Article

Shieling Areas: Historical Grazing Pressures and Landscape Responses in Northern Iceland

Details

Citation

Brown J, Simpson I, Morrison S, Adderley WP, Tisdall E & Vésteinsson O (2012) Shieling Areas: Historical Grazing Pressures and Landscape Responses in Northern Iceland. Human Ecology, 40 (1), pp. 81-99. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-011-9456-1

Abstract
Historical domestic livestock grazing in sensitivelandscapes has commonly been regarded as a major cause ofland degradation in Iceland. Shieling areas, where milkinglivestock were taken to pasture for the summer, representedone element of grazing management and in this paper weconsider the extent to which historical shieling-based grazingpressure contributed to land degradation. Based on a grazingmodel to assess pressures and tephrochronology -based soilaccumulation rates allied to micromorphology as a proxy forland degradation, our findings suggest that the shieling system contributed to the maintenance of upland vegetationcover and related productivity levels without causing landdegradation from settlement through to ca. AD 1300. As landdegradation accelerated from ca. AD 1477 it is likely thatshieling management continued to operate effectively contributingto the overall resilience of livestock farming.

Keywords
Shieling areas ; Grazing ; Land degradation ;Iceland ; Landscape sensitivity; Resilience

Journal
Human Ecology: Volume 40, Issue 1

StatusPublished
Publication date29/02/2012
URLhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/19650
PublisherSpringer
ISSN0300-7839

People (2)

People

Professor Ian Simpson

Professor Ian Simpson

Professor, Biological and Environmental Sciences

Dr Eileen Tisdall

Dr Eileen Tisdall

Senior Lecturer, Biological and Environmental Sciences