The legacy of landscape history: the role of paleoecological analysis

Abstract

Present-day landscape patterns are the outcome of a number of ecological, geological, climatological, and cultural processes occurring over prehistoric and historic time frames (Delcourt and Delcourt, 1991, 2004; Delcourt, 2002). The interactions of these processes change through time and are mediated by changing natural and anthropogenic disturbance regimes (Wiens et al., 1985; Delcourt and Delcourt, 1988; Turner, 1989; Russell, 1997; Foster et al., 1998a). The legacy of long-term landscape history is a lasting overprint upon both natural and cultural landscapes, as the effects of past processes leave a mark on present landscapes that may endure long into the future. This legacy has been understood for a long time in Great Britain (Rackham, 1986) and Europe (Delcourt, 1987; Birks et al., 1988) and it is now increasingly recognized in North America (Abrams, 1992; Russell, 1997; Delcourt et al., 1998; Delcourt and Delcourt, 1998, Foster et al., 1998a, 1998b).