human impacts over time in UK Flashcards
10,000-4000 BC
Mesolithic hunter-gatherers caused little impact
4,0000-2,000 BC
Neolithic farmers began clearing the wildwood, containing treas e.g. oak for agriculture using stone axes and fire
500 BC
half of England had been cleared of wildwood and only 1/5 remained by the domesday survey
1066
The normans established royal deer hunting forests while medieval peasants carried out practices e.g. coppicing and grazing. oak trees were felled from managed woodland for shipbuilding
1750
death rates decline=population rose placing greater demand on the countryside to produce food and common land was enclosed by hedges
1750-1860
felling of timber to build naval ships peaked.
a fuel source. woodlands were no longer perceived as successful
1900
- woodland only covered 5% Britain
- after WW1, forestry commission was created to develop a strategic reserve of wood and extensive areas of moorland in northern Britain and Scotland were formed with pine, spruce plantations
- these altered moor and caused a decline in species diversity
1889
Royal society for the protection of birds created
1939-45
improvements in machinery reduced habitats such as chalk grassland
-use of herbicides and pesticides to create larger fields also decliend
1950
growth of motoways and urban expansion destroyed natural habitats e.g. lowland heathland in Lake District suffered from road congestion
1949
National Park act introduced: 12 in Uk and wales and 2 in scotland
Access to countryside act=establishment of SSIS, Ramsar wetland sites
today
farmers now given incentives to conserve countryside by replacing hedgerows and woodlands, reclaiming reclaimed land to wetlands and farming organically
-salt marshes established to protect coast from rising sea levels in Essex
