Tag: natural environments

Counting on … day 148

14th August 2024

Whilst not pristine, are there other environments where the impact of humans is minimal such that we can consider them to be natural? Perhaps here we mean a landscape or ecosystem shaped by nature not humans? Perhaps we mean a landscape that was once shaped by humans but has now reverted to one free of human contact?

One such example would be Monks Wood Experimental Station – a four hectare arable field next to a research station which was ploughed after the last crop had been harvested and was then abandoned. It was left without any human interference to see what would happened. Kenneth Mellanby, the then director of the Station, wrote “It might be interesting to watch what happens to this area if man does not interfere. Will it become a wood again, how long will it take, which species will be in it?”

Sixty years later and the results can be seen – “a structurally complex woodland with multiple layers of tree and shrub vegetation, and accumulating deadwood as the habitat ages. This complexity offers niches for a wide variety of woodland wildlife, from fungi and invertebrates in the dead logs and branches, to song thrushes, garden warblers and nuthatches which nest in the ground layer, understorey and tree canopy.” https://www.positive.news/environment/rewilding-sixty-years-ago-scientists-let-a-farm-rewild-heres-what-happened/

Counting on … day 147

13th August 2024

How to define a natural environment

Is it an environment untouched by human influence? This is typically referred to as a pristine environment. Are there any such places on earth? 

On the one hand, given the way that, for example, the effects of climate change are universally felt across the earth, or the presence of micro plastics which are now to be found in the depths of the ocean, on mountain peaks, in icecaps, and even in the blood of living creatures, the answer would be no. If in the other hand we mean free from the physical presence of humans and their impact, then yes – a few. 

And it is that second approach that allows many researchers to  agree with “a definition of pristine that includes habitats free from obvious signs of human activity. Those places should also contain plant and animal species that experts would expect to be there in the absence of hunting, logging, habitat loss, invasive species and other human-driven threats.” 

And yes in parts of north eastern South America, in parts of Indonesia, in parts of the Congo, in parts of the polar regions, there are still some pristine environments. 

(1) https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160208-theres-no-such-thing-as-truly-pristine-nature-anymore