Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Studying change
- 3 Key concepts in plant evolution
- 4 The origin and extent of human-influenced ecosystems
- 5 Consequences of human influences on the biosphere
- 6 Categories
- 7 Investigating microevolution in plants in anthropogenic ecosystems
- 8 Plant microevolution in managed grassland ecosystems
- 9 Harvesting crops: arable and forestry
- 10 Pollution and microevolutionary change
- 11 Introduced plants
- 12 Endangered species: investigating the extinction process at the population level
- 13 Hybridisation and speciation in anthropogenically influenced ecosystems
- 14 Ex situ conservation
- 15 In situ conservation: within and outside reserves
- 16 Creative conservation through restoration and reintroduction
- 17 Reserves in the landscape
- 18 Climate change
- 19 Microevolution and climate change
- 20 The implications of climate change for the theory and practice of conservation
- 21 Overview
- References
- Index
5 - Consequences of human influences on the biosphere
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Studying change
- 3 Key concepts in plant evolution
- 4 The origin and extent of human-influenced ecosystems
- 5 Consequences of human influences on the biosphere
- 6 Categories
- 7 Investigating microevolution in plants in anthropogenic ecosystems
- 8 Plant microevolution in managed grassland ecosystems
- 9 Harvesting crops: arable and forestry
- 10 Pollution and microevolutionary change
- 11 Introduced plants
- 12 Endangered species: investigating the extinction process at the population level
- 13 Hybridisation and speciation in anthropogenically influenced ecosystems
- 14 Ex situ conservation
- 15 In situ conservation: within and outside reserves
- 16 Creative conservation through restoration and reintroduction
- 17 Reserves in the landscape
- 18 Climate change
- 19 Microevolution and climate change
- 20 The implications of climate change for the theory and practice of conservation
- 21 Overview
- References
- Index
Summary
In the last chapter the origin, scale and accelerating impact of the rising tide of humanity were reviewed together with an account of the origins of environmentalism, a movement that subjects our increasing exploitation of the Earth's resources to the most critical scrutiny with the hope that human use will become more sustainable. This chapter introduces a number of other concepts and ideas that are helpful in understanding the setting for the contemporary microevolutionary drama.
Cultural landscapes
Humans are social beings and it is recognised by anthropologists, archaeologists and others that different regions of the world have their own characteristic ‘cultural landscapes’, each of which reflects the different civilisation, customs and artistic achievements of the people who produced it and live within it. Today, there is an astonishing array of cultural landscapes ranging from the dwindling lands of the last remaining hunter-gatherers, through the multitude of different agricultural landscapes to the cityscapes and urban industrial landscapes of modern civilisations.
Cultural landscapes first began to evolve as humans migrated to distant parts of the globe as hunter-gatherers, and these were superseded by the landscapes of the settled agriculturist. From these early beginnings, a wide diversity of cultural landscapes has developed. Many of the observable differences relate to the crop plants grown, and current agricultural practices related to the climate, soils etc. of different regions.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009