Les bocages armoricains : repères sur l'évolution des thèmes de recherche depuis les années 1960.

The bocage landscape has long been an object of study albeit by only a few scientific disciplines (history, geography…). A bibliometric analysis shows a considerable increase in publication numbers on bocage landscapes, with a switch of emphasis over the past 10 years. Initially researchers focussed on the impact of hedges and bocage structures on field functioning and on overall agricultural production while at present hedgerow functioning is being analysed for itself correlatedly with the impact of fields on hedgerows. French agricultural research first displayed an interest in the bocage in 1964 with a conference held in Rennes on the impact of hedges on bioclimatic and agronomic factors. An analysis of the papers published in subsequent years highlights the drift from the initial reasons that justified research to present research concerns. Some aspects, such as the relations between livestock farming and the bocage were never explored. Current research on the bocage displays two trends: -- research that attributes the bocage objective environmental usefulness as a resilience factor for biophysical systems: this is supported by environmental scientists in landscape ecology, hydrology and soil science in particular; -- research that invests the bocage with a subjective function expressing a specific connection with nature from a landscape, historical, patrimonial or even fantasy perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]