep
th (
cm
)/T
ime
ye
ars
AD
Percentage of total land
pollen
End of Monastic period (sheep ranching and stud farms)
Enclosure began (stinted pastures) - sheep and
cattle
Decline in timber trees reported in Manor of
Newby records from end of 17th Century after a
period of poor commons management
Fluctuations in and loss of
sedge abundance –
influence of drainage? CAP
No period of stasis in management
Large shifts in biodiversity/structural
diversity occurred prior to 50 years ago.
Shrub land and woodland was part of the
pre-enclosed landscape and was part of
the traditional resource now lost –
adaptation.
Wetlands or wet grasslands have been lost
since 1900s. Amelioration of prior drainage
schemes may need to be implemented on
the slopes as well as the mountain tops.
We should not assume that traditional is
sustainable – just adaptable – to limits!
Conclusions 1
Need to improve understanding of the
variation of traditional management
through time and the consequent impacts
on ecosystems.
Traditional managers can have valuable
knowledge – but it can be time limited!
For example – most of the farmers in
the uplands of the UK today have had
training in the agricultural colleges of
the 1960’s and 1970’s when land
improvement and drainage schemes
were the norm.
Conclusions 2
Acknowledgements: Research funded by the Leverhulme Trust
Conference attendance supported by UKRC
Travel Bursary scheme
Thanks to farmers, land owners, Natural England, Yorkshire Dales
National Park Authority and Yorkshire Dales Wildlife Trust for land
access.
POLLANDCAL and LANDCLIM networks