Changes In Landscape Use Research Articles

Male mastodon landscape use changed with maturation (late Pleistocene, North America)

Under harsh Pleistocene climates, migration and other forms of seasonally patterned landscape use were likely critical for reproductive success of mastodons (Mammut americanum) and other megafauna. However, little is known about how their geographic ranges and mobility fluctuated seasonally or changed with sexual maturity. We used a spatially explicit movement model that coupled strontium and oxygen isotopes from two serially sampled intervals (5+ adolescent years and 3+ adult years) in a male mastodon tusk to test for changes in landscape use associated with maturation and reproductive phenology. The mastodon's early adolescent home range was geographically restricted, with no evidence of seasonal preferences. Following inferred separation from the matriarchal herd (starting age 12 y), the adolescent male's mobility increased as landscape use expanded away from his natal home range (likely central Indiana). As an adult, the mastodon's monthly movements increased further. Landscape use also became seasonally structured, with some areas, including northeast Indiana, used only during the inferred mastodon mating season (spring/summer). The mastodon died in this area (>150 km from his core, nonsummer range) after sustaining a craniofacial injury consistent with a fatal blow from a competing male's tusk during a battle over access to mates. Northeast Indiana was likely a preferred mating area for this individual and may have been regionally significant for late Pleistocene mastodons. Similarities between mammutids and elephantids in herd structure, tusk dimorphism, tusk function, and the geographic component of male maturation indicate that these traits were likely inherited from a common ancestor.

Water Reservoirs as a Driver of Anthropogenic Changes in Landscape and Transport Networks: The Czech Republic Experience

The construction of reservoirs has a major impact on the floodplain landscape, and their existence also affects land use in the hinterland. The aim of this article is to evaluate the influence of artificial lakes on changes in landscape use and transport networks; in this context, an assessment is provided of the significance of this anthropogenic activity as one of the drivers of landscape change. Old topographic maps and archival aerial photographs are used to analyze changes in the use of landscape and road networks, and these materials are complemented with the latest geographic data in digital form. Utilizing geographic information systems, we assessed the landscape changes and processes in the hinterland of those Czech Republic reservoirs that have an area of 100 ha or more. The results of the research show that landscape change processes are more intensive in the hinterland of the lakes than in the surrounding landscape. The predominant utility function of a reservoir emerged as a key factor in landscape use changes and ongoing processes. A different landscape use scenario can be observed in drinking water reservoirs, especially regarding the leisure and irrigation functions that dominate elsewhere. After the completion of reservoirs, the road and railway networks had an impact on, above all, the connection of the nearest villages in the hinterland of the lakes. The information that we found can be employed in projecting future changes in land use and road networks at newly planned dams.

Late Acheulian multiplicity in manufactured stone culture at the end of the Middle Pleistocene in Western Europe

In Prehistory, Paleolithic stone toolkits are allotted to distinct cultural phases, explained through a periodization that has been adopted as a strategic reference by specialists in lithic studies, based on: 1) the categorization of morpho-types observed in the assemblages; 2) the dominant manufacture technologies and 3) temporal categorizations based on geo-archeological data. Significant changes in toolkits are observed through time, signaling variations in extinct hominin behavioral configurations. They characterize the denominative classifications of the techno-complexes, presently defined under consensus. Applying the Homogeneity, Variability, Diversity, Multiplicity (HVDM) paradigm as a conceptual scheme for understanding the structural evolution of human technologies, we define the Multiplicity phase, exploring the techno-social consequences of changes materialized in the Late Acheulian of Western Europe, presaging the Middle Paleolithic world of the Neandertals and the arrival on the scene of our own species; Homo sapiens. During this period, in Western Europe, Homo heidelbergensis was undergoing biological transformations, which appear to have fused into a range of hominin forms, raising questions of intra-species contacts and cultural exchange on a backdrop of branching evolutionary configurations. Beyond handaxe production, this period is marked by significant social and behavioral revolutions: changes in landscape use, high population mobility and inter-connectivity, tool-type diversity, technological innovations, as well as the expansion of distinct hominin clades throughout the Old World. We examine the impulses for these changes, in particular, the prominent role played by the mastery of fire in revolutionizing human socialization processes.

The Holocene humid period in the Nefud Desert: Hunters and herders in the Jebel Oraf palaeolake basin, Saudi Arabia

Archaeological surveys and excavations in the Jebel Oraf palaeolake basin, north-western Saudi Arabia, have identified a well-preserved early- to mid-Holocene landscape. Two types of occupation site can be distinguished: nine small and ephemeral scatters from single occupation phases on the slopes of sand dunes and three hearth sites indicative of repeated occupation on palaeolake shorelines. In addition, 245 rock art panels, 81 cairns, and 15 stone structures were recorded. This diverse dataset provides an opportunity to reconstruct occupation patterns and changes in landscape use. A particularly important site, Jebel Oraf 2, documents two episodes of lake high stands at ca. 6500 BC and 5300 BC, flooding parts of the locality. Neolithic pastoralists likely occupied the site after the end of the wet season, when the terrain was dry. Earlier sites are located in dune embayments some 7–14 m above the shore of the palaeolake. These locations are consistent with hunting strategies identifiable in the rock art that suggest wildlife was ambushed at watering places. Later rock art at Jebel Oraf also documents the hunting of wild camel in the Iron Age. The lithic industries documented in the Jebel Oraf basin support arguments of repeated contact with Levantine populations.

Data on the bumblebee assemblages (Apidae: Bombus spp.) lives in lands under agri-environment commitment

The goal of agri-environmental schemes (AES) and greening programs are protecting and increasing biodiversity in agricultural lands. The evaluation of effectiveness of AES needs further investigations. For the purpose of investigations, species and species groups should be selected which can indicate the effects of changes in landscape use on biodiversity. Bumblebees are good indicators for this purpose.
 The role of bumblebees in pollination is well studied but in the case of different crops, much less detailed data are available. In 2018, bumblebee assemblages of 44 sites belonged to 8 different agricultural and semi-natural habitat types were studied in the surroundings of Sajószöged, Tiszaújváros and Derecske.
 This study provides new distribution data of 8 bumblebee species in three 10×10 km UTM cells covering the sampling area. According to our results, the alfalfa and red clover fields and semi-natural grasslands has more species rich and abundant bumblebee assemblages than different crop fields (sunflower, oilseed radish and vegetable morrow) and can help protect bumblebee assemblages of agricultural lands. Based on the collected distribution and abundance data, the role of the bumblebees in pollination of the studied crops should be re-evaluated.

Seventy-year chronology of Salinas in southern France: Coastal surfaces managed for salt production and conservation issues for abandoned sites

After World War II, twenty-nine coastal Salinas (122 km2), located in the vicinity of coastal lagoons and in deltas, were exploited along the Mediterranean coastlines in South France. Today, only five of these are still actively producing salt, currently representing 175 km2. Concomitant with the abandonment of many of the smaller Salinas, the larger Salinas in the Rhône delta (Camargue) strongly increased their surfaces at the expense of natural ecosystems, of which a part has also been abandoned after 2009. This paper documents these changes in landscape use by chronological GIS mapping and describes the fate of the 91 km2 of abandoned Salina surfaces. The majority of this area (88 km2) is included in the Natura 2000 network, among which most (74 km2) has been acquired by the French coastal protection agency (Conservatoire du Littoral) to be designated as Protected Areas. Only a very minor part (<1%) has been lost for industry and harbour development. Managing abandoned Salinas as Protected Areas is a challenge, because of the different landscape, biodiversity conservation, natural and cultural heritages issues at stake. In two cases, abandoned Salinas have been brought back again into exploitation by private initiative thus allowing for the protection of original hypersaline biodiversity. In other cases, the shaping of the landscape by natural processes has been privileged. This has facilitated the spontaneous recreation of temporal Mediterranean wetlands with unique aquatic vegetation, and offered opportunities for managed coastal re-alignment and the restoration of hydrobiological exchanges between land and sea. In other areas, former salt ponds continue to be filled artificially by pumping favouring opportunities for waterfowl. This has often been combined with the creation of artificial islets to provide nesting ground for bird colonies protected from terrestrial predators.

Pottery technology, settlement and landscape in Antofagasta de la Sierra (Catamarca, Argentina)

Abstract

Does organic farming influence landscape composition? Two cases from the Czech Republic

ABSTRACTOrganic farming is credited as having numerous positive influences on the environment, among others the support of greater landscape diversity. This potential benefit is of particularly great relevance in the case of countries in Central and Eastern Europe, in which the agricultural landscape was damaged by the process of homogenization as a result of the collectivization of agricultural production. This article presents research focusing on the relationship between organic farming and landscape composition in selected locations with varying natural conditions within the Czech Republic. The first part of the research evaluates the overall development of landscape structure during the period of transition from socialist mass-production to farm management based on private companies and family farms. Analysis making use of the landscape metrics proved an increase in the heterogeneity and diversity of landscape between the years 1985 and 2006. The second part of the analysis focused on the relationship between farm management and changes in landscape use. The results showed differing trends in the studied locations, which do not depend on farm management alone, but also on other factors, especially natural conditions in agricultural landscape.

TESTING FOR EVIDENCE OF PALEOINDIAN RESPONSES TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES DURING THE YOUNGER DRYAS CHRONOZONE IN GEORGIA

For the Southeast, it has been proposed that climate changes during the Younger Dryas period triggered a human population decline and/or substantial reorganization. We use the Georgia point record in the Paleoindian Database of the Americas to test for evidence of changes in landscape use through the Paleoindian period and consider these changes in the context of the Georgia paleoenvironmental record spanning the Younger Dryas. Based on differences in point frequencies, distributions, raw material types, and transport distances and directions, we conclude that significant changes in landscape use occurred during the Paleoindian period, and these correspond to destabilization of the immediate coastal zone due to fluctuations in sea level.

Exploring fall migratory patterns of American black ducks using eight decades of band-recovery data

As regions of habitat used by migratory waterfowl are subjected to rising anthropogenic pressures, establishing patterns of landscape use during migratory cycles is becoming increasingly important for managing and maintaining populations. Although data collection strategies such as global positioning system (GPS) telemetry promise high-resolution insight on geographic use of contemporary populations, decades of available band recovery records on many species can provide a low-cost, multi-generational alternative for defining broad, historically informed patterns of landscape use. We used nearly a century of band-recovery data to reconstruct patterns of fall migratory landscape use for American black ducks in the Mississippi and Atlantic flyways. We partitioned band recovery positions by month from September to February and spatially analyzed positions using kernel density estimates (KDEs) to delineate geographic regions used by American black ducks and track changes in landscape use during migration. Additionally, we considered the appropriateness of current management strategies, which treat American black ducks as a single population, by testing for differences in month-specific landscape use between ducks banded in the Mississippi and Atlantic flyways, and between international management units (ducks banded in Canada or the U.S.). We found that geographic distributions during peak migration faithfully recovered regions previously hypothesized as migratory corridors. Furthermore, regardless of banding origin, we found highly similar distributions and strong flyway fidelity in Atlantic flyway American black ducks. Conversely, American black ducks banded in the Mississippi flyway displayed differences in landscape use between Canadian and U.S. populations, with Canadian ducks significantly more likely to winter in areas within the Atlantic flyway (i.e., migrate between flyways). Flyway- and population-specific patterns of black duck landscape use indicate populations behave more independently than currently treated by management models (including the Adaptive Harvest Management plan), and that population maintenance may be advanced by managing stocks separately. © 2014 The Wildlife Society.

Land-Use Changes and Their Relationships to Selected Landscape Parameters in Three Cadastral Areas in Moravia (Czech Republic)

Abstract The analysis of changes in landscape use and the related significance of some natural factors is examined in this paper, using three municipal cadastral areas in Moravia, Czech Republic. The relationships between changes in the use of the rural landscape and natural conditions were analyzed with the use of GIS tools and methods of canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). The CCA results showed a correlation between the selected natural factors and landscape changes, with the most significant factors being those of slope and altitude. The CCA models exhibited varying reliability in accounting for the extent of landscape changes related to topographical diversity of the territories. Natural conditions were more influential in periods with lower change dynamics and at the same time in areas with higher topographic heterogeneity. Although the results of the statistical analyses confirmed the significance of natural factors, only a part of land use changes could be explained by their influence. Socio-economic factors are apparently the main forces affecting landscape character and change

From protective lions to angry spirits: environmental degradation and the authority of elders in the Kilombero Valley, Tanzania

Along the route of the TAZARA railway in southern Tanzania, the increased circulation of people, goods and ideas has led to changes in the utilization of environmental resources. The settlement of newcomers in the Kilombero Valley, who not only plant crops but also fish in the Kilombero river floodplain, has led to concern among those who consider themselves to be “local” that outsiders have simultaneously brought both development and degradation. Changes in landscape use are framed not only in terms of demography, ethnicity and locality but also as a threat to the authority of ritual elders. Declining respect for ritual authority is blamed for specific environmental problems, for example the changes in rainfall and flooding patterns known as El Niño.

Archaeology and the debate on the transition from reindeer hunting to pastoralism

The distinctive Sami historical land use concerning reindeer management and settlement of inner Troms, North Norway, is reflected in places with archaeological remains. The insight and knowledge connected with these places can be accessed through oral traditions and place-names where reindeer management is embedded in reindeer knowledge developed over long time spans. Previous distinctions between wild reindeer hunting and pastoral herding can be redefined, since much of the traditional knowledge concerning the wild reindeer (goddi) may have been transferred to the domesticated animals (boazu). The transition from reindeer hunting to pastoralism is a current research focus and archaeological results from inner Troms indicate that several Sami dwellings with árran (hearths) are related to a transitional period from AD 1300 to 1400. This period is marked by a reorganisation of the inland Sami siida (collective communities), and changes in landscape use wherein seasonal cycles and grazing access began to determine the movements of people and their domestic reindeer herds. This reorganisation was a response to both external political relations and the inner dynamic of the Sami communities. The first use of tamed reindeer was as decoys and draft animals in the hunting economy, only later becoming the mainstay of household food supply in reindeer pastoralism, providing insurance for future uncertainties. The formation of the national border between Norway-Denmark and Sweden in 1751 led to extensive changes in the previously trans-national mobility pattern, leading to fragmentation of the old siidas and to a new stage of nomadic pastoral economy.

The influence of natural conditions on changes in landscape use: a case study of the lower Podoubraví region (Czech republic)

The influence of natural conditions on changes in landscape use: a case study of the lower Podoubraví region (Czech republic)

The Analysis of Ecosystem Service Value's Change in Yueqing Bay Wetland Based on RS and GIS

Abstract To a certain content, ecosystem function is usually used to evaluate the quality of the ecological environment region and provide scientific reason for environmental protection & ecological construction. The landscape-use changes of Yueqing Bay were studied by Landsat5TM data in 1993 and 2003 with RS and GIS technology. We quantificationally analyzed and identified the change of landscape ecosystem's service value in Yueqing Bay wetland by computation index of ecosystem. The investigations indicated that the growing trend of ecosystem service value was reduced 4.38% in the whole research landscape area from 1993 to 2003. However, the increased growing trend of landscape was breeding paddy fields and farmlands. It was respectively increased to 31.25% and 1.78%. However, the growing trend of water area, seas, shallows and forests has been declined, and the biggest declination was the forest which reached 10.09%. In the past 10 years, the landscape type in Yueqing Bay wetland has been changed to cause the decline of ecosystem service value for this area. Therefore, the result demonstrated that the ecological environment of Yueqing Bay has been deteriorated, and the protective measures need to be taken in this area as soon as possible.

Land-use patterns and cultural change in the Middle to Late Bronze Age in Ireland: inferences from pollen records

In Ireland, the Middle to Late Bronze Age (1500–600 cal b.c.) is characterised by alternating phases of prolific metalwork production (the Bishopsland and Dowris Phases) and apparent recessions (the Roscommon Phase and the Late Bronze Age-Iron Age transition). In this paper, these changes in material culture are placed in a socio-economic context by examining contemporary settlement and land-use patterns reconstructed from the pollen record. The vegetation histories of six tephrochronologically linked sites are presented, which provide high-resolution and chronologically well-resolved insights into changes in landscape use over the Middle to Late Bronze Age. The records are compared with published pollen records in an attempt to discern if there are trends in woodland clearance and abandonment from which changes in settlement patterns can be inferred. The results suggest that prolific metalworking industries correlate chronologically with expansion of farming activity, which indicates that they were supported by a productive subsistence economy. Conversely, declines in metalwork production occur during periods when farming activity was generally less extensive and perhaps more centralised, and it is proposed that disparate socio-economic or political factors, rather than a collapse of the subsistence economy, lie behind the demise of metalworking industries.

Immunocontraception of Small Mammals: Case Study for the Wild House Mouse in Australia

Many exotic vertebrate species have been introduced either accidentally or intentionally into the Australian environment. Native species have also become pests due to changes in landscape use. Management of these pest populations, whether introduced or indigenous, is of concern both nationally and internationally. Public approval of existing pest control techniques involving lethal agents (poisoning, shooting, trapping, or disease) has declined in favour of alternative techniques, which are more humane, cost effective, species-specific, environmentally friendly, and suitable for delivery on a continental scale. Population management through disruption of reproduction rather than through the use of mortality agents has gained acceptance in the past 10-15 years. This has led to considerable research into the development of immunocontraceptive agents, for example to prevent mouse populations irrupting to plague proportions in cereal-growing regions of Australia. We have examined whether mouse populations can be managed with fertility control delivered using a transmissible mouse-specific virus (mouse cytomegalovirus, MCMV), engineered to carry an infertility agent. Field and laboratory results, as well as computer modelling, show excellent prospects for the use of vaccines based on MCMV. However, the efficiency of transmission of infertility remains a major challenge for the current research program. The public acceptability of the technology is yet to be confirmed. The issues of species specificity, delivery system stability, transmission efficiency, and other potential or perceived risks require open and wide-ranging debate, nationally and internationally, before trial field experiments of a genetically modified virus for controlling field populations of mammals could occur.