British ancient forests were patchy

Planet Earth Online ^ | Thursday, November 26, 2009 | Sara Coelho

[SunkenCiv]

Scientists have long debated the nature of Europe's ancient landscape and hesitated between a nightmarish, close-canopied forest and a pasture woodland of oak and hazel trees, similar to the modern New Forest, which is kept open by grazing animals... Together with Dr David Smith, a specialist on environmental archaeology at the University of Birmingham, Whitehouse decided to look for clues in an overlooked source: ancient beetle remains... Whitehouse and Smith looked at 26 beetle assemblages from different parts of Britain, from Thorne Moors in Yorkshire to Silbury in Hampshire, and looked at how beetle communities changed over 7000 years, since the end of the Ice Age until 4000 years ago... Between 9500 and 6000 BC, the fossils were mostly from open and pasture beetle species, with moderate contributions from forest types and hardly any dung beetles. This suggests open patches of oak, hazel, birch and pine forests of variable tree density, similar to modern pasture woodland. Around 6000 BC forest beetles become more abundant, grassland species decline and 'we see an overall closing of the forest canopy in the insect record,' says Whitehouse. By 4000 BC, everything changes. This was the time that humans started pursuing an agricultural way of life, raising animals for meat and dairy products. Dung beetles become more abundant, while the other types of beetles decrease.

[SunkenCiv]

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[Old Seadog]

I understand the dung beetle is really thriving in Washington D.C. and other areas with large concentrations of politicians.

[Sacajaweau]

IIRC, the wild west was similar and they say if we got it back to what it was, we wouldn’t have so many forest fires.

[ICCtheWay]

Notice the narrative of the typical modern ‘scientists’... (with my comments added)...

“Between 9500 and 6000 BC, the fossils were mostly from open and pasture beetle sp (open and patchy forrests)

“Around 6000 BC forest beetles become more abundant, grassland species decline and ‘we see an overall CLOSING of the forest canopy in the insect record,” says Whitehouse.

“(A return to open - patchy forests) “By 4000 BC, everything changes. This was the time that HUMANS STARTED pursuing an agricultural way of life, raising animals for meat and dairy products. Dung beetles become more abundant, while the other types of beetles decrease. ‘The transition to the Neolithic was rather abrupt,’ says Whitehouse. The dense forest gave way to pasture woodlands and open landscapes, kept open by the increasing number of grazing animals feeding on saplings.”

So (in capsule)...

- We go from open - patchy forests from 9500 to 6000 BC

- Then at 6000 BC or so - we go to Closed Canopy Forest

- Then around 4000 BC “everything changes” - HUMANS ARRIVE — and the forest goes back to open and patchy...

OH MY — Humans caused the forest to go from closed Canopy to Open and Patchy.... OH MY !!! humans did it with their livestock grazing...

OH WAIT — maybe naturally occurring herds of grazing animals caused the forest - back in 9500 BC to be Open and Patchy ...

(Oh - let’s forget that part — as it shows that all humans did with their herds was to return the forest back to the condition it was in 3500 years earlier ...) Damn - we have to hide that data as it does not fit in with Our Anthropological Global Warming theory

Humans did it - Humans did it ... but where was the human influence back in 9500 BC ? OH - how embarrassing ....!!!

Email from the CRU....

[DannyTN]

I’m not sure about forests, I think woodpecker population was patchy.

[fhayek]

I go for this, just as long as they don’t haul out any of those damn tree rings.

[Fractal Trader]

I thought that Sherwood Forest was filled with criminals, not trees.

[SunkenCiv]

[rummages in the cabinet] Here’s some onion rings instead.

[SunkenCiv]

I think Robin Hood has been gone a while, died of bow-tox.

[Sacajaweau]

It’s where the phrase....”Behind every good tree is a Robin” came from...

[colorado tanker]

I know this is important work, but I'm really glad I don't have to explain to my kids I look at beetle dung for a living.

[Joe 6-pack]

"IIRC, the wild west was similar and they say if we got it back to what it was, we wouldn’t have so many forest fires."

I was once told that a higher percentage of the North American continent is currently forested than was the case at the time of Lewis and Clark. The person who told me this was probably in as good a position as anybody to know, and had no real reason to lie. Before the westward population expansion, the great plains were regularly ravaged by prairie fires. A lightning strike in Nebraska could easily burn several surrounding states.

Nowadays, the local fire department responds and puts it out.

[Beowulf9]

“IIRC, the wild west was similar and they say if we got it back to what it was, we wouldn’t have so many forest fires.”

Actually, out here in Arizona the Apaches who control their forests and are not bothered by the environmentalists and their rules, regularly maintain their forest by clearing out areas of bush and whatnot. They haven’t got the amount of forest fires that ‘we’ Americans do, because we’re not allowed to do that, because of the environmentalists.