Clifton Bain now completes his trilogy with this look at the Peatlands of Britain and Ireland. A source of fuel for many generations, they are now a haven for wildlife and plants as well as a storehouse of greenhouse gasses. Their social history is one of exploitation and the value of mending and restoring is a major theme of the book. Like its predecessors, The Peatlands of Britain and Ireland will be a sumptuous volume richly illustrated with photographs and with drawings by the wildlife artist Darren Rees.
Completing his trilogy, with this look at the Peatlands of Britain and Ireland, Clifton Bain explores their social history and the value of protecting this natural resource.
In beautiful prose and stunning color photographs, this book explores the rainforests that run along the west coasts of Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland.
This book provides an introduction to peatlands for the non-specialist student reader and for all those concerned about environmental protection, and is an essential guide to peatland history and heritage for scientists and enthusiasts. Peat is formed when vegetation partially decays in a waterlogged environment and occurs extensively throughout both temperate and tropical regions. Interest in peatlands is currently high due to the degradation of global peatlands which is disrupting hydrology and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. This book opens by explaining how peat is formed, its properties and worldwide distribution, and defines related terms such as mires, wetlands, bogs and marshes. There is discussion of the ecology and wildlife of peatlands as well as their ability to preserve pollen and organic remains as environmental archives. It also addresses the history, heritage and cultural exploitation of peat, extending back to pre-Roman times, and the degradation of peatlands over the centuries, particularly as a source of fuel but more recently for commercial horticulture. Other chapters discuss the ecosystem services delivered by peatlands, and how their destruction is contributing to biodiversity loss, flooding or drought, and climate change. Finally, the many current peatland restoration projects around the world are highlighted. Overall the book provides a wide-ranging but concise overview of peatlands from both a natural and social science perspective, and will be invaluable for students of ecology, geography, environmental studies and history.
Another volume in the popular New Naturalist Series, this book covers all aspects of the plant life of Britain and Ireland. Michael Proctor, an expert in his field, discusses the development of the landscape of Britain and Ireland from prehistoric times, including the influence of people and their agricultural practices on the vegetation. He provides a comprehensive account of all the different types of plant habitat in Britain and Ireland: from woodlands and scrubland to meadows and grasslands, from wetlands and peatlands to heaths, and from the mountain vegetation to the sea coast. He examines the history and ecology of each of these habitats, and describes the rich variety of flora found living there. The author concludes with an account of the changes to our landscape which have taken place during the twentieth century, and prospects for the future, including the effects of environmental change.
The peatlands of the Outer Hebrides are half land, half water. Their surface is a glorious tweed woven from tiny, living sphagnums rich in wildlife, but underneath is layer upon layer of dead mosses transforming into the peat. One can, with care, walk out onto them, but stop and you begin to sink into them. For time immemorial the peatlands have been places - for humans at least - of seasonal habitation but not of constant residence.In this book Robin A. Crawford explores the peatlands over the course of the year, explaining how they have come to be and examining how peat has been used from the Bronze Age onwards. In describing the seasonal processes of cutting, drying, stacking, storing and burning he reveals one of the key rhythms of island life, but his study goes well beyond this to include many other aspects, including the wildlife and folklore associated with these lonely, watery places.Widening his gaze to other peatlands in the country, he also reflects on the historical and cultural importance that peat has played, and continues to play - it is still used for fuel in many rural areas and plays an essential role in whisky-making - in the story of Scotland.
Bogs are fascinating landscapes for ecologists, climatologists, archaeologists, environmental historians and water managers. But many bogs have been damaged, and legislative protection - as 29 case studies demonstrate - is not enough to conserve the rest.
Over the past 50 years, major changes have taken place in the distribution of aquatic plants in Europe. Many species have declined whilst other species have increased in abundance or spread, including several that were originally introduced from the New World. Despite the relative richness of the aquatic flora of Britain and Ireland, it is a neglected area of study. This book is not an identification manual but provides a summary of the distribution, habitat and reproductive biology of 200 taxa in 72 genera, with individual distribution maps, and also summarizes their distribution overseas. A joint project of I.T.E. (now C.E.H.), the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and the Environment Agency.
Based on the contributions given at a leading international conference, this volume concentrates on developments in the environmentally-friendly disposal of sludges and on the reawakened interest in composting which has emerged as a result of significant European directives.
Climate change has shaped life in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Understanding the interactions between climate and biodiversity is a complex challenge to science. With contributions from 60 key researchers, this book examines the ongoing impact of climate change on the ecology and diversity of life on earth. It discusses the latest research within the fields of ecology and systematics, highlighting the increasing integration of their approaches and methods. Topics covered include the influence of climate change on evolutionary and ecological processes such as adaptation, migration, speciation and extinction, and the role of these processes in determining the diversity and biogeographic distribution of species and their populations. This book ultimately illustrates the necessity for global conservation actions to mitigate the effects of climate change in a world that is already undergoing a biodiversity crisis of unprecedented scale.
