Archaeology, Ecological History, and Conservation

Abstract

Ecologists have increasingly turned to history, including human history, to explain and manage modern ecosystems and landscapes. The imprint of past land use can persist even in seemingly pristine areas. Archaeology provides a long-term perspective on human actions and their environmental consequences that can contribute to conservation and restoration efforts. Case studies illustrate examples of the human history of seemingly pristine landscapes, forest loss and recovery, and the creation or maintenance of places that today are valued habitats. Finally, as archaeologists become more involved in research directed at contemporary environmental issues, they need to consider the potential uses and abuses of their findings in management and policy debates. 43 Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 2005.34:43-65. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org by California Institute of Technology on 08/28/14. For personal use only.

Modeling Historical Land Cover and Land Use: A Review fromContemporary Modeling

“…Likewise, the historical models of LCLUC are an aid in the understanding of the configuration of historical landscapes and in the testing of hypotheses regarding past changes. In particular, historical models are useful for recovering degraded ecosystems by using the conditions derived from historical references [27,60]. Therefore, the goal of both the contemporary and the historical models is finding more sustainable systems of land use.…”

“…Hayashida [60] identifies three main motivations for the historical modeling of LCLUC: (1) a growing interest for the processes of historical landscape change; (2) the recognition of human beings as a part of the history of the landscape; and (3) the advent of restoration ecology aiming at restoring degraded ecosystems based on historical references. Other researchers focus on changes in those properties of the land surface that are associated with LCLUC and alter the climate through the modulation of exchanges of energy and gases with the atmosphere.…”

Sustainable Forest Management in the Tropics: Is Everything in Order but the Patient Still Dying?

“…Some species are lost or become rare (affecting usage) whereas new ecosystems emerge with new combinations of species, interactions, and properties. Relieving modern stressors, such as logging or hunting, will not necessarily result in these altered ecosystems reverting to their original state (O'Neill 1998, Hayashida 2005.…”

Biology in the Anthropocene: Challenges and insights from young fossil records

“…young field becoming known as conservation paleobiology (for reviews, see refs. [35][36][37][38][39][40]. Paleobiology relies on a fundamentally different source of biological data from that of traditional ecology, drawing on naturally accumulated assemblages of skeletal and other dead remains rather than direct observation of living individuals and interactions ( Fig.…”