Assistant Professor in Cultural and Historical Geography Phone: +44 (0) 115 7484098 Address: School of Geography A22 Sir Clive Granger Building University of Nottingham Nottingham, UK
Biodiversity and Conservation, Vol 24, Issue 13, pp. 3167-3183, Jul 2015
In the context of recent appeals for the adoption of historical perspectives emerging in environm... more In the context of recent appeals for the adoption of historical perspectives emerging in environmental and conservation studies, ‘biodiversification processes’ would be considered as specific historical and historiographical topics. However, as highlighted in this paper, a broader discussion of the biodiversification processes as historical processes is needed. This paper discusses some consequences that are presented during the study of biodiversification processes when focusing on the links between cultural and biological diversity at the individual landscape level rather than on an overview of the current literature on the subject. In this discussion, we briefly underline dissimilarities in the methods adopted in historical ecology to those in the conventional historical approach nurtured in global environmental history where biodiversification processes, as subjects of historical study, are largely ignored or subsumed into general observations concerning global change or embedded in presumed ahistorical ‘traditional’ economies and practice systems. Such a broad reassessment is required before multi- or inter-disciplinary applications seek to answer ‘common questions’ (Szabó, Environ Conserv 37:380–387, 2010) in the field of environmental and cultural conservation studies. This paper comments on field and documentary evidence collected during multidisciplinary historical ecology approaches to research in the Northern Apennines (Italy) and Pyrenees (Franco-Spanish) sites. These site-level investigations suggest that medieval and post-medieval changes in local practices and systems of environmental resource production and activation appear to have been key drivers in co-related variations observed in the past biodiversity dynamics of the sites. In order to corroborate the sedimentary evidence (or traces of evidence) concerning taxonomic and habitat changes, historical ecology has proposed the adoption of a local approach in which a specific historical analysis and use of documentary and archival sources—as well as the archaeological and sedimentary evidence—has posed a number of new questions to the traditional use of archival and textual sources by professional historians. In doing so, it becomes clear that when observed at a local, topographical site-scale or on an individual landscape-scale, the links between biological and cultural diversity appear more clearly as historical products, rather than broad co-evolutionary issues relating to the ‘co-evolution of nature and culture’. These historically produced links between biological and cultural diversity—identified as biodiversification processes that can be uncovered and explored through the adoption of approaches from historical ecology—are the driving forces that ‘generate’ processes of circulation in local ecological knowledge and its related practices.
The recent reappearance of wolves in many areas of Europe has stimulated an interest in the past ... more The recent reappearance of wolves in many areas of Europe has stimulated an interest in the past relationships between the species and humans in various different geographical locations and historical epochs. The image of wolves approaching and entering human settlements is a potent image of the wild, ‘natural’ world encroaching on that of the domestic and ‘cultural’. This paper examines the existence of the wolf in the psychological and physical landscape. It does so through a micro-historical analysis of a vernacular manuscript from the mid sixteenth century in north-west Italy. The paper demonstrates that the wolf existed both as a ‘mythological beast’ and as a ‘biological animal’ that was a normal, frequently encountered component of the Ligurian faunal assemblage.
Journal of Rural Studies, 36 (2014), 52-63, Sep 1, 2014
This paper examines the implications of the reappearance in the mid twentieth century of the wild... more This paper examines the implications of the reappearance in the mid twentieth century of the wild boar (Sus scrofa) in North West Italy after an absence of more than a century. Historical evidence is used to document reasons for its disappearance and attitudes to its absence. A case study based on oral history interviews of 50 farmers and hunters in the Val di Vara, eastern Liguria, is used to investigate when and how the wild boar reappeared in the valley and first memories of the animal. A link between rural depopulation, land abandonment and the spread of the wild boar is established. The paper identifies that wild boar cause considerable damage to horticultural and agricultural crops through their habit of rooting over extensive areas. The research demonstrates that the reappearance
of wild boar was actively encouraged by hunters. The rapid spread of the boar changed the culture of hunting in the valley. The research shows that a balance between controlling the wild boar population and the socio-cultural values of hunting has yet to be found.
Intensifying marketisation across higher education (HE) in England continues to generate critical... more Intensifying marketisation across higher education (HE) in England continues to generate critical commentary on the potentially devastating consequences of market logic for pedagogy. In this paper, we consider the student-consumer prominent in these debates as a contested yet under-analysed entity. In contrast to the dominance of homo economicus discursively constructed in policy, we offer a psychoanalytically informed interpretation of undergraduate student narratives, in an educational culture in which the student is positioned as sovereign consumer. We report findings drawn from in-depth interviews that sought to investigate students’ experiences of choice within their university experience. Our critical interpretation shows how market ideology in an HE context amplifies the expression of deeper narcissistic desires and aggressive instincts that appear to underpin some of the student ‘satisfaction’ and ‘dissatisfaction’ so crucial to the contemporary marketised HE institution. Our analysis suggests that narcissistic gratifications and frustrations may lie at the root of the damage to pedagogy inflicted by unreflective neoliberal agendas.
The historical rural landscapes of the Val Borbera (Piedmont) and the Val di Vara (Liguria) were ... more The historical rural landscapes of the Val Borbera (Piedmont) and the Val di Vara (Liguria) were characterized by intensive agro-silvo-pastoral systems. This paper explores the comparative bio-cultural history of apiculture, beekeeping and the production of honey and wax in these areas of the northwest Italian Apennines during the past 200 years. In 1798–99, an enquiry (inchiesta) into the quality, production and territorial needs of the Republic of Liguria included a question concerning the nature, extent and practices associated with apiculture and beekeeping, but also on the landscapes where this rural practice were performed. Through contextualizing these written and oral sources on a landscape scale alongside historical cartography and later aerial photography, this paper discusses the temporal and spatial evolution of apiculture, beekeeping and the production of these practices from the late eighteenth century to the modern day. In doing so, apiculture and beekeeping are shown to be important components within and indicative of the bio-cultural diversity and heritage in these parts of the northwest Italian Apennines and indeed elsewhere across Europe.
Bianchi, P., Merlotti, A. & P. Passerin d’Entrèves, P. (a cura di), "La caccia nello Stato sabaudo (sec. XVI-XIX), II. Pratiche e spazi", Silvio Zamorani Editore, Torino, 2012, pp. 91-108; ISBN: 9788871581910, 2012
La ricerca che presentiamo sviluppa precedenti studi sull’ecologia storica dei popolamenti animal... more La ricerca che presentiamo sviluppa precedenti studi sull’ecologia storica dei popolamenti animali e vegetali nell’Appennino ligure-orientale. In questo contributo intendiamo discutere le possibili fonti per un’archeologia del lupo, a partire da una riflessione sulle potenzialità e i limiti dello studio archeo-zoologico, con riferimenti italiani ed europei, senza ambizioni di esaustività, mettendo a fuoco, però, le relazioni tra fonti storiche, archeologiche e geografiche per la ricostruzione delle pratiche di caccia in rapporto con il territorio e le risorse ambientali.
Il punto centrale è la discussione di una recente indagine archeologica di una trappola per lupi effettuata in alta Val di Vara (SP)1. Il nostro intervento non tratta di una vera a propria pratica di caccia, ma di una pratica pastorale di controllo della popolazione dei lupi, attraverso un sistema di difesa dei pascoli attivo in Val di Vara almeno fino alla metà del XIX secolo. Esso prevedeva l’utilizzo di fosse lupare, i cui schemi di funzionamento trovano confronti iconografici con i modelli descritti nei trattati di caccia francesi del XVII secolo.
Lo studio di questi sistemi di difesa, che si configurano come strumenti di controllo dei predatori in funzione delle pratiche locali di allevamento (stanziale e transumante), consente di mettere in relazione la presenza di lupi con le variazioni storiche intervenute nell’ecologia dei pascoli e dei boschi circostanti, habitat, questi ultimi, considerati favorevoli all’insediamento e riproduzione della specie. Tali dinamiche ambientali sono ricostruite sulla base delle osservazioni attuali di ecologia storica dei siti e dell’analisi della cartografia storica, in particolare la serie di carte topografiche prodotte dal Corpo di Stato Maggiore Sardo tra il 1815 e il 1852.
Così impostato lo studio delle pratiche di controllo delle risorse animali offre nuove chiavi di lettura sulle modalità di interazione tra uomini e lupi e ci è sembrato coerente con il problema posto dal volume sulle relazioni tra pratiche e territorio.
In: Moneta V, Parola C (2014) Oltre la rinaturalizzazione: studi di ecologia storica per la riqua... more In: Moneta V, Parola C (2014) Oltre la rinaturalizzazione: studi di ecologia storica per la riqualificazione dei passaggi rurali. Oltre edizione, Sestri Levante, pp 183-193
Kirby, K. and Watkins, C (eds) Europe's Changing Woods and Forests: from Wildwood to Managed Landscapes, 2015
Since 1970, global vertebrate populations have declined by around 30% (McRae et al., 2012), with ... more Since 1970, global vertebrate populations have declined by around 30% (McRae et al., 2012), with mammals declining by 25% (Baillie et al., 2010). In 2013, the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List (http://www.iucnredlist.org/) categorized 25% of the assessed extant mammal species as threatened. Nevertheless, some species are reclaiming parts of their historic ranges across Europe (Deinet et al., 2013).
We cannot track the gains and losses of most of the animals found in European woods and forests; for example, what changes in shrew distributions might there have been over the last 10,000 years? However, we have a considerable amount of information about such changes for the larger mammals. These larger mammals are important for the functioning of forests; and apart from the trees themselves, have been the species group most directly influenced by human activities, such as hunting.
In this chapter, I explore how and why selected species that have a particular significance in the character of the European forest, have declined or increased. My focus is on: the aurochs (the wild ox) (Plate 4), which would have been important in creating openness in the early Holocene landscape; large carnivores, such as wolves, that affect the abundance and behaviour of deer and other herbivores; beavers as important shapers of the riverine environments; and squirrels and deer that currently have major effects on woodland regeneration and management.
This paper is about the figure and the scientific and artistic production of Clarence Bicknell, a... more This paper is about the figure and the scientific and artistic production of Clarence Bicknell, a British amateur botanist and archaeologist who lived between the Ligurian Riviera and the Maritime Alps for most of his life. Thanks to his works concerning botany and landscape (held between Italy and the UK) we can investigate into the historical geography and the landscape history of the area.
Biodiversity and Conservation, Vol 24, Issue 13, pp. 3167-3183, Jul 2015
In the context of recent appeals for the adoption of historical perspectives emerging in environm... more In the context of recent appeals for the adoption of historical perspectives emerging in environmental and conservation studies, ‘biodiversification processes’ would be considered as specific historical and historiographical topics. However, as highlighted in this paper, a broader discussion of the biodiversification processes as historical processes is needed. This paper discusses some consequences that are presented during the study of biodiversification processes when focusing on the links between cultural and biological diversity at the individual landscape level rather than on an overview of the current literature on the subject. In this discussion, we briefly underline dissimilarities in the methods adopted in historical ecology to those in the conventional historical approach nurtured in global environmental history where biodiversification processes, as subjects of historical study, are largely ignored or subsumed into general observations concerning global change or embedded in presumed ahistorical ‘traditional’ economies and practice systems. Such a broad reassessment is required before multi- or inter-disciplinary applications seek to answer ‘common questions’ (Szabó, Environ Conserv 37:380–387, 2010) in the field of environmental and cultural conservation studies. This paper comments on field and documentary evidence collected during multidisciplinary historical ecology approaches to research in the Northern Apennines (Italy) and Pyrenees (Franco-Spanish) sites. These site-level investigations suggest that medieval and post-medieval changes in local practices and systems of environmental resource production and activation appear to have been key drivers in co-related variations observed in the past biodiversity dynamics of the sites. In order to corroborate the sedimentary evidence (or traces of evidence) concerning taxonomic and habitat changes, historical ecology has proposed the adoption of a local approach in which a specific historical analysis and use of documentary and archival sources—as well as the archaeological and sedimentary evidence—has posed a number of new questions to the traditional use of archival and textual sources by professional historians. In doing so, it becomes clear that when observed at a local, topographical site-scale or on an individual landscape-scale, the links between biological and cultural diversity appear more clearly as historical products, rather than broad co-evolutionary issues relating to the ‘co-evolution of nature and culture’. These historically produced links between biological and cultural diversity—identified as biodiversification processes that can be uncovered and explored through the adoption of approaches from historical ecology—are the driving forces that ‘generate’ processes of circulation in local ecological knowledge and its related practices.
The recent reappearance of wolves in many areas of Europe has stimulated an interest in the past ... more The recent reappearance of wolves in many areas of Europe has stimulated an interest in the past relationships between the species and humans in various different geographical locations and historical epochs. The image of wolves approaching and entering human settlements is a potent image of the wild, ‘natural’ world encroaching on that of the domestic and ‘cultural’. This paper examines the existence of the wolf in the psychological and physical landscape. It does so through a micro-historical analysis of a vernacular manuscript from the mid sixteenth century in north-west Italy. The paper demonstrates that the wolf existed both as a ‘mythological beast’ and as a ‘biological animal’ that was a normal, frequently encountered component of the Ligurian faunal assemblage.
Journal of Rural Studies, 36 (2014), 52-63, Sep 1, 2014
This paper examines the implications of the reappearance in the mid twentieth century of the wild... more This paper examines the implications of the reappearance in the mid twentieth century of the wild boar (Sus scrofa) in North West Italy after an absence of more than a century. Historical evidence is used to document reasons for its disappearance and attitudes to its absence. A case study based on oral history interviews of 50 farmers and hunters in the Val di Vara, eastern Liguria, is used to investigate when and how the wild boar reappeared in the valley and first memories of the animal. A link between rural depopulation, land abandonment and the spread of the wild boar is established. The paper identifies that wild boar cause considerable damage to horticultural and agricultural crops through their habit of rooting over extensive areas. The research demonstrates that the reappearance
of wild boar was actively encouraged by hunters. The rapid spread of the boar changed the culture of hunting in the valley. The research shows that a balance between controlling the wild boar population and the socio-cultural values of hunting has yet to be found.
Intensifying marketisation across higher education (HE) in England continues to generate critical... more Intensifying marketisation across higher education (HE) in England continues to generate critical commentary on the potentially devastating consequences of market logic for pedagogy. In this paper, we consider the student-consumer prominent in these debates as a contested yet under-analysed entity. In contrast to the dominance of homo economicus discursively constructed in policy, we offer a psychoanalytically informed interpretation of undergraduate student narratives, in an educational culture in which the student is positioned as sovereign consumer. We report findings drawn from in-depth interviews that sought to investigate students’ experiences of choice within their university experience. Our critical interpretation shows how market ideology in an HE context amplifies the expression of deeper narcissistic desires and aggressive instincts that appear to underpin some of the student ‘satisfaction’ and ‘dissatisfaction’ so crucial to the contemporary marketised HE institution. Our analysis suggests that narcissistic gratifications and frustrations may lie at the root of the damage to pedagogy inflicted by unreflective neoliberal agendas.
The historical rural landscapes of the Val Borbera (Piedmont) and the Val di Vara (Liguria) were ... more The historical rural landscapes of the Val Borbera (Piedmont) and the Val di Vara (Liguria) were characterized by intensive agro-silvo-pastoral systems. This paper explores the comparative bio-cultural history of apiculture, beekeeping and the production of honey and wax in these areas of the northwest Italian Apennines during the past 200 years. In 1798–99, an enquiry (inchiesta) into the quality, production and territorial needs of the Republic of Liguria included a question concerning the nature, extent and practices associated with apiculture and beekeeping, but also on the landscapes where this rural practice were performed. Through contextualizing these written and oral sources on a landscape scale alongside historical cartography and later aerial photography, this paper discusses the temporal and spatial evolution of apiculture, beekeeping and the production of these practices from the late eighteenth century to the modern day. In doing so, apiculture and beekeeping are shown to be important components within and indicative of the bio-cultural diversity and heritage in these parts of the northwest Italian Apennines and indeed elsewhere across Europe.
Bianchi, P., Merlotti, A. & P. Passerin d’Entrèves, P. (a cura di), "La caccia nello Stato sabaudo (sec. XVI-XIX), II. Pratiche e spazi", Silvio Zamorani Editore, Torino, 2012, pp. 91-108; ISBN: 9788871581910, 2012
La ricerca che presentiamo sviluppa precedenti studi sull’ecologia storica dei popolamenti animal... more La ricerca che presentiamo sviluppa precedenti studi sull’ecologia storica dei popolamenti animali e vegetali nell’Appennino ligure-orientale. In questo contributo intendiamo discutere le possibili fonti per un’archeologia del lupo, a partire da una riflessione sulle potenzialità e i limiti dello studio archeo-zoologico, con riferimenti italiani ed europei, senza ambizioni di esaustività, mettendo a fuoco, però, le relazioni tra fonti storiche, archeologiche e geografiche per la ricostruzione delle pratiche di caccia in rapporto con il territorio e le risorse ambientali.
Il punto centrale è la discussione di una recente indagine archeologica di una trappola per lupi effettuata in alta Val di Vara (SP)1. Il nostro intervento non tratta di una vera a propria pratica di caccia, ma di una pratica pastorale di controllo della popolazione dei lupi, attraverso un sistema di difesa dei pascoli attivo in Val di Vara almeno fino alla metà del XIX secolo. Esso prevedeva l’utilizzo di fosse lupare, i cui schemi di funzionamento trovano confronti iconografici con i modelli descritti nei trattati di caccia francesi del XVII secolo.
Lo studio di questi sistemi di difesa, che si configurano come strumenti di controllo dei predatori in funzione delle pratiche locali di allevamento (stanziale e transumante), consente di mettere in relazione la presenza di lupi con le variazioni storiche intervenute nell’ecologia dei pascoli e dei boschi circostanti, habitat, questi ultimi, considerati favorevoli all’insediamento e riproduzione della specie. Tali dinamiche ambientali sono ricostruite sulla base delle osservazioni attuali di ecologia storica dei siti e dell’analisi della cartografia storica, in particolare la serie di carte topografiche prodotte dal Corpo di Stato Maggiore Sardo tra il 1815 e il 1852.
Così impostato lo studio delle pratiche di controllo delle risorse animali offre nuove chiavi di lettura sulle modalità di interazione tra uomini e lupi e ci è sembrato coerente con il problema posto dal volume sulle relazioni tra pratiche e territorio.
In: Moneta V, Parola C (2014) Oltre la rinaturalizzazione: studi di ecologia storica per la riqua... more In: Moneta V, Parola C (2014) Oltre la rinaturalizzazione: studi di ecologia storica per la riqualificazione dei passaggi rurali. Oltre edizione, Sestri Levante, pp 183-193
Kirby, K. and Watkins, C (eds) Europe's Changing Woods and Forests: from Wildwood to Managed Landscapes, 2015
Since 1970, global vertebrate populations have declined by around 30% (McRae et al., 2012), with ... more Since 1970, global vertebrate populations have declined by around 30% (McRae et al., 2012), with mammals declining by 25% (Baillie et al., 2010). In 2013, the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List (http://www.iucnredlist.org/) categorized 25% of the assessed extant mammal species as threatened. Nevertheless, some species are reclaiming parts of their historic ranges across Europe (Deinet et al., 2013).
We cannot track the gains and losses of most of the animals found in European woods and forests; for example, what changes in shrew distributions might there have been over the last 10,000 years? However, we have a considerable amount of information about such changes for the larger mammals. These larger mammals are important for the functioning of forests; and apart from the trees themselves, have been the species group most directly influenced by human activities, such as hunting.
In this chapter, I explore how and why selected species that have a particular significance in the character of the European forest, have declined or increased. My focus is on: the aurochs (the wild ox) (Plate 4), which would have been important in creating openness in the early Holocene landscape; large carnivores, such as wolves, that affect the abundance and behaviour of deer and other herbivores; beavers as important shapers of the riverine environments; and squirrels and deer that currently have major effects on woodland regeneration and management.
This paper is about the figure and the scientific and artistic production of Clarence Bicknell, a... more This paper is about the figure and the scientific and artistic production of Clarence Bicknell, a British amateur botanist and archaeologist who lived between the Ligurian Riviera and the Maritime Alps for most of his life. Thanks to his works concerning botany and landscape (held between Italy and the UK) we can investigate into the historical geography and the landscape history of the area.
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of wild boar was actively encouraged by hunters. The rapid spread of the boar changed the culture of hunting in the valley. The research shows that a balance between controlling the wild boar population and the socio-cultural values of hunting has yet to be found.
Il punto centrale è la discussione di una recente indagine archeologica di una trappola per lupi effettuata in alta Val di Vara (SP)1. Il nostro intervento non tratta di una vera a propria pratica di caccia, ma di una pratica pastorale di controllo della popolazione dei lupi, attraverso un sistema di difesa dei pascoli attivo in Val di Vara almeno fino alla metà del XIX secolo. Esso prevedeva l’utilizzo di fosse lupare, i cui schemi di funzionamento trovano confronti iconografici con i modelli descritti nei trattati di caccia francesi del XVII secolo.
Lo studio di questi sistemi di difesa, che si configurano come strumenti di controllo dei predatori in funzione delle pratiche locali di allevamento (stanziale e transumante), consente di mettere in relazione la presenza di lupi con le variazioni storiche intervenute nell’ecologia dei pascoli e dei boschi circostanti, habitat, questi ultimi, considerati favorevoli all’insediamento e riproduzione della specie. Tali dinamiche ambientali sono ricostruite sulla base delle osservazioni attuali di ecologia storica dei siti e dell’analisi della cartografia storica, in particolare la serie di carte topografiche prodotte dal Corpo di Stato Maggiore Sardo tra il 1815 e il 1852.
Così impostato lo studio delle pratiche di controllo delle risorse animali offre nuove chiavi di lettura sulle modalità di interazione tra uomini e lupi e ci è sembrato coerente con il problema posto dal volume sulle relazioni tra pratiche e territorio.
for Conservation of Nature) Red List (http://www.iucnredlist.org/) categorized 25% of the assessed extant mammal species as threatened. Nevertheless, some species are reclaiming parts of their historic ranges across Europe (Deinet et al., 2013).
We cannot track the gains and losses of most of the animals found in European woods and forests; for example, what changes in shrew distributions might there have been over the last 10,000 years? However, we have a considerable amount of information about such changes for the larger mammals. These
larger mammals are important for the functioning of forests; and apart from the trees themselves, have been the species group most directly influenced by human activities, such
as hunting.
In this chapter, I explore how and why selected species that have a particular significance in the character of the European forest, have declined or increased. My focus is on: the aurochs (the wild ox) (Plate 4), which would have been important in creating openness in the early Holocene landscape; large carnivores, such as wolves, that affect the abundance and behaviour of deer and other herbivores; beavers as important shapers of the riverine environments; and squirrels and
deer that currently have major effects on woodland regeneration and management.
of wild boar was actively encouraged by hunters. The rapid spread of the boar changed the culture of hunting in the valley. The research shows that a balance between controlling the wild boar population and the socio-cultural values of hunting has yet to be found.
Il punto centrale è la discussione di una recente indagine archeologica di una trappola per lupi effettuata in alta Val di Vara (SP)1. Il nostro intervento non tratta di una vera a propria pratica di caccia, ma di una pratica pastorale di controllo della popolazione dei lupi, attraverso un sistema di difesa dei pascoli attivo in Val di Vara almeno fino alla metà del XIX secolo. Esso prevedeva l’utilizzo di fosse lupare, i cui schemi di funzionamento trovano confronti iconografici con i modelli descritti nei trattati di caccia francesi del XVII secolo.
Lo studio di questi sistemi di difesa, che si configurano come strumenti di controllo dei predatori in funzione delle pratiche locali di allevamento (stanziale e transumante), consente di mettere in relazione la presenza di lupi con le variazioni storiche intervenute nell’ecologia dei pascoli e dei boschi circostanti, habitat, questi ultimi, considerati favorevoli all’insediamento e riproduzione della specie. Tali dinamiche ambientali sono ricostruite sulla base delle osservazioni attuali di ecologia storica dei siti e dell’analisi della cartografia storica, in particolare la serie di carte topografiche prodotte dal Corpo di Stato Maggiore Sardo tra il 1815 e il 1852.
Così impostato lo studio delle pratiche di controllo delle risorse animali offre nuove chiavi di lettura sulle modalità di interazione tra uomini e lupi e ci è sembrato coerente con il problema posto dal volume sulle relazioni tra pratiche e territorio.
for Conservation of Nature) Red List (http://www.iucnredlist.org/) categorized 25% of the assessed extant mammal species as threatened. Nevertheless, some species are reclaiming parts of their historic ranges across Europe (Deinet et al., 2013).
We cannot track the gains and losses of most of the animals found in European woods and forests; for example, what changes in shrew distributions might there have been over the last 10,000 years? However, we have a considerable amount of information about such changes for the larger mammals. These
larger mammals are important for the functioning of forests; and apart from the trees themselves, have been the species group most directly influenced by human activities, such
as hunting.
In this chapter, I explore how and why selected species that have a particular significance in the character of the European forest, have declined or increased. My focus is on: the aurochs (the wild ox) (Plate 4), which would have been important in creating openness in the early Holocene landscape; large carnivores, such as wolves, that affect the abundance and behaviour of deer and other herbivores; beavers as important shapers of the riverine environments; and squirrels and
deer that currently have major effects on woodland regeneration and management.