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CHANGING LANDSCAPES
Science, Invention and Nature have all caused the Earth’s landscapes to change in myriad ways. This SINergy looks at how nature, agriculture and technology have all impacted upon the landscape. Transport technologies, including the development of railways, have changed the landscape by reshaping and ‘taming’ it and allowing humans ever greater access to remote areas. A much more contemporary technology – the invention of genetically modified crops – could change the landscape by affecting the plants, insects and birds found on agricultural land. In some cases, changes in the landscape brought about by modern agricultural practices and deforestation have had disastrous effects on the plants and animals that occupy those habitats. Verreaux’s sifaka in Madagascar, the Horned guan in Central America and Brown hares in Britain have all suffered dramatic reductions in numbers as a result of humans altering their environments. As use of the landscape has changed, so have perceptions of it. Early explorers tended to turn landscape into property when they ‘discovered’, mapped and named it. In other instances, certain species have caused the landscape to alter. The Chinese mitten crab has invaded waterways throughout Europe and North America and is causing environmental damage while coppiced Sweet chestnut trees encourage other plants and animals to flourish in their midst. Railscapes at the National Railway Museum
Putting our Environment First from Y Touring
This feature, by English Nature, looks at how genetically modified crops could significantly change England’s agricultural landscape. Their concern centres on crops which have been genetically modified to make them herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant. Research shows that the more efficient herbicides developed over the last 20 years have caused a decline in the wild plants, insects and birds found on agricultural land. Herbicide-tolerant GM crops might inflict greater damage, whilst their modified traits may be able to spread into other plants, exacerbating the problem even further. English Nature advocates that such crops are not released commercially until an agreed research programme, assessing their impact on farmland wildlife, has been carried out. Verreaux’s sifaka is a large, beautiful lemur which lives in the forests of Madagascar. Like many of the other animals and plants found on the island it is unique to Madagascar and occurs nowhere else in the world. Verreaux’s sifaka is seriously endangered because of the way the Malagasy landscape is changing. The spiny and dry deciduous forests it inhabits are being cut down for timber, firewood and charcoal production. In other parts of the island, species are endangered because rainforest is destroyed to make way for cattle ranching, mining, coffee plantations and other forms of agriculture. Biologically, Madagascar is one of the richest areas on earth. Over half of its forests have disappeared already. If the remaining forests are not protected, Verreaux’s sifaka, along with countless other rare species, will be gone forever. The horned guan is a colourful bird of Central America. It lives in the mountain cloud forests of Mexico and Guatemala - although it is highly endangered and only small, severely fragmented populations survive. The beautiful landscape it inhabits is rapidly changing due to deforestation. The forest is cleared for the extraction of firewood and the growing of crops such as corn, beans and coffee. Illegal logging and fires cause further problems. The landscape at higher altitudes in these mountainous areas is generally safer from exploitation. Higher land is typically too cool, wet or rugged to be hospitable to human activities and is therefore still largely intact. However, even these natural barriers to human intervention are giving way under the pressures of a rapidly expanding population. Many fear that further development with no regard to environmental impact may soon drive these unique forests, along with their inhabitants the horned guan, to extinction. Brown hares at The Natural History Museum
The introduction of modern farming practices has dramatically transformed the British landscape. Brown hares have suffered as a result and conservationists are concerned that the sight of hares ‘boxing’ in the countryside could soon be a thing of the past. Monoculture has tended towards the creation of large arable fields which are not broken up by strips of grass or hedgerows, leaving hares without adequate cover from predators such as foxes. Land use has led to a paucity of the quiet, undisturbed areas that hares need to raise their young. Further harm is caused when the animals ingest harmful chemicals by licking their fur after running through sprayed crops. During the last 50 years, the hare population has decreased by over 75%. To stop this decline, current intensive farming practices would have to change. But with fairly simple measures, such as the regeneration of hedgerows, farmers and landowners could ensure that the brown hare keeps on boxing for many years to come. Over the Horizon at the Science Museum
The human need to explore and discover has revealed much about how societies around the world differ in their perception of landscape. To Western eyes knowledge of a landscape transforms it into property – something that can be owned. Historically, when a new land was ‘discovered’ or claimed, the first priority was to get it mapped, thereby turning it into territory. Many other cultures have an extremely different perception of landscape and do not share European notions of land as commodity. For example, the Inuit believe that the people belong to the land, rather than the land to the people. The act of naming, which is also part and parcel of exploration, further changes the way landscape is perceived. Names have immense political and cultural significance and have often, even unwittingly, amplified the exclusion of native people from they land in which they live. Chinese mitten crabs at The Natural History Museum
The Chinese mitten crab is so named for its "mittens" - soft bristles that cover its claws. It is thought that the crab first reached Europe in the ballast tanks of commercial vessels, about 90 years ago. Since then it has invaded European and American waterways in an extraordinary fashion. Studies show that the crab is already well-established in the River Thames in England and that the population is increasing. If continued, this population boom could cause significant changes to the English landscape. The mitten crab is known to burrow into river banks and therefore may represent a hazard to river and other freshwater engineering projects. The crab is also capable of emerging from water and crossing dry land to enter new river systems. This invasion could eventually threaten freshwater habitats currently occupied by populations of native crayfish. Chestnut trees at The Natural History Museum
It is not necessary to fell a sweet chestnut tree in order to get timber from it. For centuries, sweet chestnut trees were coppiced instead – a practice which changes the landscape and benefits wildlife. When a tree is coppiced, it is cut back to ground level. It grows back but produces lots of woody poles rather than one massive trunk. Traditionally, the poles were harvested for fencing, house building, firewood and charcoal while in the recent past, chestnut coppice was used as hop poles. Actively coppiced trees do not create a dense canopy of sunlight-blocking leaves, allowing plant species such as wood sorrel, primrose, and bluebell to flourish in their midst. Subsequently, coppices are seen as semi-natural ecosystems and highly prized by nature conservationists. By the 1960s areas of coppice had shrunk considerably but in the last few years there has been an active resurgence in the practice. Some forested areas of the British landscape are changing for the better.
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