Dear David
In New Zealand, John Flenley has suggested from charcoal evidence that
humans caused peat loss from 2000 years ago. I don't have the references
right to hand but you may not be interested anyhow as you are talking about
Europe. Let me know if you want anything futher.
Cheers
Jane Shearer
>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
Irene Gillies
Research Office
University of Canterbury
Ph: 03 364 2688 (1)
Fax: 03 364 2694
Email: [log in to unmask]
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