Social and Cultural Data in Landscape Ecology Michelle Steen-Adams.
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Transcript of Social and Cultural Data in Landscape Ecology Michelle Steen-Adams.
Social and Cultural Data in Landscape Ecology
Michelle Steen-Adams
Outline
• Applications of social and cultural data in landscape ecological investigations
• Conceptual Model
• Ways that human presence shapes landscape patterns
• Data and methods
I. Applications: Questions and problems social and cultural data can help resolve
• Basic research question: How have current landscape patterns developed?
• Applied questions: – Restoration
• Ecological significance of social processes and patterns
– Land use planning
II. Conceptual Model
Zev Naveh (1991)
Biophysical Sphere
Emergent Structural And Functional Characteristics
Human Sphere:Culture
Technology
III. Ways that human presence shapes landscape pattern
Distant Causes• Culture• Politics • Economics
– Transportation structures – Industry– Technology
Proximate Causes• Human settlement patterns
– Population – Land Ownership
• Land Use/ Forest management
• Historical dimension
Cultural Landscapes (vs. Natural landscapes)
• Definitions: landscape and culture• Frequent misperception of natural vs.
cultural landscape characteristics• Ways people influence landscape
structure– Changing dominance structure– Range extensions or truncations– Ruderal invasions– Soil alterations
Cultural theory in landscape ecology
• Culture structures landscapes (Nassauer 1995)
– Human perceptions of landscapes
– Cognition– Aesthetics/ values
• Landscapes structure culture (feedback loop)
Causes of Landscape Pattern: Culture
Kickapoo Valley, Wisconsin,Heasley and
Guries1998
Cultural drivers of landscape
change
Liberty Township, Vernon County,Wisconsin.Heasley and Guries1998
Cultural and Political causes of landscape pattern: Comparative landscape change
assessment
10 0 10 20 Kilometers
Canada
U.S.A.
Bad RiverReservation
Non-Industrial Private Area
Research Question and Hypothesis
• Question: – How do differing cultural and political conditions
explain distinct courses of landscape change?
• Hypothesis– Sites with cultural and political characteristics that
value intact forest conditions tend to retain intact forests;
– Sites with cultural and political characteristics that prioritize agricultural land uses tend to have agriculture-grassland or open land cover conditions.
Cultural comparison: Bad River Reservation
• Ojibwe woodland culture– Birch bark– Maple sugar– Hunting and fishing– Wild rice
Maple Sugar Camp
Preparing Birch Bark for Removal
Cultural comparison: off-Reservation area
• Yeoman farmer- Jeffersonian tradition
National Archives
Political comparison: Bad River Reservation
• Assimilation and acculturation policies– Dawes Act
(1887): allotment system
– Stumpage capital to establish farms
– Indian Agency• Bureau of Indian
Affairs Forestry Division– Pulpwood
management
Political comparison: off-Reservation area
• State programs– U.W. Agricultural
Experiment Station system
– Cooperation between local farmer and experts
• Federal programs– Agricultural
Stabilization and Conservation Service
– Farm Service Agency
Land Cover Transition Comparisons
Reservation Off-Reservation
0.000.050.100.150.200.250.300.35
Hemlock-Yellow Birch
to Ag-Grassland
Pine to Ag-Grassland
AspenPaper-Birch
to AspenPaper-Birch
Boreal toAspen
Paper-Birch
Hemlock-Yellow Birch
to AspenPaper-Birch
LowlandForest toAspen
Paper-Birch
Pine toAspen
Paper-BirchPro
po
rtio
n o
f su
b-r
egio
n Pre-Euro-American settlement- 1930 Transitions
0.000.050.100.150.200.250.300.350.40
Ag-Grassland toAg-Grassland
Aspen Paper-Birch to Ag-Grassland
Ag-Grassland toUpland Shurb-
Herb
Aspen Paper-Birch to Upland
Shrub-Herb
Aspen Paper-Birch to Aspen
Paper-Birch
Aspen Paper-Birch to BorealP
rop
ort
ion
of
sub
-reg
ion 1930- 1980s Transitions
Causes of Landscape Pattern: Settlement history
Eastern Upper
Peninsula, Michigan
Silbernagel et al.
1997
Causes of Landscape Pattern: Population, Industry, Transportation
South BerkshireBurgi et al. 2000
IV. Ways of measuring social-cultural influences on landscapes:
Data Sources
• Historic land surveys
• Remotely-sensed Imagery
• Census Data
• Questionnaires and Interviews
• Archival material
Historic Land Survey Data: Wisconsin Land Economic Inventory
• Purpose: Land inventory and planning
• Land uses– Agriculture– Urban
Remotely-sensed data: Aerial photographic imagery
• Wide availability– 1930s- present– Decadal intervals– Coverage: entire
U.S.
• Flexible to users’ needs and technical abilities
Data Source: Censuses
• U.S. Census– Timeframe: 1790- present– Spatial scales: Block, Tract, County– Data: population, occupation, income, age
• State Censuses
• Census of Agriculture
Data Source: Questionnaires
Medley et al. 1995
Landscape change with agricultural intensification…Ohio Medley et al. 1995
Change in owned and rented acreage?
Changes in acreage in row crops?
Rank importance of factors influencing management decisions
Archival Data
• Correspondence• Reports• Newspaper articles• Photographs, especially repeat
photographyData Repositories
– National Archives– Historical societies– Library collections– Museums
Key Points
• Many landscape ecological questions and applied problems require integrating social and cultural variables into the analysis.
• A conceptual foundation and body of research literature exists.
• Human presence shapes landscape pattern in multiple ways.
• Data and analytical techniques do exist to conduct this kind of research.