Re: David Wilkinsons request for early descriptions of human caused decline
in mires.
King, W. 1685. Of the bogs, and loughs of Ireland. - Phil.Trans.Dublin
Soc. 15: 948-960.
He was not into mire conservation: "...it were good for Ireland, the Bogs
were sunk in the Sea..."
But he did note that there was hope: "I am in the last place to shew you
how these inconveniencys may be remedied, and our Bogs made usefull; 'Tis
certain the thing is possible; it has bin done in England, France, and
Germany; and if we had the same industry we may promise our selves the same
success."
So he noted the decline, but did certainly not show any concern!
King refers to red Bogs "...even red Bogs might be made fit for grazing..."
Does anyone know what type of mire vegetation this would be? A similar
term is used locally in Sweden too (rödmosse).
At 16:11 1999-02-22 -0500, you wrote:
>THE HISTORY OF THE CONCERN FOR PEATLAND LOSS.
>
>Three years ago in the Mires Research News (issue 5) I
>wrote a brief article on the history of concern over
>peatland decline. The first British source that I
>could find that described Peatlands as declining was
>'The Great Ice Age' by James Geikie (1874), this
>provides (pages 338-339) a clear description of the
>decline in Scottish mires but without any suggestion
>that they should be conserved.
>In 1996 I asked 2 questions.
>1) Did anyone know of an earlier description of human
>caused decline in mires?
>2) When was the first published plea for peatland
>conservation?
>
>No-one replied!!
>Can anyone on this discussion group help?
>
>(NOTE FOR ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED; my main peatland
>research interests are in Quaternary paleoecology and
>testate amoebae)
>
>David M Wilkinson
>Biology and Earth Sciences
>Liverpool John Moores University
>Byrom Street
>Liverpool
>L3 3AF
>
>
>
____________________________________________________
Håkan Rydin
Avd. f växtekologi, Evolutionsbiologiskt centrum, Uppsala universitet
Department of Plant Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University
Villavägen 14 fax: 018-55 34 19 (int +46 18 55 34 19)
S-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden tel: 018-471 2854 (int +46 18 471 2854)
http://www.vaxtbio.uu.se/resfold/groups.htm#mire
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