42 results on '"Anneli Ekblom"'
Search Results
2. A rapid and simple method for the extraction of biogenic silica (BSi) in phytolith-poor sediments and soils
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Arnaud Mazuy, Vincenza Ferrara, Anneli Ekblom, and Claire Delhon
- Subjects
Time-efficient, easy and safe extraction of biogenic silica (BSi) from phytolith-poor sediments ,Science - Abstract
Phytoliths can be used to reconstruct human-nature dynamics over the long term (from decennial to centennial and millennial time scales) and may capture activities that cannot be reconstructed through other proxies. Phytoliths consist of fossil biogenic silica (BSi), formed in plant organs and then released into the soil with plant decay. When working in environmental contexts where the phytolith signal is highly diluted, as is the case in environments with a long history of land use, animal-plant interactions and open woody environments, the extraction of phytoliths remains a challenge. To address this issue, we developed an efficient method for the extraction of biogenic silica (BSi) from sediments and soils of contexts characterised by the long-term human and animal presence and disturbance, such as remnants of old agroforestry systems.The method we developed has a number of advantages, including: • An easy and time-efficient methodology to perform (with an overall processing time of 1.5/2 days for a batch of 16 samples) • An extraction method free from dangerous chemicals • A method amenable to non-experts without a prior background in lab extraction procedures.
- Published
- 2024
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3. The role of palaeoecology in reconciling biodiversity conservation, livelihoods and carbon storage in Madagascar
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Lindsey Gillson, Estelle Razanatsoa, Andriantsilavo Hery Isandratana Razafimanantsoa, Malika Virah-Sawmy, and Anneli Ekblom
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ecosystem services ,livelihoods ,palaeoecology ,reforestation ,restoration ,General. Including nature conservation, geographical distribution ,QH1-199.5 - Abstract
Planting trees is proposed as an important climate mitigation tool, but can be detrimental to biodiversity and livelihoods if not carefully planned and managed, with landscape history and livelihoods in mind. In Madagascar, deforestation is of concern, and a threat to forest-adapted biota. However, much of Madagascar’s landscape harbours ancient mosaic and open ecosystems that are home to unique suites of flora and fauna and provide a wide range of ecosystem services. Though guidelines for ecologically and socially responsible reforestation are emerging, the potential role of landscape history and palaeoecology has been generally underemphasised. Here, using Madagascar as a case study, we argue that forest restoration projects need a sound understanding of landscape history that includes a greater integration of palaeoecological data. This would help establish the former composition and extent of forests and also investigate the antiquity of open and mosaic ecosystems. When economic interests are strong, information from palaeoecology and environmental history can help reduce biases when identifying appropriate locations and suites of species for forestation. Furthermore, a reflective approach to landscape history can contribute to restoration projects that integrate cultural and livelihood considerations. A transdisciplinary approach that considers local needs and cultural context can facilitate the design and implementation of restoration projects that share benefits equitably. Underpinning this ambition is a more comprehensive consideration of ecosystem service benefits in a changing climate that includes accurate carbon storage calculations, as well as other ecosystem services including water provision, soil formation and erosion prevention, grazing resources, medicine and cultural components.
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- 2023
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4. Livelihood vulnerability and human-wildlife interactions across protected areas
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Joana Gomes Pereira, Luis Miguel Rosalino, Anneli Ekblom, and Maria J. Santos
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climate change ,human-wildlife interactions ,livelihood vulnerability index ,protected areas ,social networks ,Biology (General) ,QH301-705.5 ,Ecology ,QH540-549.5 - Abstract
Protected Areas (PAs) are important wildlife refuges and act as climate change buffers, but they may impact human livelihoods, particularly engendering a high risk of negative human-wildlife interactions (HWI). Understanding synergies and trade-offs among the drivers of overall human vulnerability within PAs is needed to ensure good outcomes for conservation and human well-being. We examined how climate variability, HWI, and socio-demographics affect livelihood vulnerability across three PAs in Mozambique, Southeast Africa. We used structured questionnaires to obtain information on livelihood vulnerability and social-ecological context-specific variables. We applied principal component analysis to understand synergies and trade-offs between the dimensions of vulnerability and linear models to test the effect of social-ecological drivers on vulnerability. We show that households are mostly vulnerable within PAs due to exposure to climate variability and to HWI, and their low capacity to employ livelihood strategies or to have a strong social network. Furthermore, we show that vulnerability to HWI and climate variability increases with distance to strict protection areas within the PAs and distance to rivers, which implies that proximity to strict protection areas and rivers within PAs still promotes better livelihood conditions than elsewhere. On the other hand, we also found that lower access to infrastructure and other livelihood assets enhances vulnerability, which reflects a trade-off within PAs that potentially limits the benefits of socially inclusive conservation. Our results show that the impacts of PAs, HWI, and climate on community vulnerability should not be viewed in isolation, but instead, conservation and livelihood improvement strategies should reflect their interconnectedness. Although livelihood vulnerability appears to be shaped by these general effects of PAs, it is important also to consider the local PA context when addressing or mitigating livelihood vulnerability in and around them.
- Published
- 2024
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5. Using palaeoecology to explore the resilience of southern African savannas
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Lindsey Gillson and Anneli Ekblom
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resilience ,thresholds ,thresholds of potential concern ,palaeoecology ,alternate stable states ,General. Including nature conservation, geographical distribution ,QH1-199.5 - Abstract
Savannas are dynamic and heterogeneous environments with highly variable vegetation that responds to a multitude of interacting drivers. Rainfall, soils, herbivory, fire and land use all effect land cover in savannas. In addition, savannas have a long history of human use. Setting management goals is therefore complex. Understanding long-term variability in savannas using palaeoecology provides a context for interpretation of recent changes in vegetation and can help to inform management based on acceptable or historical ranges of variability. In this article, we review and synthesise palaeoecological data from southern African savannas and use resilience theory as a framework for structuring and understanding of vegetation dynamics in savannas. We identify thresholds between alternate stable states, which have different ecological properties, suites of species and ecosystem services. Multi-proxy palaeoecological records can assist in identifying alternate states in savanna vegetation, as well as showing how different drivers (fire, herbivory, nutrients and climate) interact to drive transitions between states. Conservation implications: The ecological thresholds identified from palaeoecological data can be used to inform the development of management thresholds, known as thresholds of potential concern. Thresholds of potential concern are designed to facilitate or impede transitions between states by manipulation of those variables (e.g. fire and herbivory) that can be controlled at the landscape scale.
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- 2020
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6. Anthropological contributions to historical ecology: 50 questions, infinite prospects.
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Chelsey Geralda Armstrong, Anna C Shoemaker, Iain McKechnie, Anneli Ekblom, Péter Szabó, Paul J Lane, Alex C McAlvay, Oliver J Boles, Sarah Walshaw, Nik Petek, Kevin S Gibbons, Erendira Quintana Morales, Eugene N Anderson, Aleksandra Ibragimow, Grzegorz Podruczny, Jana C Vamosi, Tony Marks-Block, Joyce K LeCompte, Sākihitowin Awâsis, Carly Nabess, Paul Sinclair, and Carole L Crumley
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Medicine ,Science - Abstract
This paper presents the results of a consensus-driven process identifying 50 priority research questions for historical ecology obtained through crowdsourcing, literature reviews, and in-person workshopping. A deliberative approach was designed to maximize discussion and debate with defined outcomes. Two in-person workshops (in Sweden and Canada) over the course of two years and online discussions were peer facilitated to define specific key questions for historical ecology from anthropological and archaeological perspectives. The aim of this research is to showcase the variety of questions that reflect the broad scope for historical-ecological research trajectories across scientific disciplines. Historical ecology encompasses research concerned with decadal, centennial, and millennial human-environmental interactions, and the consequences that those relationships have in the formation of contemporary landscapes. Six interrelated themes arose from our consensus-building workshop model: (1) climate and environmental change and variability; (2) multi-scalar, multi-disciplinary; (3) biodiversity and community ecology; (4) resource and environmental management and governance; (5) methods and applications; and (6) communication and policy. The 50 questions represented by these themes highlight meaningful trends in historical ecology that distill the field down to three explicit findings. First, historical ecology is fundamentally an applied research program. Second, this program seeks to understand long-term human-environment interactions with a focus on avoiding, mitigating, and reversing adverse ecological effects. Third, historical ecology is part of convergent trends toward transdisciplinary research science, which erodes scientific boundaries between the cultural and natural.
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- 2017
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7. Conservation through Biocultural Heritage—Examples from Sub-Saharan Africa
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Anneli Ekblom, Anna Shoemaker, Lindsey Gillson, Paul Lane, and Karl-Johan Lindholm
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biocultural heritage ,sub-Saharan Africa ,traditional ecological knowledge ,hotspots ,sacred forests ,conservation ,Agriculture - Abstract
In this paper, we review the potential of biocultural heritage in biodiversity protection and agricultural innovation in sub-Saharan Africa. We begin by defining the concept of biocultural heritage into four interlinked elements that are revealed through integrated landscape analysis. This concerns the transdisciplinary methods whereby biocultural heritage must be explored, and here we emphasise that reconstructing landscape histories and documenting local heritage values needs to be an integral part of the process. Ecosystem memories relate to the structuring of landscape heterogeneity through such activities as agroforestry and fire management. The positive linkages between living practices, biodiversity and soil nutrients examined here are demonstrative of the concept of ecosystem memories. Landscape memories refer to built or enhanced landscapes linked to specific land-use systems and property rights. Place memories signify practices of protection or use related to a specific place. Customary protection of burial sites and/or abandoned settlements, for example, is a common occurrence across Africa with beneficial outcomes for biodiversity and forest protection. Finally, we discuss stewardship and change. Building on local traditions, inclusivity and equity are essential to promoting the continuation and innovation of practices crucial for local sustainability and biodiversity protection, and also offer new avenues for collaboration in landscape management and conservation.
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- 2019
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8. Late Quaternary climate variability in Madagascar and its connection to South-East Africa hydroclimate changes and atmospheric circulation patterns
- Author
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Elin Norström, Rienk Smittenberg, Anneli Ekblom, Simon Haberle, and Christos Katrantsiotis
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Madagascar is characterized by high climatic heterogeneity and its topography plays a key role in modulating the regional hydroclimate variability in South and East Africa. However, knowledge on past climate of Madagascar very limited, in line with the general scarcity of paleoclimate records from the southern tropics and subtropics. We generated a 26 kyr paleoclimate record from Madagascar, located in the southwestern Indian Ocean spanning the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the late Holocene. In particular, we present a deuterium/hydrogen isotopic ratio of terrestrial leaf waxes (δ2Hwax) from a sediment core taken from the central eastern part of the island near the capital Antananarivo. The δ2H records of both the aquatic and terrestrial plant derived n-alkanes exhibit similar long-term trends implying that they all record changes in the isotopic composition of source water, namely meteoric water that recharges soil and lake waters. In this tropical region, the δ2H variability of precipitation recorded by n-alkanes δ2H is mainly influenced by the amount effect resulting in lower values for periods with high rainfall. We observe five long-term trends: (i) stable and relatively dry conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) (ii) gradually wetter conditions from 17.5 ka to 11.5 ka, especially during the Heinrich stadial 1 (HS1) and the Younger Dryas (YD) (iii) an arid interval from 11.5 ka to 8.5 ka, and (iv) a general trend to more humid climate until 3.0 ka, followed by (v) a drier interval until 1.0 ka. The Madagascar climatic signal is opposite to other records from South Africa and East Africa records especially during the YD and early to middle Holocene period. This regional dipole mode is consistent with the modern rainfall anomaly pattern associated with the variability of Mozambique Channel Trough and the migration of austral summer Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) position as a response to changes in local summer insolation orbital and/or Northern Hemisphere cold events, such as the YD and HS1.
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- 2023
9. From landscape as heritage to biocultural heritage in a landscape
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Vincenza Ferrara, Anneli Ekblom, and Anders Wästfelt
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- 2022
10. Covid-19 pandemic effects and responses in the Maasai Mara conservancy
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Shreya Chakrabarti and Anneli Ekblom
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Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management ,Geography, Planning and Development - Abstract
Local comparisons of effects, responses and mitigations to the Covid-19 pandemic are of vital importance in building a sustainable tourism. This is particularly the case for conservancies in Africa which is largely dependent on international tourism. Qualitative interviews were carried out in the Kenya Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association (MMWCA)with landowners, lodge managers and staff, tourism operators, community organisations and NGOs between January and May 2021. The MMWCA is an important case study as conservancies pay lease payments to more than 14,528 landowners through tourism revenues. The results show how partner conservancies took different paths in securing payments of leases and salaries by rotating staff, attracting international funding and by targeting domestic tourism. Meanwhile, landowners experimented with alternative economic activities such as cattle herding and diary production. The study shows the strength of MMWCA as a stakeholder partnership to proactively design measures including renegotiation of lease-payments, in soliciting external funding and in re-distributing funding. The positive role of domestic tourism is also stressed. The pandemic brought to the forefront discussions on equity and benefit sharing and on the sustainability of the model itself. Recommendations are given to strengthen possibilities for alternative incomes sources and for a diversification of strategies of the MMWCA partners, including the need to stimulate domestic tourism as a parallel source of income. These recommendations are also relevant to conservation areas across the African continent.
- Published
- 2023
11. Phytolith-based environmental reconstruction from an altitudinal gradient in Mpumalanga, South Africa, 10,600 BP–present
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Anneli Ekblom, Elinor Breman, Elin Norström, and Lindsey Gillson
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geography.geographical_feature_category ,biology ,δ13C ,Biome ,Holocene climatic optimum ,Paleontology ,Vegetation ,biology.organism_classification ,Grassland ,Geography ,Phytolith ,Physical geography ,Cyperaceae ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,Holocene - Abstract
Studying vegetation change across biome boundaries provides insight into vegetation resilience. In this study, shifts in grassland composition are reconstructed from sediments in three wetland sites across altitudinal gradient from 2128 to 897 m.a.s.l., representing a gradient from the grassland biome to the grassland/savanna boundary in the Mpumalanga region, north-eastern South Africa. Phytolith records from Verloren Valei (dated from 10,600 BP), Graskop (dated from 6500 BP) and Versailles (dated from 4500 BP) are used to reconstruct shifts in grassland composition and vegetation change. Phytolith morphotypes are used to construct environmental indices that are correlated with pollen main ecological groups, charcoal and δ13C and C/N ratio. The results are compared to available regional paleoclimate data. Both Verloren Valei and Graskop have been dominated by grassland, but Versailles show a stronger influence of bushveld/savanna pollen. Phytolith data suggest that grassland composition was stable at Versailles and Graskop, but grassland at Verloren Valei has changed significantly over time. The early Holocene was dominated by a Pooideae/Chloridoideae C3 and C4 grassland, probably a remnant of the earlier Pleistocene cool-dry conditions. After 8500 BP grassland composition changed gradually to a Chloridoideae and Panicoidea dominated C4 grassland BP, and finally a moist Cyperaceae and Panicoidea dominated C3/C4 grassland after 4000 BP. This shift possibly occurs as a delayed response to the warmer and wetter conditions of the mid Holocene optimum at this high altitude site. The results suggest that the grassland/savanna boundary has remained stable over time, indicating considerable resilience of grasslands to climate change. This resilience may be related to the turnover of species within the grassland biome, as indicated by shifts between 8500 and 4000 BP at Verloren Valei.
- Published
- 2019
12. The history of settlement and agrarian land use in a boreal forest in Värmland, Sweden, new evidence from pollen analysis
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Eva Svensson, Annie Johansson, Karl-Johan Lindholm, Sigrún Dögg Eddudóttir, Anneli Ekblom, and Stefan Nilsson
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010506 paleontology ,Archeology ,Climate change ,Plant Science ,medicine.disease_cause ,01 natural sciences ,Bloomery ,Pollen ,Grazing ,medicine ,Assemblage (archaeology) ,0601 history and archaeology ,Boreal forest ,Arkeologi ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Sweden ,Settlement ,060102 archaeology ,Land use ,Norway ,Taiga ,Paleontology ,Agriculture ,06 humanities and the arts ,Vegetation ,Archaeology ,Geography - Abstract
Shielings are the historically known form of transhumance in Scandinavia, where livestock were moved from the farmsteadto sites in the outlands for summer grazing. Pollen analysis has provided a valuable insight into the history of shielings. Thispaper presents a vegetation reconstruction and archaeological survey from the shieling Kårebolssätern in northern Värmland,western Sweden, a renovated shieling that is still operating today. The first evidence of human activities in the area nearKårebolssätern are Hordeum- and Cannabis-type pollen grains occurring from ca. 100 bc. Further signs of human impactare charcoal and sporadic occurrences of apophyte pollen from ca. ad 250 and pollen indicating opening of the canopy ca.ad 570, probably a result of modification of the forest for grazing. A decrease in land use is seen between ad 1000 and 1250,possibly in response to a shift in emphasis towards large scale commodity production in the outlands. Emphasis on bloomeryiron production and pitfall hunting may have caused a shift from agrarian shieling activity. The clearest changes in the pollenassemblage indicating grazing and cultivation occur from the mid-thirteenth century, coinciding with wetter climate at thebeginning of the Little Ice Age. The earliest occurrences of anthropochores in the record predate those of other shieling sitesin Sweden. The pollen analysis reveals evidence of land use that predates the results of the archaeological survey. The studyhighlights how pollen analysis can reveal vegetation changes where early archaeological remains are obscure. Carl-Göran Adelswärds stiftelse(CGAS). The investigation of Kårebolssätern is also included in theproject Contesting Marginality: The Boreal Forest of Inland Scandinaviaand the Worlds Outside, ad-1500 ad (UTMA) financed by theSwedish Research Council (Dnr 2017-01483).
- Published
- 2021
13. Biocultural Heritage in Sicilian Olive Groves; The Importance of Heterogeneous Landscapes over the Long Term
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Anders Wästfelt, Vincenza Ferrara, and Anneli Ekblom
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Land use ,business.industry ,Cultural landscape ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Environmental resource management ,Climate change ,Olive trees ,Geography ,Agricultural biodiversity ,Stewardship ,Psychological resilience ,Traditional knowledge ,business ,media_common - Abstract
Low-intense agroecosystems may be key for mitigation of vulnerability to climate change, as to build ecological and social resilience of local communities. As an example of low-intensity systems, the article will focus on olive land use dynamics occurring at different temporal and spatial scales in the island of Sicily. Sicilian olive intercropping systems have resulted in the formation of heterogeneous cultural landscapes and heritage that supports place-based and practice-based know-how, drawing on transmitted and new knowledge—what we call Biocultural Heritage. The domestication and continuous careful management of these trees by locals have been a crucial element for their longevity: they can thus be seen as stabilities in a changing landscape along time and space. The article crosscuts history and spatiality at different scales to allow the olive trees of Sicily to “talk” about their millennial entanglements with the other elements of local ecosystems, man included. Considered biocultural refugia able to preserve both agricultural biodiversity and traditional ecological knowledge, their social and ecological history is explored through the identification of breaking points in time and spatial nodes of connection. Such enduring landscapes are increasingly under threat due to climate change and intense land abandonment; their progressive fragmentation represents a huge threat for their ecological complexity, agricultural practices, biocultural heritage and socio- economic conditions of local communities. We conclude the article advancing suggestions for their future stewardship.
- Published
- 2020
14. Vegetation dynamics within the savanna biome in southern Mozambique during the late Holocene
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Elin Norström, Helena Öberg, Anneli Ekblom, Lars-Ove Westerberg, Sandra Raúl Sitoe, and Jan Risberg
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010506 paleontology ,Archeology ,Global and Planetary Change ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Ecology ,Agroforestry ,Biome ,Paleontology ,Vegetation dynamics ,01 natural sciences ,Grassland ,Geography ,Paleoecology ,Period (geology) ,Ecosystem ,Quaternary ,Holocene ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Earth-Surface Processes - Abstract
This study explores temporal dynamics within grassland and Miombo woodland ecosystems in southern Mozambique and their potential coupling to hydro-climate change during the late-Holocene period. Pa...
- Published
- 2017
15. Reconstructing African landscape Historical Ecologies
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Paul Sinclair, Paul Lane, and Anneli Ekblom
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Geography - Published
- 2019
16. A Historical Ecology of Cattle in Mozambique
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Anneli Ekblom
- Abstract
The historical ecology of cattle in Mozambique illustrates the intricate and long-term relationship between people, cattle, and landscapes, and the ecological skills of farmers and herders. Africa’s long history of cattle breeding is a history of careful selection for specific traits and of hybridization between breeds and of breed conservation. Despite variations in cattle numbers due disease, droughts and confiscations of cattle, herders have managed to replenish their herds relatively quickly. Herders have been able to respond to shifting market demands and the informal local cattle market has remained strong. The relative stability of cattle prices in relation to other currencies suggests that ‘cattle economy’ is governed by a different logic compared to other potential stores of wealth. The ecological knowledge and economic strength of local cattle rearing needs to be taken into account both in development and landscape planning.
- Published
- 2018
17. Drivers and trajectories of land cover change in East Africa : human and environmental interactions from 6000 years ago to present
- Author
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Claudia Capitani, Emmanuel Ndiema, Gijs De Cort, Colin J Courtney-Mustaphi, Rahab Kinyanjui, Marie-José Gaillard-Lemdahl, David Williamson, Jennifer Ann Farmer, Daniel Olago, Stephen M. Rucina, Dorian Q. Fuller, Suzi Richer, Oliver Boles, Annemiek Pas Schrijver, Aida Cuni-Sanchez, Mats Widgren, Nicole Boivin, Isaya Onjala, Rebecca Kariuki, Jemma M. Finch, Anna Shoemaker, Rebecca Muthoni, Nik Petek, Cruz Ferro-Vázquez, Senna Thornton-Barnett, Paul Lane, Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Nicolas J. Deere, Carol Lang, David K. Wright, Julius Bunny Lejju, Daryl Stump, Geert W. van der Plas, Jacquiline Benard, Veronica M. Muiruri, Elizabeth Watson, Lindsey Gillson, Alison Crowther, Kathleen D. Morrison, Leanne N. Phelps, Jed O. Kaplan, Rob Marchant, Paramita Punwong, Cassian Mumbi, Chantal Kabonyi Nzabandora, Esther Githumbi, Andrea Kay, Anneli Ekblom, Alfred N. N. Muzuka, Elizabeth Kyazike, Mary E. Prendergast, Philip J. Platts, and Tabitha Kabora
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010506 paleontology ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Later Stone Age ,Pottery ,Pastoralism ,Sustainable Development Goals ,Climate change ,Palaeoenvironments ,Southeast asian ,01 natural sciences ,Population growth ,Development Goals ,Arkeologi ,Savannah ,Livelihoods ,LandCover6k ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,2. Zero hunger ,Land use ,Ecology ,Subsistence agriculture ,Cumulative effects ,Agriculture ,15. Life on land ,Sustainable ,Geography ,Archaeology ,Iron technology ,13. Climate action ,GN ,General Earth and Planetary Sciences - Abstract
East African landscapes today are the result of the cumulative effects of climate and land-use change over millennial timescales. In this review, we compile archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data from East Africa to document land-cover change, and environmental, subsistence and land-use transitions, over the past 6000?years. Throughout East Africa there have been a series of relatively rapid and high-magnitude environmental shifts characterised by changing hydrological budgets during the mid- to late Holocene. For example, pronounced environmental shifts that manifested as a marked change in the rainfall amount or seasonality and subsequent hydrological budget throughout East Africa occurred around 4000, 800 and 300 radiocarbon years before present (yr BP). The past 6000?years have also seen numerous shifts in human interactions with East African ecologies. From the mid-Holocene, land use has both diversified and increased exponentially, this has been associated with the arrival of new subsistence systems, crops, migrants and technologies, all giving rise to a sequence of significant phases of land-cover change. The first large-scale human influences began to occur around 4000?yr BP, associated with the introduction of domesticated livestock and the expansion of pastoral communities. The first widespread and intensive forest clearances were associated with the arrival of iron-using early farming communities around 2500?yr BP, particularly in productive and easily-cleared mid-altitudinal areas. Extensive and pervasive land-cover change has been associated with population growth, immigration and movement of people. The expansion of trading routes between the interior and the coast, starting around 1300?years ago and intensifying in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries CE, was one such process. These caravan routes possibly acted as conduits for spreading New World crops such as maize (Zea mays), tobacco (Nicotiana spp.) and tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum), although the processes and timings of their introductions remains poorly documented. The introduction of southeast Asian domesticates, especially banana (Musa spp.), rice (Oryza spp.), taro (Colocasia esculenta), and chicken (Gallus gallus), via transoceanic biological transfers around and across the Indian Ocean, from at least around 1300?yr BP, and potentially significantly earlier, also had profound social and ecological consequences across parts of the region.\ud \ud Through an interdisciplinary synthesis of information and metadatasets, we explore the different drivers and directions of changes in land-cover, and the associated environmental histories and interactions with various cultures, technologies, and subsistence strategies through time and across space in East Africa. This review suggests topics for targeted future research that focus on areas and/or time periods where our understanding of the interactions between people, the environment and land-cover change are most contentious and/or poorly resolved. The review also offers a perspective on how knowledge of regional land-use change can be used to inform and provide perspectives on contemporary issues such as climate and ecosystem change models, conservation strategies, and the achievement of nature-based solutions for development purposes.
- Published
- 2018
18. Chibuene
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Anneli Ekblom and Paul Sinclair
- Published
- 2017
19. Negotiating identity and heritage through authorised vernacular history, Limpopo National Park
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Michel Notelid, Rebecca Witter, and Anneli Ekblom
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Archeology ,History ,National park ,Anthropology ,media_common.quotation_subject ,History and Archaeology ,05 social sciences ,0507 social and economic geography ,conservation ,Identity (social science) ,Vernacular ,landscape ,Traditional authority ,050701 cultural studies ,heritage ,Negotiation ,Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) ,history ,050703 geography ,Mozambique ,identity ,Historia och arkeologi ,media_common - Abstract
In this paper, we assess vernacular history, traditional authority and the use of heritage places as mediums for negotiating ancestry, identity, territory and belonging based on conversations, interviews and visitations to heritage places together with residents in Limpopo National Park. We explore how particular vernacular histories become dominant village history through the authorisation of traditional leaders and their lineage histories and how traditional leaders use heritage places to mediate narratives. Authorised vernacular histories are narratives about mobility and identity, but they are also localised narratives about ‘home’ in terms of access to resources and heritage places. We discuss how lineage histories and traditional authority are mobilised or questioned in the context of the ongoing displacement of local residents through resettlement programmes and make comparisons with the historical experiences of evictions in the neighbouring Kruger and Gonarezhou National Parks. We emphasise the need for residents to remain connected to and in control of heritage places; otherwise, the linkages between these places, ancestral authority, and present-day authority risk being severed. Landscape transformations and socio-ecological management in Limpopo National Park, Mozambique
- Published
- 2017
20. The Importance of paleoecology in the conservation andrestoration of Cultural landscapes
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Anneli Ekblom and Lindsey Gillson
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0106 biological sciences ,010506 paleontology ,Paleontology ,Geography ,Archaeology ,Ecology ,Cultural landscape ,Paleoecology ,Arkeologi ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences - Published
- 2017
21. Coastal forest and Miombo woodland history of the Vilankulo region, Mozambique
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Anneli Ekblom, Karin Holmgren, and Jan Risberg
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Archeology ,Global and Planetary Change ,Brachystegia ,Arboreal locomotion ,Ecology ,biology ,ved/biology ,ved/biology.organism_classification_rank.species ,Paleontology ,Present day ,biology.organism_classification ,medicine.disease_cause ,Shrub ,Diatom ,Pollen ,Paleoecology ,medicine ,Dominance (ecology) ,Earth-Surface Processes - Abstract
The present day distribution of Miombo savanna-woodland in Mozambique has been attributed to an expansion due to the clearing of original coastal forests through agriculture and use of fire. Here, we test this hypothesis using palaeoecological data from Lake Nhauhache, situated in the Vilankulo region. Our analysis shows that Brachystegia, one of the main constituents of the Miombo, has varied over time, and its variability seems to be driven by hydrological changes related to climatic variability rather than by land-use changes. The analyses show that Brachystegia was most common during ad 200–700 when a marshy forest/shrub community was dominant. After ad 700, this community changes to a dominance of Syzygium and Fagara linked to gradually rising water levels. Brachystegia remains in low abundance and fluctuating over time. From ad 1000, a general decline in trees/shrubs in favour of grasses concurs with an increase in grass pollen (possibly cereal) and charcoal, most probably as a result of farming activities. The decline in tree taxa was probably exacerbated by periodic droughts after c.ad 1200 as indicated by the diatom assemblage. In the period ad 1700 to late 1800, arboreal pollen is well represented, and this is concurrent with the diatom record suggesting high lake levels.
- Published
- 2014
22. A framework for exploring and managing biocultural heritage
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Anneli Ekblom and Karl-Johan Lindholm
- Subjects
Global and Planetary Change ,Ecology ,business.industry ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Environmental ethics ,The arts ,Negotiation ,Conceptual framework ,Property rights ,Human geography ,Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) ,The Conceptual Framework ,Stewardship ,Sociology ,business ,Landscape planning ,media_common - Abstract
The conceptual framework of biocultural heritage allows for new approaches to heritage, nature conservation, landscape planning and development goals, providing means to negotiate management goals in these areas, and in certain cases, also to combine them. By reviewing knowledge from the literature, this paper develops a new conceptual framework of biocultural heritage. Five "elements" constitute biocultural heritage in this framework. First, ecosystem memories denote biophysical properties, non-human organisms and agents changed or affected directly or indirectly by humans. Second, landscape memories represent tangible materialised human practice and semi-intangible ways of organising landscapes, such as built environments and archaeological sites, and settlement systems linked to user and property rights. Third, place-based memories refer to intangible living features of human knowledge and communication expressed in know-how, place names, orature, arts, ideas and culture, received, preserved and transmitted over generations. The fourth element, integrated landscape analysis, denotes a toolbox and a conceptual framework for knowledge construction and landscape management. The final fifth element of biocultural heritage, stewardship and change, represents the activity of, and ability in, exploring memory reservoirs of biocultural heritage for transferring knowledge to policy and management and for shaping collaborative initiatives. To illustrate the framework, this paper then presents a study from the village Angersjo located in the boreal forest in central Sweden. As conclusion, we suggest that the approach - with improvements and modifications - represents an operational joint framework for exploring and managing biocultural heritage, drawing on the past for envisioning the future.
- Published
- 2019
23. Land use history and resource utilisation from a.d. 400 to the present, at Chibuene, southern Mozambique
- Author
-
Paul Sinclair, Anneli Ekblom, Amelie Berger, Barbara Eichhorn, and Shaw Badenhorst
- Subjects
Marine conservation ,Archeology ,Brachystegia ,Resource (biology) ,Land use ,Agroforestry ,Ecology ,business.industry ,Wildlife ,Paleontology ,Plant Science ,Woodland ,Biology ,biology.organism_classification ,Agriculture ,Herding ,business - Abstract
This paper discusses changing patterns of resource utilisation over time in the locality of Chibuene, Vilankulos, situated on the coastal plain of southern Mozambique. The macroscopic charcoal, bone and shell assemblages from archaeological excavations are presented and discussed against the off-site palaeoecological records from pollen, fungal spores and microscopic charcoal. The Chibuene landscape has experienced four phases of land use and resource utilisation that have interacted with changes in the environment. Phase 1 (a.d. 400–900), forest savanna mosaic, low intensity cattle herding and cultivation, trade of resources for domestic use. Phase 2 (a.d. 900–1400), forest savanna mosaic, high intensity/extensive cultivation and cattle herding. Phase 3 (a.d. 1400–1800), savanna woodland and progressive decrease in forests owing to droughts. Decline of agricultural activities and higher reliance on marine resources. Possible trade of resources with the interior. Phase 4 (a.d. 1800–1900), open savanna with few forest patches. Warfare and social unrest. Collapse of trade with the interior. Decline in marine resources and wildlife. Loss of cattle herds. Expansion of agriculture locally and introduction of New World crops and clearing of Brachystegia trees. The study shows the importance of combining different environmental resources for elucidating how land use and natural variability have changed over time.
- Published
- 2013
24. Rainfall variability and vegetation dynamics of the lower Limpopo Valley, Southern Africa, 500AD to present
- Author
-
Anneli Ekblom, Karin Holmgren, Jan Risberg, Zara Chidoub, and Lindsey Gillson
- Subjects
geography ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,National park ,Ecology ,Paleontology ,Climate change ,Vegetation ,Oceanography ,Grassland ,Extreme weather ,Riparian forest ,Ecosystem ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,Geology ,Earth-Surface Processes ,Riparian zone - Abstract
The long‐term responses of vegetation to climate variability are of relevance for predicting present and future vegetation change, and have implications for the management of savanna and riparian ecosystems. This paper explores the links between regional rainfall, hydrology and vegetation dynamics in the savannas and riverine forests of the lower Limpopo Valley, southern Africa, from 800 AD to the present, reviewing palaeoecological data (fossil pollen, spores, diatoms and lithology) from several hydrological systems in Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa and Limpopo National Park (PNL), Mozambique. The PNL–KNP records show that riverine arboreal taxa expanded during wetter periods, including 800–1400 AD and after 1800 AD. Between 1400 and 1800 AD, grasses, savanna taxa and generalist taxa were favored over riparian taxa, a change that is linked with the onset of dry spells in the region (corresponding to the so-called Little Ice Age). The most extreme drought events around 1700 AD resulted in a marked decline of riparian forest taxa near Lake Mapimbi, KNP. In contrast, many water-scarce sequences away from the riverine environment, such as Radio Pan, Mafayeni Pan, Malahlapanga Pan and Lake Makwadzi show stable grassland vegetation throughout the last 1200 years. The results demonstrate the resilience of the grassland–savanna ecosystems to projected climate change with warmer and overall drier climate. The riverine forests are predicted to be more vulnerable especially as more extreme weather events are projected.
- Published
- 2012
25. Holocene palaeo-invasions: the link between pattern, process and scale in invasion ecology?
- Author
-
Lindsey Gillson, Cynthia A. Froyd, Anneli Ekblom, and Katherine J. Willis
- Subjects
Functional ecology ,Geography ,Ecology ,Applied ecology ,Geography, Planning and Development ,Spatial ecology ,Paleoecology ,Climate change ,Evolutionary ecology ,Landscape ecology ,Nature and Landscape Conservation ,Landscape connectivity - Abstract
Invasion ecology has made rapid progress in recent years through synergies with landscape ecology, niche theory, evolutionary ecology and the ecology of climate change. The palaeo-record of Holocene invasions provides a rich but presently underexploited resource in exploring the pattern and process of invasions through time. In this paper, examples from the palaeo-literature are used to illustrate the spread of species through time and space, also revealing how interactions between invader and invaded communities change over the course of an invasion. The main issues addressed are adaptation and plant migration, ecological and evolutionary interactions through time, disturbance history and the landscape ecology of invasive spread. We consider invasions as a continuous variable, which may be influenced by different environmental or ecological variables at different stages of the invasion process, and we use palaeoecological examples to describe how ecological interactions change over the course of an invasion. Finally, the use of palaeoecological information to inform the management of invasions for biodiversity conservation is discussed. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
- Published
- 2016
26. Migration and Interaction between Madagascar and Eastern Africa, 500 BCE–1000 CE: An Archaeological Perspective
- Author
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Paul Lane, Chantal Radimilahy, Anneli Ekblom, Paul Sinclair, Malika Virah-Sawmy, and Jean-Aime Rakotoarisoa
- Subjects
010506 paleontology ,060102 archaeology ,Linguistic evidence ,Perspective (graphical) ,Identity (social science) ,06 humanities and the arts ,Austronesian languages ,01 natural sciences ,Archaeology ,Wright ,Geography ,Historical linguistics ,0601 history and archaeology ,Mainland ,Landscape transformation ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences - Abstract
The debate on the peopling of Madagascar has long been dominated by historical linguistics and the observed similarities between Malagasy and Austronesian languages. It is clear from the linguistic evidence that there have been several periods of human contact with, or migration to, Madagascar—and that these also brought different domesticates to the island (Allibert 1998, 2007; Beaujard 2011a,b; Boivin et al. 2013). Genetics is currently the main tool being used to understand the peopling of Madagascar (Hurles et al. 2005; Tofanelli et al. 2009; Murray et al. 2012; Pierron et al. 2014). However, despite recent advances in the field of genetic studies we still know very little about either the first colonisation on Madagascar or about the contacts between the populations of Madagascar, the Austronesian influence zone, and the African mainland. Moreover, Verin and Wright (1999) have warned that inferences from linguistic and genetic studies can be misleading, and that there is often a disjuncture between language and human biology on the one hand and material culture and identity on the other.
- Published
- 2016
27. Early Exchange between Africa and the Wider Indian Ocean World
- Author
-
Chantal Radimilahy, Paul Sinclair, Paul Lane, Jean-Aimé Rakotoarisoa, Malika Virah-Samwy, and Anneli Ekblom
- Subjects
Geography ,Perspective (graphical) ,Archaeology - Abstract
Migrations and interactions between Madagascar and the eastern Africa, 500 BC – 1000 AD: : the archeological perspective
- Published
- 2016
28. Trade and society on the south-east African coast in the later first millennium AD: the case of Chibuene
- Author
-
Paul Sinclair, Marilee Wood, and Anneli Ekblom
- Subjects
Archeology ,Indian ocean ,Geography ,General Arts and Humanities ,South east ,Social hierarchy ,Social complexity ,Archaeology ,Port (computer networking) ,Local community - Abstract
The south-east coast of Africa in the later first millennium was busy with boats and the movement of goods from across the Indian Ocean to the interior. The landing places were crucial mediators in this process, in Africa as elsewhere. Investigations at the beach site of Chibuene show that a local community was supplying imported beads to such interior sites as Schroda, with the consequent emergence there of hierarchical power structures.
- Published
- 2012
29. Water-level variations in Lake Nhauhache, Mozambique, during the last 2,300 years
- Author
-
Mussa Achimo, João Mugabe, Johan Freudendahl, Anneli Ekblom, Karin Holmgren, Sandra Raúl Sitoe, Jan Risberg, and Elin Norström
- Subjects
biology ,Climate change ,Sediment ,Aquatic Science ,biology.organism_classification ,Water level ,law.invention ,Diatom ,Oceanography ,law ,Paleoclimatology ,Radiocarbon dating ,Quaternary ,Southern Hemisphere ,Geology ,Earth-Surface Processes - Abstract
Stratigraphic variations in diatom composition and phytolith abundance in a sediment core from a small, hydrologically isolated waterbody, Lake Nhauhache, Mozambique, provide evidence of water-level fluctuations over the past ~2,300 years. Ten AMS radiocarbon dates on bulk sediment samples show that the lake came into existence about 2,300 years ago and that it has dried out since then, but only for brief time periods. Changes in the diatom assemblage composition indicate that lake level fluctuated in response to shifting humidity conditions. The changes reflect wetter conditions ca. 300 BC–AD 800, more variable conditions between AD 800 and 1150, a distinct dry phase within the time span AD 1150–1700 and a return thereafter to more humid conditions until present. There is general agreement between the Lake Nhauhache record and other records from the Southern Hemisphere summer rainfall region. This suggests that sediments from small interdunal lakes, which are abundant along the coast of southern Africa, provide reliable, regional paleoenvironmental information about an area from which more such data are needed.
- Published
- 2012
30. Archaeology, Historical Sciences, and Environmental Conservation
- Author
-
Anneli Ekblom
- Subjects
Geography ,Disturbance (ecology) ,Environmental protection ,Cultural landscape ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Biodiversity ,Ecosystem ,Environmental history ,Function (engineering) ,Archaeology ,Landscape archaeology ,Natural (archaeology) ,media_common - Abstract
Environmental conservation has long been orientated towards reconstructing or conserving ‘naturalness’. The historical sciences in combination with new ecological thinking have taught us that landscapes are constantly in flux. We now know that many landscapes that previously were regarded as natural in fact have been shaped and reshaped by people over millennia, and that human disturbance of different kinds may enhance landscape heterogeneity and biodiversity. This chapter presents cases from different parts of Africa that demonstrate how archaeology, palaeoecology, and historical analysis have contributed to reform the traditional outlook of environmental conservation and revise misconstrued landscape histories. It shows that historical studies can offer insights that contribute a better understanding of species conservation, ecosystem function, prediction of ecosystem behaviour, and sound management of cultural landscapes. The long-term historical continuities in the landscape raise awareness of the importance of traditional practices and their benefits for environmental conservation.
- Published
- 2015
31. Dung fungi as indicators of past herbivore abundance, Kruger and Limpopo National Park
- Author
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Lindsey Gillson and Anneli Ekblom
- Subjects
Herbivore ,biology ,Ecology ,National park ,fungi ,Paleontology ,Vegetation ,Oceanography ,biology.organism_classification ,Abundance (ecology) ,Indicator species ,Grazing ,Wildlife management ,Coprophilous fungi ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,Earth-Surface Processes - Abstract
Effective wildlife management needs historical data on herbivore abundance and its interactions with vegetation, climate and disturbance over longer time periods that is available through observational and archive data. Spores specific to herbivore dung provide a potential source of information on past herbivore abundances. This paper sets out to evaluate the potential of fungal spores as environmental indicators and in particular the use of coprophilous fungi in understanding past herbivore densities and their impact on the savanna landscape of Kruger and Limpopo National Parks (South Africa and Mozambique). Spore assemblages from six sedimentary cores are analysed and compared with the pollen data. Spores of coprophilous fungi, Coniochaeta cf ligniaria, and Sordariaceae in particular provide a valuable source of information about past herbivore densities. The spore assemblages of investigated localities show historical fluctuations in herbivore abundance. Peaks in wild/domestic herbivore densities can be seen, on a local scale from 800 to 900 AD and another at 1400 AD, however, these cannot be linked with any significant changes in vegetation. The last 200–300 years have seen an increased abundance of herbivores in the Limpopo floodplain sites, particularly domestic cattle. There is no clear correspondence between changes in herbivore abundance and local vegetation in this period or the 20th century. However, domestic cattle, together with wild herbivores, probably contributed to creating a mosaic type of landscape with heterogeneous tree cover.
- Published
- 2010
32. Hierarchy and scale: testing the long term role of water, grazing and nitrogen in the savanna landscape of Limpopo National Park (Mozambique)
- Author
-
Anneli Ekblom and Lindsey Gillson
- Subjects
geography ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,Ecology ,National park ,Geography, Planning and Development ,Vegetation ,Grassland ,Hydrology (agriculture) ,Abundance (ecology) ,Grazing ,Landscape ecology ,Surface water ,Geology ,Nature and Landscape Conservation - Abstract
This paper compares vegetation dynamics at two sites in the savanna landscape of Limpopo National Park (PNL), Mozambique. In order to test the relationship between vegetation cover and hydrology, nutrient availability and disturbance from grazing and fire over the last 1,200 years at local (100 m2) scales, we use palaeoecological data (i.e. pollen assemblages, charcoal abundance, C/N ratio, stable isotopes and herbivore-associated spore abundance). Two pans governed by similar rainfall regimes (on average 600 mm/year) but different hydrologies are compared. Chixuludzi Pan is responsive to the Limpopo River and is more water rich than Radio Pan, which is situated in a dry landscape with little surface water. The analysis suggests that in savannas where water is scarce, the recruitment of woody taxa is constrained mainly by the availability of underground water. In the Radio Pan sequence, the present grassland savanna has been stable throughout the time studied. In contrast, the Chixuludzi Pan savanna landscape where local hydrology, due to the proximity of Limpopo River, allows for a higher water availability the relationship between grass-arboreal pollen suggests a greater variability in vegetation cover, and other factors such as grazing, herbivory and nitrogen availability are important as controlling mechanisms for woody cover. The historical depth of the analysis enables a sub-hierarchy of local scale process to be identified, in this case local hydrology. Local water availability is shown to override the effect of regional rainfall and, in turn, to control the influence of other local scale factors such as nutrients and grazing.
- Published
- 2010
33. Fire history and fire ecology of Northern Kruger (KNP) and Limpopo National Park (PNL), southern Africa
- Author
-
Lindsey Gillson and Anneli Ekblom
- Subjects
Archeology ,Global and Planetary Change ,geography ,Arboreal locomotion ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,Ecology ,Fire regime ,National park ,Paleontology ,medicine.disease_cause ,Grassland ,Pollen ,visual_art ,medicine ,visual_art.visual_art_medium ,Ecosystem ,Fire ecology ,Charcoal ,Earth-Surface Processes - Abstract
This paper explores the general correlations between fire and grass/tree relationships, as represented by fossil charcoal and pollen, from different vegetation types in the savanna ecosystems of the neighbouring Kruger (KNP) and Limpopo (PNL) national parks. Our analysis suggests that the basic presumption that fire is a main driver of vegetation dynamics in the savanna ecosystem by suppressing tree seedlings and encouraging grasses needs to be re-examined. An improved approach is to understand how fire may act both as a negative and positive feedback in different vegetational phases and both as a driver and responder in transitions between phases. The correlation between arboreal pollen (AP) percentages and charcoal influx suggests that in the grassland phase (< 5% AP), fire acts as a driver of woody recruitment and as a positive feedback, i.e. potentially driving the system to shift into a savanna phase. In the savanna phase (5—10% AP) fire limits woody recruitment and acts as a negative feedback in maintaining the savanna. Thus, in the savanna phase other factors than fire alone drive the transition from savanna to woodland-forest. In the riparian phase, where evidence of farming is present particularly from AD 1600 onwards, fire appears to facilitate tree recruitment where AP ranges between c. 10 and 20% AP. Though a decline in AP abundance can be seen contemporaneously with charcoal peaks, our analysis suggests that overall, human-induced fires do not seem to have a negative impact on woody cover. Our results have implications for fire management as riparian-dominated phases and savannas with a sufficient woody cover are less sensitive to changes in fire policies than open grasslands that may, with a change in fire frequency, change into another state.
- Published
- 2010
34. Resilience and Thresholds in Savannas: Nitrogen and Fire as Drivers and Responders of Vegetation Transition
- Author
-
Lindsey Gillson and Anneli Ekblom
- Subjects
geography ,Herbivore ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,Ecology ,National park ,Lawn ,Vegetation ,Grassland ,Abundance (ecology) ,Environmental Chemistry ,Environmental science ,Ecosystem ,Species richness ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics - Abstract
Resilience theory suggests that ecosystems can persist for long periods, before changing rapidly to a new vegetation phase. Transition between phases occurs when ecological thresholds have been crossed, and is followed by a reorganization of biotic and environmental interactions, leading to the emergence of a new vegetation phase or quasistable state. Savannas are dynamic, complex systems in which fire, herbivory, water and nutrient availability interact to determine tree abundance. Phase and transition has been observed in savannas, but the role of these different possible drivers is not always clear. In this study, our objectives were to identify phase and transition in the fossil pollen record, and then to explore the role of nitrogen and fire in these transitions using d15N isotopes and charcoal abundance. We present palaeoenvironmental data from the Kruger National Park, South Africa, which show transition between grassland and savanna phases. Our results show transition at the end of the ninth century A.D. from a nutrient and herbivore-limited grazing lawn, in which fire was absent and C4 grasses were the dominant and competitively superior plant form, to a water-, fire and herbivory-limited semi-arid savanna, in which C4 grasses and C3 trees and shrubs co-existed. The data accord with theoretical frameworks that predict that variability in ecosystems clusters in regions of higher probability space, interspersed by rapid transitions between these phases. The data are also consistent with the idea that phase transitions involve switching between different dominant driving processes or limiting factors.
- Published
- 2009
35. Forest–savanna dynamics in the coastal lowland of southern Mozambique since c. AD 1400
- Author
-
Anneli Ekblom
- Subjects
Archeology ,Global and Planetary Change ,Ecology ,Paleontology ,Woodland ,Vegetation ,Abundance (ecology) ,visual_art ,Paleoclimatology ,visual_art.visual_art_medium ,Ice age ,Quaternary ,Charcoal ,Geology ,Holocene ,Earth-Surface Processes - Abstract
In the coastal lowlands of Mozambique, an expansion of savannas at the cost of forests has been attributed to anthropogenic influence. There are few investigations that have studied vegetation dynamics over the long term. Pollen analysis from two sedimentary cores in the Chibuene area, 7 km south of Vilanculos presented in this paper show that the coastal area 1600 years ago consisted of a mosaic of forests, Miombo woodlands and grasslands. The data also show that the area supported extensive forests in the past until AD 1400—1600 when the forests declined dramatically. Changing settlement patterns, as suggested from archaeological excavations, cannot be correlated with the forest decline and the charcoal abundance, in the sedimentary cores does not suggest an intensification of farming. Instead the decline of forests appears to be temporally correlated with a prolonged period of repeated dry spells associated with the `Little Ice Age', which caused a shift in vegetation whereby typical forest species as Trema, Celtis and Moraceae were outcompeted on account of the droughts. This study challenges rooted assumptions about the cause of decline of forests in the coastal region. It also suggests that the forest fragments present on the Mozambique coast today are naturally subject to threat from climatic stress and as such are highly sensitive areas to future climate change.
- Published
- 2008
36. Untangling anthropogenic and climatic influence on riverine forest in the Kruger National Park, South Africa
- Author
-
Lindsey Gillson and Anneli Ekblom
- Subjects
Archeology ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,National park ,Ecology ,Gallery forest ,Paleontology ,Speleothem ,Climate change ,Plant Science ,Natural (archaeology) ,Geography ,Paleoecology ,Period (geology) ,Riparian forest - Abstract
Understanding the interplay between climatic and anthropogenic factors is a major challenge in palaeo-ecology. In particular, it is often difficult to distinguish anthropogenic and “natural” fire in the charcoal record. In this paper, analysis of fossil pollen, charcoal, diatoms and isotopic evidence from Mapimbi, a small lake in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, suggests that for most of the past ca. 700 years, the riverine gallery forests surrounding Mapimbi were primarily influenced by climate, and benefited during warmer, wetter periods. The transitions between four, statistically different phases in the time-series data coincide with regional climate records previously constructed from speleothem data, and are consistent with the transition from the medieval warm period ending in the 14th century a.d. to the cooler, drier conditions prevailing during the little ice age of ca. a.d. 1400–1800. The data also suggest a period of significant, anthropogenic influence after a.d. 1800, when maize was grown and the incidence of localised fires increased. An increase in woody cover in recent decades may be associated with the management of the area by Kruger National Park. A decline in cultivation occurred in the end of the 20th century linked with changes in socio-political organisation.
- Published
- 2008
37. Paleohydrology of Lake Nhaucati (southern Mozambique), ∼400 AD to present
- Author
-
Anneli Ekblom and Bjørg Stabell
- Subjects
biology ,Lithology ,Intertropical Convergence Zone ,Sediment ,Climate change ,Aquatic Science ,medicine.disease_cause ,biology.organism_classification ,Geography ,Oceanography ,Diatom ,Pollen ,parasitic diseases ,medicine ,Period (geology) ,Sedimentology ,Earth-Surface Processes - Abstract
This paper investigates the correlations between lake level change, rainfall variability and general atmospheric forcing in southern Africa. The analysis of fossil diatom assemblages in a sediment sequence from the small, rain-fed Lake Nhaucati, southern Mozambique, is presented and discussed in relation to regional palaeoclimate data. The accumulation of organic sediments in Lake Nhaucati began 1,600 years ago when the lake level was rising. Lithology and pollen suggest a low stand at 800 AD, which correlates with other climate proxies from the summer rainfall region of southern Africa. The diatom assemblage suggests that lake levels were high between 900 and 1300 AD, with shorter low stands at c.1100 and 1200 AD. The period after 1400 AD was marked by a slow rate of accumulation and consequently a low temporal resolution. The correlation with other climate proxies in the summer rainfall region, written sources, and pollen data suggests repeated droughts corresponding to the Little Ice Age, though the driest periods may have caused complete desiccation of the lake. Higher lake levels are suggested after 1800 AD, though written sources suggest droughts in the beginning of the twentieth century. The analysis shows a good correlation with palaeoclimate data from the summer rainfall region and confirms the presence of an anti-phase relationship between the summer rainfall region of southern Africa and the bi-modal rainfall region of east tropical Africa. It also supports the general hypothesis that variation in the intensity of the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone is the main agent modulating rainfall over southern and eastern Africa on centennial timescales.
- Published
- 2008
38. Water flow, ecological dynamics, and management in the lower Limpopo Valley: a long-term view
- Author
-
Michel Notelid, Lindsey Gillson, and Anneli Ekblom
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,Hydrology ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Ecology ,Water flow ,Ecological dynamics ,Ocean Engineering ,Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law ,Aquatic Science ,Oceanography ,Vegetation dynamics ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Term (time) ,Geography ,Human geography ,Water resource management ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Water Science and Technology - Abstract
In this contribution, we review long-term (millennial-decadal scale) river-flow changes, climate interactions, and interlinkage with vegetation dynamics, as well as society and policy, focusing on ...
- Published
- 2017
39. Anthropological contributions to historical ecology: 50 questions, infinite prospects
- Author
-
Anneli Ekblom, Anna Shoemaker, Paul Sinclair, Oliver Boles, Iain McKechnie, Chelsey Geralda Armstrong, Paul Lane, Aleksandra Ibragimow, Eréndira M. Quintana Morales, Carly Nabess, Kevin Gibbons, Alex C. McAlvay, Tony Marks-Block, Sākihitowin Awâsis, Carole L. Crumley, Nik Petek, Eugene N Anderson, Sarah Walshaw, Jana C. Vamosi, Péter Szabó, Joyce K LeCompte, Grzegorz Podruczny, Lane, Paul [0000-0002-9936-1310], Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository, and Parmakelis, Aristeidis
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,Atmospheric Science ,History ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Cultural anthropology ,Social Sciences ,lcsh:Medicine ,01 natural sciences ,Historical Archaeology ,Spatial and Landscape Ecology ,Medicine ,Applied research ,Arkeologi ,lcsh:Science ,History, Ancient ,Climatology ,Multidisciplinary ,Ecology ,Historical Article ,Biodiversity ,21st Century ,Variety (cybernetics) ,20th Century ,Community Ecology ,Archaeology ,Research Design ,Historical ecology ,Medieval ,Research Article ,Natural History ,Canada ,Resource (biology) ,General Science & Technology ,Climate Change ,Ecology (disciplines) ,Crowdsourcing ,History, 21st Century ,010603 evolutionary biology ,Ecosystems ,Ancient ,Cultural ,Humans ,Anthropology, Cultural ,Ecosystem ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Sweden ,business.industry ,Ecology and Environmental Sciences ,lcsh:R ,Biology and Life Sciences ,Paleontology ,Environmental ethics ,History, 20th Century ,15. Life on land ,Historical Ecology ,History, Medieval ,13. Climate action ,Anthropology ,Earth Sciences ,lcsh:Q ,Paleoecology ,Paleobiology ,business - Abstract
This paper presents the results of a consensus-driven process identifying 50 priority research questions for historical ecology obtained through crowdsourcing, literature reviews, and in-person workshopping. A deliberative approach was designed to maximize discussion and debate with defined outcomes. Two in-person workshops (in Sweden and Canada) over the course of two years and online discussions were peer facilitated to define specific key questions for historical ecology from anthropological and archaeological perspectives. The aim of this research is to showcase the variety of questions that reflect the broad scope for historical-ecological research trajectories across scientific disciplines. Historical ecology encompasses research concerned with decadal, centennial, and millennial human-environmental interactions, and the consequences that those relationships have in the formation of contemporary landscapes. Six interrelated themes arose from our consensus-building workshop model: (1) climate and environmental change and variability; (2) multi-scalar, multi-disciplinary; (3) biodiversity and community ecology; (4) resource and environmental management and governance; (5) methods and applications; and (6) communication and policy. The 50 questions represented by these themes highlight meaningful trends in historical ecology that distill the field down to three explicit findings. First, historical ecology is fundamentally an applied research program. Second, this program seeks to understand long-term human-environment interactions with a focus on avoiding, mitigating, and reversing adverse ecological effects. Third, historical ecology is part of convergent trends toward transdisciplinary research science, which erodes scientific boundaries between the cultural and natural.
- Published
- 2017
40. Livelihood Security, Vulnerability and Resilience: A Historical Analysis of Chibuene, Southern Mozambique
- Author
-
Anneli Ekblom
- Subjects
Rural Population ,Conservation of Natural Resources ,Economics ,Oceans and Seas ,Geography, Planning and Development ,Diversification (marketing strategy) ,History, 18th Century ,Security Measures ,Food Supply ,History, 17th Century ,Food supply ,Report ,Environmental Chemistry ,Humans ,Environmental planning ,Indian Ocean ,Ecosystem ,Mozambique ,Family Characteristics ,Ecology ,business.industry ,Environmental resource management ,History, 19th Century ,General Medicine ,Livelihood ,Livelihood security ,Indian ocean ,Sustainable livelihood ,Social Conditions ,Resource use ,business ,Contingency - Abstract
A sustainable livelihood framework is used to analyse livelihood security, vulnerability and resilience in the village of Chibuene, Vilanculos, southern Mozambique from a historical and contemporary perspective. Interviews, assessments, archaeology, palaeoecology and written sources are used to address tangible and intangible aspects of livelihood security. The analysis shows that livelihood strategies for building resilience, diversification of resource use, social networks and trade, have long historical continuities. Vulnerability is contingent on historical processes as long-term socio-environmental insecurity and resultant biodiversity loss. These contingencies affect the social capacity to cope with vulnerability in the present. The study concludes that contingency and the extent and strength of social networks should be added as a factor in livelihood assessments. Furthermore, policies for mitigating vulnerability must build on the reality of environmental insecurity, and strengthen local structures that diversify and spread risk.
- Published
- 2012
41. A Historical Ecology of the Limpopo and Kruger National Parks and Lower Limpopo Valley
- Author
-
Anneli Ekblom, Lindsey Gillson, and Michel Notelid
- Subjects
Limpopo national park ,socio-environmental dynamics ,Archaeology ,Historical ecology ,history ,environmental change ,Southern Africa ,Arkeologi ,paleoecology - Abstract
The paper uses new palaeo-ecological data and a selective review of archaeological and written sources to show how social and natural history over the last 1200 years have interacted to form the present day landscape of Limpopo National Park and Northern Kruger National Park. The long-term mosaic of different communities in this landscape, hunter and gatherers, pastoralists, farmers and traders has, over time, contributed to shape and reshape a heterogeneous landscape. While some features in this landscape, such as water scarcity, have remained stable over time, there have also been major transformations in both the physical landscape and social life. The natural mosaics have been utilised and enhanced over time and the combination of natural and cultural mosaics are reflected in the landscape through archaeological sites, the pollen record and in the present day landscape.
- Published
- 2011
42. Untangling anthropogenic and climatic influence on riverine forest in the Kruger National Park, South Africa.
- Author
-
Lindsey Gillson and Anneli Ekblom
- Subjects
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ANTHROPOGENIC effects on nature , *CLIMATE change , *FOREST ecology , *FOSSIL pollen , *CHARCOAL ,ENVIRONMENTAL aspects - Abstract
Abstract Understanding the interplay between climatic and anthropogenic factors is a major challenge in palaeo-ecology. In particular, it is often difficult to distinguish anthropogenic and “natural” fire in the charcoal record. In this paper, analysis of fossil pollen, charcoal, diatoms and isotopic evidence from Mapimbi, a small lake in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, suggests that for most of the past ca. 700 years, the riverine gallery forests surrounding Mapimbi were primarily influenced by climate, and benefited during warmer, wetter periods. The transitions between four, statistically different phases in the time-series data coincide with regional climate records previously constructed from speleothem data, and are consistent with the transition from the medieval warm period ending in the 14th century a.d. to the cooler, drier conditions prevailing during the little ice age of ca. a.d. 1400–1800. The data also suggest a period of significant, anthropogenic influence after a.d. 1800, when maize was grown and the incidence of localised fires increased. An increase in woody cover in recent decades may be associated with the management of the area by Kruger National Park. A decline in cultivation occurred in the end of the 20th century linked with changes in socio-political organisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2009
- Full Text
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