- European settlement and changes of land use

2016 ◽  
pp. 72-103
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
European Settlement

Pollen Indicators of Land-Use Change in Southern Connecticut

1978 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard B. Brugam
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Sedimentation Rate ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Chestnut Blight ◽  
Fossil Pollen ◽  
Lake Shore ◽  
The Core ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
Vegetational Succession

Changes in fossil pollen assemblages from a 2-m core from Linsley Pond, North Branford, Connecticut, are compared with historically documented land use changes in the lake watershed. Dating with 210Pb and 14C reveals two sedimentation rate changes in the core which are associated with the arrival of European farmers; the building of cabins and suburban housing subdivisions on the lake shore. At European settlement in 1700 ad Ambrosia and Rumex pollen first appear, Gramineae-type pollen increases, and Tsuga decreases. Just before the beginning of agricultural disturbance Fagus pollen declines. The chestnut blight of 1913 causes a reduction of Castanea pollen and a subsequent vegetational succession through Betula to Quercus. The sedimentation rate determined by the chestnut blight horizon is consistent with the rate deduced from 210Pb analysis.

Historical changes in the distribution and functions of large wood in Puget Lowland rivers

2002 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian D Collins ◽  
David R Montgomery ◽  
Andrew D Haas
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Field Data ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Archival Data ◽  
Large Wood ◽  
Valley Bottom ◽  
Lowland Rivers ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
River Pattern ◽  
Channel Unit

We examined changes in wood abundance and functions in Puget Lowland rivers from the last ~150 years of land use by comparing field data from an 11-km-long protected reach of the Nisqually River with field data from the Snohomish and Stillaguamish rivers and with archival data from several Puget Lowland rivers. Current wood abundance is one to two orders of magnitude less than before European settlement in the Snohomish and Stillaguamish basins. Most importantly, wood jams are now rare because of a lack of very large wood that can function as key pieces and low rates of wood recruitment. These changes in wood abundance and size appear to have fundamentally changed the morphology, dynamics, and habitat abundance and characteristics of lowland rivers across scales from channel unit to valley bottom. Based on our field studies, rivers had substantially more and deeper pools historically. Archival data and field studies indicate that wood jams were integral to creating and maintaining a dynamic, anastomosing river pattern with numerous floodplain channels and abundant edge habitat and routed floodwaters and sediment onto floodplains. Establishing the condition of the riverine landscape before European settlement sets a reference against which to evaluate contemporary conditions and develop restoration objectives.

Relating land-use history and climate to the dendroecology of a 326-year-old Quercus prinus talus slope forest

1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles M Ruffner ◽  
Marc D Abrams
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Cryphonectria Parasitica ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Land Use History ◽  
Climatic Data ◽  
Climatic Fluctuations ◽  
Quercus Prinus ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Talus Slope

Dendroecology and land-use history were used to investigate the ecological history of a 326-year-old Quercus prinus L. forest. Quercus prinus, Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh., and Pinus rigida Mill. dominated this talus slope prior to European settlement based on witness tree records. Oak species have exhibited continuous recruitment over three centuries probably in response to periodic fire and wind disturbances. While the stand escaped the direct impacts of timber cutting and the charcoal iron industry, the indirect effects of these land-use practices increased growth and recruitment. Different criteria were used for understory versus overstory trees to improve our detection of growth releases. Overall, major disturbances occurred approximately every 40 and 31 years before and after European settlement, respectively. This century, old-growth Q. prinus experienced marked growth increases coupled with high recruitment following the introduction of the chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica (Murr.) Barr.) to the stand in 1909. Tree growth was also highly correlated with temperature and Palmer drought severity indices between 1895 and 1995. Climatic fluctuations in the 1820s-1830s and 1920s reduced radial growth and recruitment resulting in stem exclusion stages following regeneration pulses. Relating land-use history and climatic data to the dendroecology of this forest improved our understanding of its historical development.

scholarly journals Historical Range, Current Distribution, and Conservation Status of the Swift Fox, Vulpes velox, in North America

2009 ◽  
Vol 123 (4) ◽  
pp. 346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marsha A. Sovada ◽  
Robert O. Woodward ◽  
Lawrence D. Igl
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Land Use ◽  
North America ◽  
Current Distribution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vulpes Velox ◽  
Swift Fox ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
The Us ◽  
Historical Range

The Swift Fox (Vulpes velox) was once common in the shortgrass and mixed-grass prairies of the Great Plains of North America. The species' abundance declined and its distribution retracted following European settlement of the plains. By the late 1800s, the species had been largely extirpated from the northern portion of its historical range, and its populations were acutely depleted elsewhere. Swift Fox populations have naturally recovered somewhat since the 1950s, but overall abundance and distribution remain below historical levels. In a 1995 assessment of the species' status under the US Endangered Species Act, the US Fish and Wildlife Service concluded that a designation of threatened or endangered was warranted, but the species was "precluded from listing by higher listing priorities." A major revelation of the 1995 assessment was the recognition that information useful for determining population status was limited. Fundamental information was missing, including an accurate estimate of the species' distribution before European settlement and an estimate of the species' current distribution and trends. The objectives of this paper are to fill those gaps in knowledge. Historical records were compiled and, in combination with knowledge of the habitat requirements of the species, the historical range of the Swift Fox is estimated to be approximately 1.5 million km2. Using data collected between 2001 and 2006, the species' current distribution is estimated to be about 44% of its historical range in the United States and 3% in Canada. Under current land use, approximately 39% of the species' historical range contains grassland habitats with very good potential for Swift Fox occupation and another 10% supports grasslands with characteristics that are less preferred (e.g., a sparse shrub component or taller stature) but still suitable. Additionally, land use on at least 25% of the historical range supports dryland farming, which can be suitable for Swift Fox occupation. In the United States, approximately 52% of highest quality habitats currently available are occupied by Swift Foxes.

Timing of post-European settlement alluvium deposition in SE Australia: A legacy of European land-use in the Goulburn Plains

The Holocene ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (9) ◽  
pp. 1472-1485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric W Portenga ◽  
Kira E Westaway ◽  
Paul Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
European Settlement

Anthropocene streams and base-level controls from historic dams in the unglaciated mid-Atlantic region, USA

2011 ◽  
Vol 369 (1938) ◽  
pp. 976-1009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothy Merritts ◽  
Robert Walter ◽  
Michael Rahnis ◽  
Jeff Hartranft ◽  
Scott Cox ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Bank Erosion ◽  
Primary Control ◽  
Atlantic Region ◽  
Valley Bottom ◽  
Base Level ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
Dam Breaching ◽  
The Impact

Recently, widespread valley-bottom damming for water power was identified as a primary control on valley sedimentation in the mid-Atlantic US during the late seventeenth to early twentieth century. The timing of damming coincided with that of accelerated upland erosion during post-European settlement land-use change. In this paper, we examine the impact of local drops in base level on incision into historic reservoir sediment as thousands of ageing dams breach. Analysis of lidar and field data indicates that historic milldam building led to local base-level rises of 2–5 m (typical milldam height) and reduced valley slopes by half. Subsequent base-level fall with dam breaching led to an approximate doubling in slope, a significant base-level forcing. Case studies in forested, rural as well as agricultural and urban areas demonstrate that a breached dam can lead to stream incision, bank erosion and increased loads of suspended sediment, even with no change in land use. After dam breaching, key predictors of stream bank erosion include number of years since dam breach, proximity to a dam and dam height. One implication of this work is that conceptual models linking channel condition and sediment yield exclusively with modern upland land use are incomplete for valleys impacted by milldams. With no equivalent in the Holocene or late Pleistocene sedimentary record, modern incised stream-channel forms in the mid-Atlantic region represent a transient response to both base-level forcing and major changes in land use beginning centuries ago. Similar channel forms might also exist in other locales where historic milling was prevalent.

scholarly journals A comparison of presettlement and modern forest composition along an elevation gradient in central New Hampshire

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 190-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Vadeboncoeur ◽  
Steven P. Hamburg ◽  
Charles V. Cogbill ◽  
Wendy Y. Sugimura
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Species Composition ◽  
New Hampshire ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Elevation Gradient ◽  
Forest Composition ◽  
Permanent Plots ◽  
Tree Species Composition ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
Elevation Data

Tree species composition is influenced not only by edaphic and climatic factors but also by natural and human-caused disturbances. To understand interactions among these influences, we compared forest species composition data from the time of European settlement with modern data. We derived elevation data for 2529 trees mapped by early land surveys (1770–1850) across a 1000 m elevation gradient in central New Hampshire and compared these with modern data (2004–2009) from the Forest Inventory and Analysis program (123 plots containing 2126 trees) and from permanent plots representing case studies of different land-use histories. Spruce and beech are much less abundant today at all elevations than they were prior to settlement, while maples and birches have increased. Fir, hemlock, pines, and oaks have changed little in distribution, although pines and oaks increased in abundance somewhat. Land-use history (agriculture below 500 m and cutting of various intensities at all elevations) is likely the primary explanation for these shifts, although climate change is also an important factor for some. A clearer understanding of presettlement forest composition improves our ability to separate the relative importance of natural and human-driven influences on the species composition of today’s forests.

CO2 and land-use effects on Australian vegetation over the last two centuries

2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra L. Berry ◽  
Michael L. Roderick
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Natural Vegetation ◽  
Perennial Grasses ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Land Use Effects ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2 ◽  
Land Use And Management

Coincident with major changes in land use and management in Australia over the past 200 years, there has been a 20% increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide ([CO2]) in the atmosphere. We investigate the way in which these two factors have modified the natural vegetation at the continental scale. We describe landscapes in terms of the abundance of three leaf functional types, 'turgor' (T), 'mesic' (M) and 'sclerophyll' (S). We have previously shown that continental-scale estimates of the TMS composition can be made from climatic and satellite data. In this study, we extend those results by estimating the TMS composition for the 'natural' vegetation (i.e. the present vegetation if there had been no change in land use and management). By comparing those estimates with the existing vegetation, we show that changes in land use have resulted in a large increase in the abundance of T leaves (seasonally green leaves of annual and ephemeral herbaceous plants) and there is a corresponding decline in plants with M and S leaves (evergreen trees, shrubs and perennial grasses). We then use a water use efficiency model to estimate the natural vegetation cover 200 years ago when the [CO2] was about 280 μmol mol–1. According to the model, 200 years ago the seasonally green (T) vegetation cover was similar to that at the present (excluding cultural vegetation cover), but there was lower evergreen cover. The increase in evergreen cover with increasing [CO2] could have been expressed as an increase in trees, shrubs or grasses having M and S leaf forms, depending on soil moisture and nutrient availability. According to our model, while 'woody vegetation thickening' may have been exacerbated by the increase in [CO2], other changes associated with European settlement are also important.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document