Wild plants and the perception of land-use change in Britain: An historical perspective

Abstract

The paper illustrates how the unprecedented changes in the use and management of land in Britain over the last 150 years have been perceived, recorded and explained. It examines their bearing on the development of nature conservation and vegetation studies more generally. Alarmed at the declining status of many species in the late 19th century, naturalists tried to promote a conscious programme of wild-plant protection. Little came of their efforts, partly on account of the distractions caused by a concurrent shift of emphasis from studies of individual species to those of plant associations, as represented by the rise of ecology. It took time for ecologists to appreciate fully the extent to which human activity had influenced both the incidence and character of these associations, and the role which ecologists might play in conserving the more interesting examples of wildlife for posterity.