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Summary 1.Economic forces are recognized as an important driving factor behind current biodiversity losses. This study investigates whether such factors have been important in determining one measure of biodiversity change over the 'long run' -in our case, 400 years -for upland sites in Scotland. 2. A combination of palaeoecological, historical and economic methods is used to construct and then analyse a database of factors contributing to changes in plant diversity over time for 11 upland sites. 3. Using an instrumental variables panel model, we find livestock prices, our proxy for grazing pressure, to be a statistically significant determinant of diversity change, with higher grazing pressures resulting in lower diversity values on average, although site abandonment is also found to result in a fall in plant diversity. Technological change, such as the introduction of new animal breeds, was not found to be a statistically significant determinant. 4. Using later period data (post 1860) on livestock numbers at the parish (local) level, we were able to confirm the main result noted above (3) in terms of the effects of higher grazing pressures on plant diversity. 5. Synthesis and applications . This study shows how data from very different disciplines can be combined to address questions relevant to contemporary conservation and understanding. This novel, interdisciplinary approach provides new insights into the role of economic factors as a driver of biodiversity loss in the uplands. Biodiversity levels have varied considerably over 400 years, partly as a function of land management, suggesting that establishing baselines or 'natural' target levels for biodiversity is likely to be problematic. Changes in livestock grazing pressures brought about by changes in prices had statistically significant effects on estimated plant diversity, as did land abandonment. This suggests that long-term management of upland areas for the conservation of diversity should focus on grazing pressures as a key policy attribute. Another policy implication is that drastic cuts in grazing pressures -such as might occur under current reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy -can have adverse biodiversity consequences.

SUMMARYPrescribed and wild fires play a significant role in the ecology of upland areas; changes in the frequency and intensity of both can have significant effects on biodiversity and ecosystem function. Whilst the way we manage fire in the future will depend on desired outcomes, the risk of wildfires and the suitability of conditions for prescribed burning will depend on climate, land-use and environmental change. Changes in relative fire risk and hazard therefore need to be carefully considered when setting management policy. Fire has long been used as a management tool in the uplands of the UK but there has been little formal support or training, and emphasis has been placed on traditional knowledge. While there is pressure in some quarters for a reduction in the use of fire, prescribed burning can be used to protect biodiversity assets and reach a range of management objectives. Large areas of old heather excluded from rotational burning pose a significant fire hazard. Wildfires in such areas will be more intense and severe, and more likely to ignite peat, causing considerable environmental damage and releasing large quantities of carbon. We argue for an ecological basis for the use of fire and seek to open a debate by briefly reviewing the main controls on fire risk in upland areas and discussing existing management and its challenges with regards to three case studies: traditionally managed moorland, forestry and peatland soils. We make recommendations for future management and suggest significant challenges exist for managers and researchers that need to be dealt with urgently.

Therapeutic Assessment (TA) with children is a hybrid of psychological assessment and short-term intervention. It uses the ongoing process and results of psychological assessment to enhance parents' understanding of their child and to facilitate change. Clinical reports and single case studies suggest that TA with children is an acceptable and effective brief intervention. However, no aggregate data have been published to support this claim. This pilot study investigated the acceptability and preoutcome-postoutcome of TA with 14 clinically referred children with emotional and behavior problems and their parents. Results indicated high treatment acceptability as well as significantly decreased child symptomatology and enhanced family functioning as reported by children and mothers. In addition, mothers demonstrated a significant increase in positive emotion and a significant decrease in negative emotion pertaining to their children's challenges and future. The findings, although limited due to the design and small sample size, support assertions from published single case studies that TA is possibly an efficacious child and family intervention for children with emotional and behavioral problems and should be studied in a larger, comparison design.

We present a simple non-destructive technique for assessing fuel load and critical aspects of vegetation structure that play important roles in determining fire behaviour. The method is tested in a Scottish Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull heathland but could be applied to any vegetation up to ~1 m high. Visual obstruction of a banded measurement stick (the FuelRule) placed vertically through a stand of vegetation is governed by a combination of the height of the vegetation and its density. The vertical distribution of visual obstruction is calibrated to give estimates of total fuel loading, the loading of separate size categories and the vertical distribution and horizontal heterogeneity of fuels. The present paper provides a quick and simple method for estimating total aboveground biomass and structure that may be useful not just in studies of fire behaviour but where non-destructive assessment of biomass, vegetation density or canopy structure is needed. Calibration equations can be rapidly created for use in other vegetation or fuel types.