Scottish Highlands Research Articles

Structural changes to forests during regeneration affect water flux partitioning, water ages and hydrological connectivity: Insights from tracer-aided ecohydrological modelling

Abstract. Increasing rates of biodiversity loss are adding momentum to efforts seeking to restore or rewild degraded landscapes. Here, we investigated the effects of natural forest regeneration on water flux partitioning, water ages and hydrological connectivity, using the tracer-aided ecohydrological model EcH2O-iso. The model was calibrated using ∼ 3.5 years of diverse ecohydrological and isotope data available for a catchment in the Scottish Highlands, an area where impetus for native pinewood regeneration is growing. We then simulated two land cover change scenarios that incorporated forests at early (dense thicket) and late (old open forest) stages of regeneration, respectively. Changes to forest structure (proportional vegetation cover, vegetation heights and leaf area index of pine trees) were modelled for each stage. The scenarios were then compared to a present-day baseline simulation. Establishment of thicket forest had substantial ecohydrological consequences for the catchment. Specifically, increased losses to transpiration and, in particular, interception evaporation drove reductions in below-canopy fluxes (soil evaporation, groundwater (GW) recharge and streamflow) and generally slower rates of water turnover. The greatest reductions in streamflow and connectivity were simulated for summer baseflows and small to moderate events during summer and the autumn/winter rewetting period. This resulted from the effect of local changes to flux partitioning in regenerating areas on the hillslopes extending to the wider catchment by reducing downslope GW subsidies that help sustain summer baseflows and saturation in the valley bottom. Meanwhile, higher flows were relatively less affected, especially in winter. Despite the generally drier state of the catchment, simulated water ages suggested that the increased transpiration demands of the thicket forest could be satisfied by moisture carried over from previous seasons. The more open nature of the old forest generally resulted in water fluxes, water ages and connectivity returning towards baseline conditions. Our work implies that the ecohydrological consequences of natural forest regeneration depend on the structural characteristics of the forest at different stages of development. Consequently, future land cover change investigations need to move beyond consideration of simple forest vs. non-forest scenarios to inform sustainable landscape restoration efforts.

Does restoring native forest restore ecosystem functioning? Evidence from a large‐scale reforestation project in the Scottish Highlands

Given the worldwide plans for extensive tree planting, we urgently need to understand how and where implementation will contribute to goals such as those for carbon sequestration. We used a long‐term, large‐scale native reforestation project in the Scottish Highlands to assess the response of carbon storage and other ecosystem functions to reforestation and grazing exclusion. We measured aboveground carbon, topsoil carbon, topsoil nitrogen, decomposition rates, soil invertebrate feeding activity, tree regeneration, and ground‐layer and moss height at 14 sites that are in the early stages of reforestation and fenced to exclude grazing. Reforestation areas were compared to unforested and mature forest areas that are both grazed and ungrazed, using 10 × 10 m plots. Aboveground carbon in the reforestation plots (1.4 kg/m2 [95% CI: 0.6, 2.6], average age 20 years since reforestation) was c. 8% of the mature forest plots (17.1 kg/m2 [13.1, 21.8]). Topsoil carbon was lower in the reforestation plots (18.78 kg/m2 [11.79, 25.78]) than in the unforested (29.82 kg/m2 [24.34, 35.29]) or mature forest (31.39 kg/m2 [22.91, 39.88]) plots. Responses of other functions to the reforestation and grazing interventions varied. Our results suggest that reforestation may trigger carbon loss from areas with high initial soil carbon even with low disturbance establishment, at least in the short term. Our work emphasizes where we lack knowledge: on the potential for long‐term re‐accumulation of soil carbon under semi‐natural native reforestation, soil carbon sequestration in the deeper soil layers, and the response of soil carbon to natural regeneration.

Occurrence of tick-borne pathogens in questing Ixodes ricinus ticks from Wester Ross, Northwest Scotland

BackgroundLyme borreliosis and other tick-borne diseases emerge from increased interactions between humans, other animals, and infected ticks. The risk of acquiring a tick-borne infection varies across space and time, so knowledge of the occurrence and prevalence of pathogens in ticks can facilitate disease diagnosis in a specific area and the implementation of mitigation measures and awareness campaigns. Here we identify the occurrence and prevalence of several pathogens in Ixodes ricinus ticks in Wester Ross, Northwest Scotland, a region of high tourism and tick exposure, yet data-poor in terms of tick-borne pathogens.MethodsQuesting I. ricinus nymphs (n = 2828) were collected from 26 sites in 2018 and 2019 and tested for the presence of tick-borne pathogens using PCR-based methods. Prevalence was compared with other regions of Scotland, England, Wales, and the Netherlands.ResultsAnaplasma phagocytophilum (4.7% prevalence), Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) (2.2%), Babesia from clade X (0.2%), Rickettsia helvetica (0.04%), and Spiroplasma ixodetis (0.4%) were detected, but no Neoehrlichia mikurensis, Borrelia miyamotoi, or Babesia microti. Typing of A. phagocytophilum using a fragment of the GroEL gene identified the presence of both ecotype I and ecotype II. Genospecies identification of Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. revealed B. afzelii (53% of infected nymphs), B. garinii (9%), B. burgdorferi sensu stricto (7%), and B. valaisiana (31%). We found similar prevalence of A. phagocytophilum in Wester Ross as in the Netherlands, but higher than in other parts of Great Britain. We found lower B. burgdorferi s.l. prevalence than in England or the Netherlands, and similar to some other Scottish studies. We found higher prevalence of B. valaisiana and lower prevalence of B. garinii than in other Scottish studies. We found S. ixodetis at much lower prevalence than in the Netherlands, and R. helvetica at much lower prevalence than in England and the Netherlands.ConclusionsAs far as we know, this is the first description of S. ixodetis in Great Britain. The results are relevant for disease surveillance and management for public and veterinary health. The findings can also aid in designing targeted public health campaigns and in raising awareness among outdoor recreationists and professionals.Graphical abstract

Papua New Guinean Genomes Reveal the Complex Settlement of North Sahul.

The settlement of Sahul, the lost continent of Oceania, remains one of the most ancient and debated human migrations. Modern New Guineans inherited a unique genetic diversity tracing back 50,000 years, and yet there is currently no model reconstructing their past population dynamics. We generated 58 new whole-genome sequences from Papua New Guinea, filling geographical gaps in previous sampling, specifically to address alternative scenarios of the initial migration to Sahul and the settlement of New Guinea. Here, we present the first genomic models for the settlement of northeast Sahul considering one or two migrations from Wallacea. Both models fit our data set, reinforcing the idea that ancestral groups to New Guinean and Indigenous Australians split early, potentially during their migration in Wallacea where the northern route could have been favored. The earliest period of human presence in Sahul was an era of interactions and gene flow between related but already differentiated groups, from whom all modern New Guineans, Bismarck islanders, and Indigenous Australians descend. The settlement of New Guinea was probably initiated from its southeast region, where the oldest archaeological sites have been found. This was followed by two migrations into the south and north lowlands that ultimately reached the west and east highlands. We also identify ancient gene flows between populations in New Guinea, Australia, East Indonesia, and the Bismarck Archipelago, emphasizing the fact that the anthropological landscape during the early period of Sahul settlement was highly dynamic rather than the traditional view of extensive isolation.

From glacial times to late Holocene: Benthic foraminiferal assemblages from cold water coral habitats off northwest Scotland

Benthic foraminiferal assemblage data have been derived from a marine sediment core collected in a cold-water coral (CWC) site off northwest Scotland (near the Wyville Thomson Ridge - WTR). The record covers the last glacial period to the late Holocene. Our reconstructions enable to better constrain the paleoenvironmental changes that took place in the study area since the last glacial time and define the environmental conditions that allowed the onset, formation and decline of CWCs in the area. The sedimentary record was characterized by three distinct foraminiferal assemblages, dominant during the pre-coral time interval (i and ii) and the coral period (iii): (i) the “Glacial” assemblage (>13 cal ka BP) was characterized by the dominance of Cibicides refulgens and Discanomalina coronata. Low foraminiferal densities and diversities indicated unfavorable ecological conditions (i.e., low temperature and food availability, coarse substrate) that were most likely related to the extended British Ice Sheet; (ii) the “Deglacial-Early Holocene” assemblage (~13–9 cal ka BP) was characterized by the cassidulinids-Lobatula lobatula association, indicating a progressive increase of organic matter content and influx of warm and saline North Atlantic surface waters. We hypothesize that these were the main environmental factors that thereafter allowed the settlement of CWCs in the WTR area around 9 cal ka BP; (iii) the “Holocene” (<9 cal ka BP) assemblage was characterized by the cohabitation of diverse epifaunal species (e.g., Rosalina globularis) present when CWCs were highly abundant, and infaunal species (e.g., Trifarina angulosa) when corals were less frequent. The periods recording high presence of T. angulosa after 9 ka cal BP were interpreted as indicating a higher contribution of Eastern North Atlantic Waters during periods of retracted Subpolar Gyre (SPG), affecting probably the efficiency of food export to the seafloor.

Specialising in veterinary translations.

Sue Anderson has been translating from Afrikaans, Dutch, French and German into English for over 30 years and recently took up Scottish Gaelic - just for fun!

Lord Loudoun, the Highlands and Imperial Subjecthood in North America

This article provides a comparative analysis of the tenure of John Campbell, fourth earl of Loudoun, as a regional commander in the Scottish Highlands during the Jacobite uprising of 1745–6 and as commander-in-chief of the British forces in North America from January 1756 to December 1757. It challenges historiographical interpretations of Loudoun as an incompetent bully, instead emphasising his attempts to negotiate with local elites in both imperial fringes for the realisation of the state's aims, albeit within the confines of his own understanding of imperial subjecthood. This article argues that Loudoun's experiences of waging war and pacifying the Highlands directly influenced how he approached the challenges he faced in implementing British military strategy in North America. In doing so, it contributes to the growing body of scholarship investigating the role of the army in British imperial policymaking and the direct and indirect influence British army experiences in the Scottish Highlands had on the transatlantic implementation of empire.

Soay Sheep: The Back-story

The primitive race of Soay sheep from the St Kilda archipelago in northwest Scotland has played an important role in narratives of the history of domestic sheep. The Soays, apparently a ‘Bronze Age’ race of sheep, were probably confined to the precipitous isle of Soay as soon as ‘Iron Age’ sheep were introduced to Hirta, St Kilda's main island, owing to the competitive edge of the ferocious Soay rams over the new arrivals. In the 1880s, Pitt-Rivers, following his archaeozoological interests, was the first to keep Soays in his park, their epic journey from the edge of the Atlantic to southern England enabled by his acquaintance with their owner. In the early twentieth century, Soays featured in animal bone reports for archaeological sites, were kept in parks and involved in breeding experiments, particularly around Horsham, Sussex (where their owner lived), and in Edinburgh. The transfer of 107 Soays to Hirta in 1934 and 1935, after humans had evacuated St Kilda, was a remarkable feat, enabling the important long-running Soay Sheep Project. The historical exploitation of ‘feral’ Soay sheep by the islanders of St Kilda has significant cultural ramifications.

The response of plants, carabid beetles and birds to 30 years of native reforestation in the Scottish Highlands

Abstract Globally, there is increasing interest in tree planting, leading to many country‐level commitments to reforestation. In the UK, current commitments would achieve 17% forest cover by 2050, with the highest rates of forest expansion expected in Scotland. Forest expansion with native trees is expected to increase biodiversity, particularly woodland specialist species, and associated ecosystem services. Despite this, data on biodiversity changes over the early stages of reforestation are sparse, particularly for upland areas in Scotland where opportunities for forest expansion are greatest. We collected data on the response of plants, carabid beetles and birds to native reforestation and grazing exclusion, using sites reforested over the last 30 years in the Scottish Highlands. Biodiversity in ungrazed, reforested sites was compared to unforested controls and mature native forest, both grazed and ungrazed. Mean bird species richness in reforested plots (4.4 [95% CI: 3.2, 5.9]) was higher than in unforested plots (0.8 [0.5, 1.3]), but lower than in mature forest plots (7.0 [5.4, 8.3]). In contrast, there was no systematic difference in plant or carabid beetle species richness in reforested, unforested or mature forest plots, or between grazed and ungrazed plots for the species richness of any groups. Woodland specialist bird and plant species were found in the reforested plots, and richness of woodland specialist bird species was predicted to reach levels in mature forest c. 36 years after reforestation. Species assemblages differed across habitat categories. For birds and plants, species assemblages in reforested sites were intermediate to unforested and mature sites. For carabid beetles, the assemblages in mature and reforested sites were comparable and differed from unforested sites. Grazing did not strongly influence species assemblages. Policy implications. We show that woodland specialists colonise reforested sites and species assemblages transition towards those found in the target habitat within the first 30 years of reforestation with native species. Native forest should be prioritised in Scotland's future forest expansion targets, given that mature native forest is scarce and fragmented in the Scottish Highlands and that the ultimate gain from native forest expansion may accrue over long time‐scales.

Mixed metamorphic and fluid graphite deposition in Palaeoproterozoic supracrustal rocks of the Lewisian Complex, NW Scotland

AbstractGraphite deposits may form alternatively by metamorphism of sedimentary rocks and from fluids. Both types occur in supracrustal successions within the Lewisian Complex of Northwest Scotland, and similarly in Palaeoproterozoic supracrustal rocks across the North Atlantic region in Canada, Greenland and Scandinavia. Carbon isotope compositions show that the graphite in Scotland had a mixed origin from metamorphism of sedimentary organic matter (schists) and the decarbonation of limestones (marbles). Raman spectroscopy shows that most of the graphite in Scotland exhibits some structural disorder, unlike the complete order in graphite vein ore deposits across the region. Exceptionally, where graphite was precipitated from fluid, in albitized rock in Tiree and Scardroy, it is fully ordered. While organic matter may survive granulite facies metamorphism without being transformed to fully ordered graphite, it can yield commercially more valuable ordered graphite when mobilized in a fluid.

Poetree – A Poetic Inquiry into Interdisciplinary Learning Based on the Gaelic Tree Alphabet

ABSTRACT The Gaelic tree alphabet is an ancient connection between trees and writing. In the Highlands of Scotland, it has recently been used as a structure for engaging people in interdisciplinary encounters at the boundary between forestry and literature, through a project called A-B-Tree. Poetic inquiry methods enabled exploration of how making a creative response to a tree can influence learning and attitudes. The A-B-Tree project has amassed evidence that tree-related wordplay is good for our well-being and stimulates and deepens thinking about trees. The poetic inquiry method has itself been a source of insights into the epistemological edge-zone between ways of knowing in poetry, folklore and forest ecology in particular and more generally between artistic practice and scientific knowledge.

How participation in ecological restoration can foster a connection to nature

There have been strong claims made for ecological restoration's potential as a practice which is conductive to rethinking relationships with nature. The involvement of lay people in “hands‐on restoration” is thought to hold potential for enabling re‐examinations of human connection to nature. Restoration scholars suggest causal mechanisms present in restoration practice which may explain why it is so conductive to enabling connection to nature. This research used participatory observation and in‐depth interviewing to examine these largely untested ideas and gives insight into the casual mechanisms they present. Focusing on one case of ecological restoration in the Highlands of Scotland, the study found that exertion and achievement gained through restoration work created positive affect which people associated with their experience of nature, that laboring in nature created belonging and ownership, and that physical immersion enabled intimacy with nature. It found that learning about the legacies of human agency on landscape reduced reification and that the wider narrative of restoration gave people both a sense of being part of the unfolding history of the landscape and part of a redemptive future. It also found that focused attention created vivid memories and elevated the significance of the experience of being in nature and ritual created remarkable, memorable events. This study adds to previous work, finding that the emotional labor of leaders, the use of educational techniques, and the kinds of tasks in which participants engage are important in creating particular ideas of the relationship between humans and nature.

Surface water pollution risk assessment of wadis, Mekerra and Saïda, in the North-Western of Algeria

Considered as the main stream of hydrographic network of Mactaa’s basin, in the west highlands of Algeria, both wadis, Mekerra and Saïda, are affected by pollution which is generated by anthropogenic activities. Makara and Saïda wadis cross the urban areas of Sidi-Bel-Abbes and Saïda respectively, in the west of Algeria, which constitute a real problem of human safety. In order to identify the pollution state on these wadis, samples have been collected during three periods of time (June 2011, July 2012 and April 2013) in the goal to characterize the physico-chemical and bacteriological quality of surface water.Results obtained describe clearly the existence of chemical and organic pollution in both wadis at high levels of calcium, magnesium, chlorides, nitrates, nitrites, phosphate, DBO5 and dissolved oxygen. The evaluation of organic pollution index (OPI) confirmed that there is a high organic pollution, upstream, which increases with high water passage towards urban areas of both cities (OPI).The bacteriological analysis results obtained show presence of high contents of faecal bacteria contamination (total coliforms (TC), faecal coliforms (TC) and faecal streptococci(FS))principally in wadi Saïda. The relationship between FC/FS justifies the predominance of human origin than of animal as source of contamination. While, the determination of microbiological quality index (MQI), for each wadi, confirms degradation of microbiological quality by the faecal pollution, mainly in Saïda urban area.

Staphylectomy in a West Highland White Terrier dog: Case report

The objective of this paper is to report on the case of a male West Highland White Terrier, approximately seven years of age showing signs of dysphagia, exercise intolerance, choking and overall breathing difficulties. The clinical signs mentioned above were firstly noticed five years ago and the dog was diagnosed with a prolonged soft palate. Complementary imaging exams such as thoracic radiographs and a computerized tomography of the cranial and cervical areas were made. The tomography showed soft palate hypertrophy and cervical lymphatic adenomegaly. The brachycephalic syndrome is, among other symptoms, also composed by a prolonged soft palate. This syndrome, although mostly common in brachycephalic breeds, can occur in every breed there is. Taking the results of the subject in question into consideration, the need of surgical correction for its prolonged soft palate was shown necessary. The most effective surgical method to treat this particular anomaly is a partial resection of the soft palate. Blood exams and a cardiologic evaluation were required as pre-operative exams. The surgical procedure is called Staphilectomy, in which the correction of the prolonged soft palate is made, in this case, with an ultrasonic scalpel. This specific scalpel is not commonly used although its use can reduce surgical time and improve the immediate post-surgical wellbeing of the animal significantly. The owners of the subject reported significant improvement in the clinical signs as immediate as 24 hours post surgery. The protocol used in this particular case were antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, pain relief, gastric protection, anti-varicose ointment and liquid feeds, one of which was served cold each day to reduce swelling. The conclusion made after taking everything into consideration is that Staphilectomy surgeries are still not common but extremely relevant to patients such as the subject of this paper since its symptoms were extinguished after the procedure and it has now a better quality of life.

‘Home language’, ‘Main Language’ or no language: Questions and answers about British Sign Language in the 2011 British censuses

The 2011 census in the UK was the first to ask questions about the use of languages other than the indigenous Celtic languages, Welsh, Irish and Scottish Gaelic. The resulting broadened inquiry included asking about the use of British Sign Language (BSL), the acknowledged language of the Deaf signing community in Britain. Official and public attitudes surrounding signing – its relationship with spoken/written language; its linguistic ‘validity’; its territoriality or universality; its association with ideologies of disability – are rarely placed on display as they are via the census process. The formulation of questions, their linguistic expression, and the responses elicited may all be seen as indexical of societal positioning.In the UK, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each conduct their own census, so the question about sign language was differently phrased in each jurisdiction, and placed alongside a different set of questions about other languages. Thus in each questionnaire the sign language question was contextualized differently, and was open to comparison by respondents with the questions about other, more prominent languages including English. Unsurprisingly, this led to different responses to questions which were ostensibly asking about the same thing.In this paper we describe how the census questionnaire in each jurisdiction asked about respondents’ principal language, and how British Sign Language was positioned in each. A significant difference in the wording of the question – about ‘home language’ in Scotland and ‘main language’ elsewhere – led to a far larger proportion of respondents mentioning BSL in Scotland. We conclude that while the ‘home language’ question produces a more realistic picture of the extent of BSL use, neither question is sufficient to reveal the complexity of the repertoire of many bi- and multilinguals. More generally, the wording of questions about principal language may crucially affect the responses of users of minority languages.

Language Revitalisation in Gaelic Scotland

Through their native languages, certain groups of people claim political, social, geographical, and ethnic identity and a legal base for their existence. Colonialism, however, has vanished minority spoken languages in many parts of the world. Additionally, despite claims of a “global village,” the advent of internationalization has further isolated indigenous languages in some parts of the world. Revitalizing and preventing those languages from dwindling from their spoken communities is crucial for scholars of linguistics, sociology, cultural studies, and education. Dunmore, in the book Language Revitalisation in Gaelic Scotland: Linguistic Practice and Ideology, offers profound perspectives on preventing the potential loss of Gaelic language in Scotland drawing from empirical research.

Language is land, land is language: The importance of Indigenous languages

This collaborative opinion piece, written from the authors’ personal perspectives (Anishinaabe and Gàidheal) on Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe language) and Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic language), discusses the importance of maintaining and revitalizing Indigenous languages, particularly in these times of climate and humanitarian crises. The authors will give their personal responses, rooted in lived experiences, on five areas they have identified as a starting point for their discussion: (1) why Indigenous languages are important; (2) the effects of colonization on Indigenous languages; (3) the connections/responsibilities to the land, such as Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), embedded in Indigenous languages; (4) the importance of land-based learning and education, full language immersion, and the challenges associated with implementing these strategies for Indigenous language maintenance and revitalization; and (5) where we can go from here.

Scottish Gaelic revitalisation: Progress and aspiration

This review considers the revitalisation programme for Scottish Gaelic (referred to simply as ‘Gaelic’ [ɡalik] by its speakers) which has gathered pace since the 1980s. Gaelic is a minority Celtic language with approximately 58,000 speakers in Scotland (Scottish Government 2015) and 1,500 speakers in Canada (Statistique Canada 2016). Gaelic in Scotland developed from the Old Irish spoken by people moving back and forwards between Ireland and Scotland in the 4th-5th centuries and eventually became the language spoken across almost all of Scotland in the high medieval era (11th-12th centuries). Since this time, language shift has been taking place in Scotland and locations where the majority of the population speak Gaelic are now confined to north and west Highland areas such as the Western Isles (Outer Hebrides). Frequent waves of migration from Scotland have led to diasporic populations of Gaelic speakers including the substantial settlements in Nova Scotia, Canada, where many Gaelic speakers emigrated in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The texts reviewed here document the process of language shift but especially focus on revitalisation efforts undertaken in order to increase speaker numbers and also increase the contexts and usage of Gaelic. As both works demonstrate, the revitalisation programme has its origins in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries but really gained momentum in the 1980s with the advent of increased Gaelic broadcasting, education in Gaelic, and the subsequent Gaelic Language Act in 2005, which gave Gaelic in Scotland equal legal status to English. Each work takes quite a different approach to considering these issues: McLeod (2020) is a historical and legal analysis of language policy from 1872 to 2020 and McEwan-Fujita (2020) collects the outcome of several linguistic anthropological studies conducted with different Gaelic-speaking groups and organisations. Together, these works provided different angles and levels of analysis of the Gaelic revitalisation programme and offer substantial inspiration for future work. As well as giving a detailed picture of the Gaelic context, these works will be useful for those working in other minority language contexts, linguistic anthropology, and language policy.

Geological and geomorphological influences on a recent debris flow event in the Ice-scoured Mountain Quaternary domain, western Scotland

Debris flows in settings that have experienced net glacial erosion within the UK's Ice-scoured Quaternary domain are the result of a complex interaction of a range of geological and geomorphological factors. On the 11th of August 2016 a rainfall-triggered debris flow deposited 100 t of sediment onto local road and rail infrastructure blocking transport between town of Fort William and port of Mallaig in north-west Scotland. The debris flow occurred in an ice-scoured setting, where current 1:50,000-scale geological maps suggest that little or no sediment is expected on the valley slopes. In this study, we show how weathering and mass-wasting processes have interacted with bedrock structures to fill localised depressions with sediment on the upper parts of the slope. The intense rainfall event of August 2016 caused the destabilisation of this localised sediment, with eventual failure along bedrock joint surfaces resulting in two debris flows. This study demonstrates the combination of processes that can result in thick accumulations of sediment on slopes that are otherwise generally lacking in superficial sediment cover. These sediment accumulations have the potential to pose a significant landslide hazard in areas that might previously have been thought of as lower susceptibility. The research illustrates a need to improve understanding and representation of sediment thickness and distribution on hill slopes – particularly those that show an absence of superficial deposits at the scale of currently available geological maps.

Rewilding and repeopling in Scotland: Large-scale land managers’ perspectives and practices

In this paper, I examine two alternative responses to the depopulation of marginal rural areas: ‘repeopling’ (repopulation) and ‘rewilding’ (often defined as ecosystem restoration via mammal reintroductions). Specifically, I aim to clarify large-scale land managers' perspectives on rewilding and repeopling, as well as how these perspectives relate to their land management practices. I focus my research on Scotland for three reasons: (1.) it is a country with significant marginal rural areas; (2.) it hosts many large-scale landowners; and (3.) ‘rewilding’ and ‘repeopling’ are present in the country's political discourse. To answer my research questions, I conducted structured interviews with eight large-scale land managers (representing conservation NGOs, community land trusts, and private estates) in a single marginal rural area in the Scottish Highlands. I conducted a thematic analysis of their perspectives on rewilding and repeopling, as well as their land management practices. In relation to perspectives, I found that ‘rewilding’ is a controversial term in the study site, and this controversy seems in part to relate to the term's diverse, often ambiguous, interpretations. Repeopling was more broadly supported, though with qualifications. In relation to land management practices, I found that conservation activities were dominant in the study site. From a political ecological perspective, the prominence of conservation activities even on lands managed by interviewees who opposed rewilding might be seen as an example of territorialisation by conservation actors. In contrast, one interviewee focused on renewable energy development which, by bridging conservation and repopulation concerns, could be interpreted as an instance of counterterritorialisation.