image: The peat-covered uplands of the North of Ireland are today used mainly for commercial forestry, sheep-grazing and outdoor recreation, but were formerly wooded and farmed.
View More
Credit: Helen Essell, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
According to a study published in the open-access journal, April 27, 2022, a remote community in Ireland was able to adapt to environmental change over a millennium. PLOS ONE by Gill Plunkett and Graeme Swindles of Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, U.K.
There are many examples of past societies that were severely affected by environmental changes. These include climate change, natural catastrophes, and other dramatic ecological shifts that contribute to food crises and other calamities. However, it’s more difficult to determine long-term effects of environmental disturbances. The study examines changes in environmental and community conditions over a thousand year of occupation in the Antrim Plateau, north of Ireland.
This study examined a core of peat that records environmental changes at Slieveanorra over the last millennium. The authors inferred environmental changes and human occupation from data from microbes, natural and crop plants. They also established fine-scale dates using ash layers and organic remains as well as historical accounts. Their records did not show any evidence of long-term disruptions to human occupation due to environmental changes.
These results are a testament to a community which was able to either adapt to the effects of environmental change or rebound quickly. This surprising resilience from a relatively remote occupation was likely the result of social factors – such as agricultural and trade practices – which made the community flexible and adaptable. The authors point out that not all human communities react the same to environmental change. This variation is largely due to the social conditions of each individual population. Understanding this complexity is crucial to understanding the conditions that make communities vulnerable to cultural decline in the face environmental change.
The authors add: “Ireland’s uplands today seem barren, but they were occupied and farmed for centuries, despite climate change, famines and plague.”
#####
This URL will allow you to access the article in its entirety. Please use it in your coverage PLOS ONE: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0266680
Citation:Plunkett G, Swindles T (2022) Defying the trend: Population resilience within marginal environments. PLoS ONE 17(4) e0266680 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266680
Author Countries Canada, U.K.
Funding:The authors were not provided with any funding.
Method of Research
Observational studies
Research subject
People
Article Title
The trend is changing: Population resilience in marginal environments
Date of publication
27-Apr-2022
COI Statement
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Disclaimer:AAAS and EurekAlert! EurekAlert and AAAS are not responsible to the accuracy of EurekAlert’s news releases. by contributing institutions or for any use of information through the EurekAlert program.