What is the Scope of “History” in Historical Ecology? Issues of Scale in Management and Conservation

Wiens, John A.; Safford, Hugh D.; McGarigal, Kevin; Romme, William H.; Manning, Mary E.

doi:10.1002/9781118329726.ch5

Cited by 22 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…A challenge emerging from recent comprehensive definitions of historical ecology which will need to be tackled in the future is the meaning of the word ‘history’ itself in the given context (Wiens et al ., 2012; Girel, 2006). ‘History’ can refer to the past as such, the human past or that part of the human past for which written records exist.…”

Section: The Future Of Historical Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical ecology: past, present and future

Szabó

2014

Biological Reviews

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The term 'historical ecology' has been used with various meanings since the first half of the 20th century. Studies labelled as historical ecology have been produced in at least four academic disciplines: history, ecology, geography and anthropology. Although all those involved seem to agree that historical ecology concerns the historical interconnectedness of nature and human culture, this field of study has no unified methodology, specialized institutional background and common publication forums. Knowledge of the development of historical ecology is also limited. As a result, the current multitude of definitions of historical ecology is accompanied by divergent opinions as to where the origins of the field are to be sought. In this review, I follow the development of historical ecology from the 18th century to the present. In the first part, I briefly describe some early examples of historical ecological investigations, followed by a description of the various scientific strands in the 20th century that contributed to the formation of historical ecology. In the second part, I discuss the past five decades of historical ecological investigations in more detail, focusing mostly (but not exclusively) on works that their respective authors identified as historical ecology. I also examine the appearance and interconnectedness of the two main trends (ecological and anthropological) in historical ecological research. In the last part, I attempt to outline the future of historical ecology based on common features in existing research. It appears that at present historical ecology is at a crossroads. With rapidly growing interest in historical ecological research, it may move towards institutionalization or remain an umbrella term.

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Section: The Future Of Historical Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical ecology: past, present and future

Szabó

2014

Biological Reviews

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“…Such constructs are highly relevant in management and restoration studies (e.g. Froyd and Willis, 2008; Jackson, 2012; Jackson and Hobbs, 2009; Landres et al, 1999; Wiens et al, 2012; Wingard et al, 2017) as conservation managers increasingly recognize that establishing realistic management goals requires knowledge of the range of natural variability not only of the vegetation but also of climate and disturbance regimes (Froyd and Willis, 2008). The “range of natural variability” concept can be directly linked to Quaternary ecological dynamics.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modern pollen rain in humid tropical mountain forests from eastern Mexico: A patch-dynamics approach

Jiménez-Zamora,

Espinosa,

Galicia

et al. 2024

The Holocene

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Modern pollen rains have demonstrated that human legacies represent crucial information on the performance of strategies for biological conservation. However, the potential use of pollen rains in aspects related to human disturbance and other cultural processes remains scarcely explored in forest patches of tropical mountain environments. Our study offers an ecological model for stratifying management intensities using moss polster contents in three patches of humid tropical mountain forests from eastern Mexico. Moss polsters were collected at 48 sites between ca. 1600 and 2000 m asl in three Mexican tropical montane cloud forests. Beta diversity, Shannon, and Jaccard indices were calculated for each location. Deciphering palynological data, historical documents, and diversity indicators, we found that the most disturbed patches had the lowest values in the Shannon index (abundance data) and beta diversity (incidence and abundance data) due to intensive agriculture over the last 20 years at least. On the other hand, we found that lower-elevation gradients with a high degree of management intensity and geographical affinity expressed greater similarity according to the Jaccard index for unseen shared species. In contrast, shade-tolerant plants and some hygrophilous trees within the old-growth forest determined the species turnover among higher-elevation gradients in conserved areas. For these reasons, our findings suggest that moss polster contents capture reliable sources of pollen rains around 20 years, as it was once mentioned in the palynological literature. We conclude that pollen rains and management intensity are comparable between ecosystems in long-term approaches and historical legacies.

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“…Understanding these past changes in tree species, age and distribution through map and fieldbased studies should inform considerations of future woodland resilience (Forestry Commission 2015). However this may depend on what is the baseline variation in our woodland composition and structure against which future resilience is judged (Wiens et al 2012). The Warburg Reserve might be regarded as potentially quite resilient -in the sense of having a wide range of tree and shrub species present with little variability in woodland extent, structure, or composition -judged just over recent decades and at the scale of the whole reserve.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%