HACIER - Human, Agricultural, and Climatic Impact on Ecological Rules: macroecological analysis of paleo-biological datasets
Biodiversity protection and habitat conservation on a global scale have received much attention over the past few decades. These issues have already found their place in national legislation and in worldwide NGO activities. No consensus has yet been reached concerning what mechanisms may stabilise species habitats at continental scales and over long periods. No agreement been reached over to what extent these mechanisms are modified by landscape management either. This can be attributed to the fact that the majority of ecological studies refer to small-scale systems and these are typically studied over shorter periods. Although these studies have demonstrated interesting relationships between diversity, environmental variables, and human activities, they reveal little about the human impact on the evolutionary dynamics of ecosystems. We intend to overcome this limitation by anlysing long-term succession of macroecological patterns that are known to indicate ecosystem functions. For this purpose we will utilize archeological databases, subfossil data on plants and snails, paleoclimatic databases, and control data on the focal patterns collected along gradients of various factors such as climate, agricultural management, and settlement history.
Principal investigator: Arnošt Leoš Šizling (Charles University)
Norwegian partner: Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (former Lillehammer University College), Kingdom of Norway
Leader: Even Tjørve
Researcher: Kathleen M.C. Tjørve
Norwegian partner: University of Bergen, Kingdom of Norway
Leader: Kari Loe Hjelle
Researchers: John-Arvid Grytnes, Trond Lødøen, Sæbjørg Walaker Nordeide, Ingvild Kristine Mehl, Mons Kvamme
