‘As Earth’s testimonies tell’: wilderness conservation in a changing world
Too often, wilderness conservation ignores a temporal perspective greater than the past
50 years, yet a long-term perspective (centuries to millennia) reveals the dynamic nature
of many ecosystems. Analysis of fossil pollen, charcoal and stable isotopes, combined
with historical analyses and archaeology can reveal how ongoing interactions between
climatic change, human activities and other disturbances have shaped today’s landscapes
over thousands of years. This interdisciplinary approach can inform wilderness
conservation and also contribute to interpreting current trends and predicting how
ecosystems might respond to future climate change. In this paper, we review literature
that reveals how increasing collaboration among palaeoecologists, archaeologists,
historians, anthropologists and ecologists is improving understanding of ecological
complexity. Drawing on case studies from forested and non-forested ecosystems in
Europe, the Americas, Africa and Australia, we discuss how this integrated approach can
inform wilderness conservation and ecosystem management.
Publication Date: 2004
Credits: Ecology Letters, (2004) 7: 990–998 doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2004.00658.x
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