Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Environmental Legacy of Historic Human Land Use

农业和放牧对环境的影响是世界范围内的一个主要问题，特别是对土壤和植被的长期影响。持续数百年的农业和放牧活动在19世纪中叶停止在苏格兰西部，在地貌上留下了表面痕迹。在了解这种土地利用如何具体影响地下土壤和它们继续支持的植被方面，仍存在差距。该项目将确定苏格兰西部历史土地使用对环境的影响，重点是偏远的诺伊达特半岛。将使用历史数据和考古地图指导采样，以捕捉夏季牧场定居点中耕地和非耕地之间的差异以及放牧坡度。由于包括粪便和海藻在内的土壤改良剂，预计残留地和夏季居民点周围的土壤将更加肥沃、质地更好。不同土地利用区域内的样地将捕捉植被和土壤的差异。每一块地都将记录植物物种丰富度和景观位置数据，并收集土壤样本进行表征，包括颗粒大小、pH、有机质、碳、氮和磷。记录的土地利用变量将包括耕作历史和到夏季定居的距离，以此作为放牧强度的衡量标准。将使用聚类分析对植被群落进行分类，并将使用多变量排序来揭示单个变量在解释植物物种分布方面的重要性。研究结果将确定与过去土地利用区域相关的详细土壤和植被属性，到目前为止，这些属性一直是视觉上的相关性。研究重点是与过去耕作和放牧相关的土壤属性如何决定当前的植被模式。虽然更好的土壤和植被经常与该地区过去的土地使用区联系在一起，但这一点尚未得到科学检验。这项研究着眼于整个历史土地利用景观，为欧洲西北部带来了新的综合。研究结果将使研究地点与挪威类似的田园景观相比较，并可能将该区域环境遗产研究的时间跨度延长100年。除了强调被科学忽视的文化土壤外，所有数据和发现都将与约翰·缪尔信托基金和诺伊达特基金会共享。这两个组织都积极参与生态恢复，并寻求对其管理的生态资源进行更充分的了解。这项研究的数据将被纳入诺伊达特基金会和他们在Inverie的游客中心提供的网络交付的文化历史内容。

Environmental impacts of agriculture and grazing are a major concern worldwide, particularly the long-term impacts on soils and vegetation. Centuries of agricultural and grazing activity ceased in the mid-nineteenth century in western Scotland, leaving surface traces in the landscape. A gap remains in understanding how this land use specifically affected the subsurface soils and the vegetation they continue to support. This project will identify the environmental impacts of historic land use in western Scotland, focusing on the remote Knoydart peninsula. Historical data and archaeological maps will be used to guide sampling which captures differences between cultivated and uncultivated areas and grazing gradients in summer pasture settlements. More fertile, finer-textured soils are anticipated within relict fields and around summer settlements as a result of soil amendments including manure and seaweed. Sample plots within the different land-use areas will capture vegetation and soil differences. Plant species abundance and landscape-position data will be recorded in each plot, and soil samples collected for characterization including particle size, pH, organic matter, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Land-use variables recorded will include cultivation history and distance to summer settlement as a measure of grazing intensity. Cluster analysis will be used to classify vegetation communities, and multivariate ordination will be used to reveal the importance of individual variables in explaining plant species distributions. The results will identify detailed soil and vegetation properties associated with past land-use areas that have until now been visual correlations.The research focuses on how soil properties associated with past cultivation and grazing determine current vegetation patterning. While better soil and vegetation is frequently associated with past land-use areas in the region this has not been scientifically tested. The research focuses on the total historic land-use landscape, bringing a synthesis new to northwestern Europe. Results will allow comparison of the study site with analogous pastoral landscapes in Norway and possibly extend the temporal span of environmental legacy research in the region by 100 years. In addition to highlighting scientifically ignored cultural soils, all data and findings will be shared with both the John Muir Trust and the Knoydart Foundation. Both organizations are actively engaged in ecological restoration and seek fuller understanding of the ecological resources they manage. Data from this study will be incorporated into web delivered cultural history content served by the Knoydart Foundation and at their visitor centre in Inverie.