A postulated natural origin for the open landscape of upland Scotland

Abstract

By 1700 AD woodland covered only c. 4% of the landscape of Scotland. The aim of this paper is to challenge the dominant ecological paradigm for the uplands, viz. that their treeless nature is largely anthropogenic, brought about by domestic stock grazing, tree felling and burning, and that woodland would naturally be the climax vegetation up to a climatically determined tree-line. The area under consideration comprises the uplands and marginal uplands of Scotland, north of the Highland boundary fault. The paper is a review of the relevant published literature on the history of the vegetation, together with the factors that influence vegetation pattern, in particular soils, competition, herbivores, fires and felling. There are plausible natural factors that could account for the open nature of the landscape without inferring human influence. Openness can arise because the soil provides sub-optimal conditions for tree regeneration, combined with the fact that the moorland vegetation can support herbivore populations in excess of that optimal for tree regeneration. It is possible that the current phase of the Holocene is equivalent to the oligocratic phase of previous interglacials where, on infertile soils, a period of woodland expansion was followed by natural woodland regression. If this analysis is correct, then the vegetation pattern for upland Scotland could be one of the most natural in Europe. This has major implications for the conservation of upland Scotland where, to date, woodland ‘restoration’ is seen as a key conservation activity.