This thesis presents a number of GIS based landscape analyses that together aim to explore aspects of the social development in Iron Age Västmanland, central Sweden. From a perspective where nature and culture are seen as integrated in the landscape, differences in the relations to the physical landscape are interpreted as reflecting social organisation. Thus, hydrological modelling of watersheds is used for understanding the development of territories and regions that are recognisable in the outlay of the medieval hundare districts. Statistical modelling of burial grounds together with variables describing their situation in the landscape is used to calculate an estimated chronology for sites that have not yet been excavated. This information is used to analyse differences in how the setting in the landscape can tell of different trends in claims to land and property rights. An extensive renegotiation of property rights is suggested to have taken place after climatic catastrophe in AD 536 and the years after. This is interpreted as having caused a substantial population decline in parts of Scandinavia. The social development after this includes an increasingly stratified social hierarchy in the Late Iron Age, which is reflected in the construction of grave monuments. New GIS methods for analysing how to interpret the perception of different locations of the landscape, in terms of local topography and soil are discussed in relation to this.   How to make the best use of large datasets of archaeological information in combination with other sources of geographical information is a central theme. Geographically Weighted Regression is used to predicting the representativity of the registry of graves for the whole landscape. It is suggested that the increasing availability of archaeological information in digital format, together with new analytical techniques has the potential to introduce fruitful new research perspectives. This will make it increasingly rewarding to work with the large amount of data produced from rescue archaeology, and it is important that this information is managed in a structured manner. / Appendices see http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-111310

En région tempérée, les cartes historiques ont permis de démontrer que l’ancienneté des forêts conditionne les caractéristiques des sols et la présence de certaines espèces végétales. En revanche, peu d’études ont été réalisées pour tester ces différences en région méditerranéenne. L'objectif général de la thèse est d’analyser les déterminants du changement du couvert forestier et l’effet de la continuité temporelle et des usages passés sur les sols et la flore des forêts actuelles en région méditerranéenne. Ce travail prend place au sein du territoire du Parc Naturel Régional du Luberon. Le premier volet identifie les déterminants de la distribution des usages et de la reconquête forestière, à partir de données cartographiques de 1860, 1958 et 2010. Il apparaît notamment que les forêts se sont maintenues sur les terres les moins productives et que la reconquête forestière s’est faite sur des sols peu productifs, et à proximité des forêts préexistantes. Le second volet explore l’effet de la continuité temporelle et des usages passés des forêts sur leurs caractéristiques écologiques, à partir de relevés floristiques et pédologiques. Les forêts anciennes et récentes se répartissent selon la productivité des sols et accueillent des espèces qui se distinguent par leurs traits et leurs exigences écologiques, avec notamment des espèces spécialistes forestières, phanérophytes et endozoochores plus fréquentes en forêt ancienne. Si ce travail s’appuie sur la carte d’État-Major, il s’avère que l’écologie historique des forêts méditerranéennes nécessite également des approches in situ afin d’appréhender la complexité des usages anciens du paysage. / In temperate regions, historical maps have demonstrated that forest ancientness determines soil properties and the presence of some plant species. However, those differences were rarely analysed in the Mediterranean region. The main objectives of this PhD thesis are to analyse the drivers of forest cover change and the effect of temporal continuity and past land uses on forest soils and understory vegetation in the Mediterranean region. This work relies on the territory of the Regional Natural Park of Luberon. The first part consists of identifying biophysical and socioeconomic drivers of land use and forest recovery spatial distribution, based on the comparison of 1860, 1958 and 2010 land uses. Forest maintained on the least productive land while forest recovery occurred on soils with low productivity, and close to pre-existing forests. The second part investigates the effect of forest temporal continuity and past land uses on their ecological characteristics, based on floristic and pedological data. Ancient and recent forests are distributed according to soil productivity and host species of differing traits and ecological preferences. Notably, species significantly preferring ancient forests are true forest species, phanerophytes and endozoochores. If this work relies on the État-Major map, it turns out that the historical ecology of Mediterranean forests requires complementary in situ approaches in order to fully understand the complexity of past landscape uses.

A Mata Atlântica é um dos biomas mais biodiverso e ameaçados do planeta. Grande parte de seus remanescentes está localizada no Vale do Ribeira (SP), onde se encontra a maioria das populações quilombolas do estado. Os quilombos do vale surgiram de povoados formados por escravos abandonados, fugidos e alforriados que vem ocupando o vale desde o início da colonização européia na região, no século XVI. A principal estratégia de subsistência destas populações ao longo dos séculos foi a coivara, sistema agrícola capaz de conferir grande heterogeneidade à paisagem florestal. Entretanto, nas últimas décadas, a coivara tem sofrido um processo de transformação, devido a fatores como: o aumento demográfico, o avanço da economia de mercado, a implantação de leis ambientais e políticas desenvolvimentistas. O objetivo deste estudo é compreender como a coivara contribuiu para a formação da paisagem florestal na comunidade de remanescente de quilombo de São Pedro, no vale do Ribeira. A construção de uma narrativa histórica dos processos que contribuíram para as transformações deste sistema auxilia na compreensão das mudanças nos padrões de subsistência locais e de que forma estas se refletem nessa paisagem. Para tanto, levantamos a memória social local, através de técnicas etnográficas e de história oral. Além disso, realizamos trilhas monitoradas para estudar a percepção ambiental das unidades paisagísticas, bem como a configuração espacial das roças e capoeiras. Com a aplicação de tais métodos, pudemos constatar que no passado, a abertura de clareiras para o cultivo dependia de uma série de fatores: a disponibilidade de capital social para o trabalho, a demanda familiar para a produção de alimento e as relações econômicas com o mercado regional. Ao mesmo tempo, a lógica de ocupação da paisagem era fruto da associação entre o conhecimento da dinâmica ecológica local e normas sociais estabelecidas. A unidade doméstica, composta pela casa de fora e pela capuova, foi a expressão material mais constante da agência humana na paisagem. Os processos de transformação da coivara se iniciaram na década de 1950, com a construção de rodovias e consequente diminuição do isolamento regional. A partir disso, a intensificação do corte de palmito e o estabelecimento da pecuária com a chegada dos grileiros, na década de 1970, levaram ao redirecionamento das atividades econômicas. Por consequência, ocorreu a diminuição da área das unidades agrícolas e do número de áreas sob cultivo. A partir da construção de uma escola no bairro, nos anos 70, ocorreu a concentração das residências em vila, que estimulou a concentração das unidades de cultivo ao redor. A intensificação da fiscalização ambiental na região, nos anos 80, passou a restringir as atividades locais de subsistência. Como resultado, observamos que duas tendências podem ser observadas atualmente: segmentação e homogeneização da paisagem em áreas destinadas ao manejo, por um lado, e o estabelecimento de uma formação de floresta madura, não mais passível de derrubada, por outro. Tal tendência pode resultar na diminuição da complexidade estrutural e da dinâmica ecológica da floresta local. Concluímos que, apesar da nova configuração espacial da coivara e da tendência à segmentação, a criação de pastagens e a extração de palmito parecem ser mais impactantes para a fragmentação da paisagem florestal. Por conta das mudanças levantadas, atualmente a população de São Pedro se depara com o desafio de combinar as restrições ambientais à necessidade de produzir itens com valor de mercado. Somado a isso, precisam reorganizar o trabalho coletivo e reformular a concepção local da paisagem e o seu uso para garantir, no futuro, sua permanência neste território. / The Atlantic Rainforest is one of the worlds most diverse and threatened biomes. The majority of its remnants are located at the Ribeira Valley (SP) where several of the States quilombola populations remain. The Valleys quilombos originated from a population of freed, abandoned or refugee slaves brought to the region in the beginning of the European colonization during the 16th century. The main subsistence strategy these populations have developed is the slash-and-burn agriculture (coivara), a system capable of proffering great heterogeneity to the forest landscape. However, the coivara system has been undergoing a transformation process in the last decades due to demographic increase, advance of the local economy and the implementation of environmental and political developmental legislation. The aim of this study is to understand how the coivara system has contributed to the forest landscape formation of the São Pedro quilombo community at the Ribeira Valley. A historic narrative of the processes that contributed to the systems transformation helps understand the changes in the local subsistence patterns and the way these changes reflect in the landscape. In order to do so, the local social memory was sought through ethnographic and oral history methods. Furthermore, monitored trails were carried out to study the environmental perception of landscape units and the spatial configuration of swidden and fallow plots. These methods allowed us to realize that, in the past, gap openings for crop cultures depended on a series of factors, such as: availability of social capital for labor, family demand on crop production, and economic ties with the regional market. Simultaneously, the landscape occupation was a product between the knowledge of the local ecological dynamics and the established social norms. The domestic unit, composed of the casa de fora and the capuova, was the most constant expression of human presence in the landscape. The coivara transformation processes began in the 1950s with road constructions decreasing the regions isolation. From then on, the intensification of palm-heart extraction and cattle ranching brought along with land grabbers in the 1970s, redirected the communities economic activities. As a consequence, both the number of cultivated areas and the area of each agricultural unit decreased. During the 70s, with the construction of a school in the region, the houses were displayed in a village form, which stimulated the concentration of cultivated units around it. Moreover, the intensification of environmental inspection in the region during the 80s restricted their local subsistence activities. As a result, two tendencies may be observed nowadays: segmentation and homogenization of the landscape into areas destined to management on one hand, and the establishment of a mature forest formation, unable to be cut down, on the other. This might result in a decrease of the structural complexity and ecological dynamics of the local forest. We conclude that, despite the new spatial configuration of the swidden plots and the tendency to segmentation, cattle grazing sites and palm-heart extraction seem to be most harmful, causing most of the forest landscape fragmentation. Due to these changes, the São Pedro community faces, nowadays, the challenge of combining their need to produce items with market value with the environmental restrictions brought upon them. Moreover, they must reorganize their collective labor activities and reformulate the local landscape conception and use to ensure, in the future, their permanence in that territory.

The reason for this story was to investigate a narrative that is important to the identity of North America’s Pacific Northwest Coast – a narrative that revolves around wild salmon, a narrative that always seemed too simple to me, a narrative that gives salmon a mythical status, and yet what does the average person know about this fish other than it floods grocery stores in fall and tastes good. How do we know this fish that supposedly defines the natural world of this place? I began my research as a science writer, inspired by John Steinbeck’s The Log from the Sea of Cortez, in which he writes that the best way to achieve reality is by combining narrative with scientific data. So I went looking for a different story from the one most people read about in popular media, a story that’s overwhelmingly about conflict: I searched for a narrative that combines the science of what we know about salmon and a story of the scientists who study the fish, either directly or indirectly. I tried to follow Steinbeck’s example and include the narrative journeys we take in understanding the world around us, the journeys that rarely make it into scientific journals. I went on about eight field trips with biology, ecology, and archaeology lab teams from the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans onboard the Canadian Coast Guard Ship the W.E. Ricker, and an archaeological crew from the Laich-Kwil-Tach Treaty Society in Campbell River, B.C. At the same time, I was reading a number of things, including a 1938 dissertation by anthropologist Homer Barnett from the University of Oregon titled The Nature and Function of the Potlatch, a 2011 book by economist Ronald Trosper at the University of Arizona, Resilience, Reciprocity and Ecological Economics, and works by psychologist Douglas Medin at Northwestern University and anthropologist Scott Atran at the University of Michigan, written over the past two decades, particular paying attention to their writings on taxonomy and folkbiology. My conclusions surprised me, a little. / Graduate / 0329 / 0324 / 0391

The reason for this story was to investigate a narrative that is important to the identity of North America’s Pacific Northwest Coast – a narrative that revolves around wild salmon, a narrative that always seemed too simple to me, a narrative that gives salmon a mythical status, and yet what does the average person know about this fish other than it floods grocery stores in fall and tastes good. How do we know this fish that supposedly defines the natural world of this place? I began my research as a science writer, inspired by John Steinbeck’s The Log from the Sea of Cortez, in which he writes that the best way to achieve reality is by combining narrative with scientific data. So I went looking for a different story from the one most people read about in popular media, a story that’s overwhelmingly about conflict: I searched for a narrative that combines the science of what we know about salmon and a story of the scientists who study the fish, either directly or indirectly. I tried to follow Steinbeck’s example and include the narrative journeys we take in understanding the world around us, the journeys that rarely make it into scientific journals. I went on about eight field trips with biology, ecology, and archaeology lab teams from the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans onboard the Canadian Coast Guard Ship the W.E. Ricker, and an archaeological crew from the Laich-Kwil-Tach Treaty Society in Campbell River, B.C. At the same time, I was reading a number of things, including a 1938 dissertation by anthropologist Homer Barnett from the University of Oregon titled The Nature and Function of the Potlatch, a 2011 book by economist Ronald Trosper at the University of Arizona, Resilience, Reciprocity and Ecological Economics, and works by psychologist Douglas Medin at Northwestern University and anthropologist Scott Atran at the University of Michigan, written over the past two decades, particular paying attention to their writings on taxonomy and folkbiology. My conclusions surprised me, a little. / Graduate / 0329 / 0324 / 0391

This thesis examines landscape change from 1889 to the present within the foothills-parkland ecoregion of Waterton Lakes National Park (WLNP) in southwestern Alberta, Canada. Land cover dynamics are explored qualitatively and quantitatively using Geographical Information Systems and a combination of historical and contemporary data sources including: (1) Dominion Land Survey (DLS) transect records (1889), (2) repeat oblique photographs (1914 and 2004) and repeat aerial photography (1939 and 1999). Results indicate a consistent increase in woody vegetation cover, particularly aspen forest cover, within the foothills-parkland since 1889, largely at the expense of native grasslands. The primary drivers of these changes likely include: climatic influences, changes to the historical grazing regime, the suppression of natural fire cycles and the cessation of First Nations’ land management practices. This research illustrates the value of integrating multiple historical data sources for studying landscape change in the Canadian Rockies, and explores the implications of this change for ecological restoration in the foothills-parkland of WLNP.

This thesis examines landscape change from 1889 to the present within the foothills-parkland ecoregion of Waterton Lakes National Park (WLNP) in southwestern Alberta, Canada. Land cover dynamics are explored qualitatively and quantitatively using Geographical Information Systems and a combination of historical and contemporary data sources including: (1) Dominion Land Survey (DLS) transect records (1889), (2) repeat oblique photographs (1914 and 2004) and repeat aerial photography (1939 and 1999). Results indicate a consistent increase in woody vegetation cover, particularly aspen forest cover, within the foothills-parkland since 1889, largely at the expense of native grasslands. The primary drivers of these changes likely include: climatic influences, changes to the historical grazing regime, the suppression of natural fire cycles and the cessation of First Nations’ land management practices. This research illustrates the value of integrating multiple historical data sources for studying landscape change in the Canadian Rockies, and explores the implications of this change for ecological restoration in the foothills-parkland of WLNP.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Historical Ecology unifies concepts in ecology, behavior and phylogeny. To determine the evolutionary context of reproductive characters within the Leptodactylus pentadactylus species group and also to explore questions such as predation and habitat selection, I described the reproductive ecology of two key species, L. labyrinthicus and L. syphax) (Anura, Leptodactylidae). Field observations and experiments (2004 2008) were carried out in areas of Cerrado in southeastern and central Brazil. I characterized the oviposition sites of the two species by comparing the ecological conditions of the egglaying sites with those of nearby random points. Experiments with tadpoles were also conducted to describe their diel pattern of activity, hiding behaviour and level of susceptibility to predation by free-ranging birds. I determined whether L. syphax clutches have trophic eggs (tadpole food) by quantifying the proportion of eggs/embryos in recent nests. I also tested whether tadpoles of both species could prey on eggs of heterospecific foam nests. Leptodactylus labyrinthicus (140 mm SVL) breeds in temporary or permanent pools in swamps while L. syphax (70 mm) occurs in rocky and seasonal streams. Both species lay their eggs embedded in a white foam nest built by the amplectant pair; males beat the female cloacal fluids with both legs moving from side to side. Their foam nests were found beside the water, usually in basins excavated by the adults. Both species probably do not distribute their nests randomly across the environment, but actively choose micro-habitats with particular conditions (e.g., sheltered, close to water) that may provide relative protection for eggs/nestling tadpoles against the main risks present in their breeding sites (e.g., drying, maggot s infestation). Oviposition site selection including flexible strategies on the choice of micro-habitats in response to spatial and temporal variations has been reported for several frog species. In contrast to L. labyrinthicus, the clutches of L. syphax do not have trophic eggs, because most (90%) of the eggs develop into tadpoles. In the experiments, birds (leaf-scrapers) ate all exposed tadpoles of L. labyrinthicus, but no tadpole in the treatment where they could hide. Hence, the use of diurnal shelters and nocturnal habits may protect the tadpoles from such visual predators. Tadpoles of L. labyrinthicus can prey on eggs from heterospecific foam nests, but those of L. syphax do not. If the L. pentadactylus species cluster is monophyletic, excavated basins and foam-beating in lateral motions may be possible derived traits that arose in the common ancestor of the whole group. However, large adults, carnivorous tadpoles, and trophic eggs appear to be congruent synapomorphies of a less inclusive group. Based on this possible association of derived traits, the major reproductive features (e.g., trophic eggs, tadpole morphology and behaviour) of species of the L. pentadactylus group could be inferred largely from the body size (SVL) of adults. / A Ecologia Histórica unifica conceitos em ecologia, comportamento e filogenia. Na presente tese, descrevi a ecologia reprodutiva de duas espécies-chave, L. labyrinthicus e L. syphax (Anura, Leptodactylidae), a fim de determinar o contexto evolutivo de caracteres reprodutivos no grupo de Leptodactylus pentadactylus e também explorar questões como a predação e seleção de hábitat. As observações de campo e experimentais (2004 2008) foram realizadas em áreas de Cerrado nas regiões central e sudeste do Brasil. As condições ecológicas dos sítios de oviposição foram caracterizadas em relação ao entorno (pontos aleatórios). Conduzi experimentos com girinos para descrever o horário de atividade, comportamento de refúgio e susceptibilidade à predação por aves. Para determinar se desovas de L. syphax possuem ovos tróficos (alimento para girinos), analisei a proporção de ovos/embriões em ninhos recentes. Testei se girinos de ambas as espécies conseguem predar ovos de ninhos de espuma heteroespecíficos. Leptodactylus labyrinthicus (140 mm tamanho) reproduz em poças temporárias ou permanentes em ambientes brejosos enquanto que L. syphax (70 mm) utiliza regatos rochosos e sazonais. Ambas as espécies depositam seus ovos em ninho de espuma formado pelo casal durante o amplexo; os machos batem a espuma com suas pernas/pés executando movimentos laterais na região cloacal da fêmea. Os ninhos foram encontrados próximos à água, geralmente em bacias escavadas pelos adultos. Essas espécies não distribuem seus ninhos aleatoriamente no ambiente e selecionam sítios de oviposição cujas condições particulares (e.g., em abrigos, próximos à água) provavelmente conferem proteção relativa contra os principais fatores de mortalidade de seus ovos/embriões (e.g., dessecação, predação por larvas de moscas). A seleção de micro-ambientes de desova envolvendo estratégias moduláveis em resposta a variações espaciais e temporais tem sido reportada para várias espécies de anuros em contextos ecológicos diversos. Em contraste a L. labyrinthicus, as desovas de L. syphax não possuem ovos tróficos, pois a maioria (90%) dos ovos se desenvolve. Nos experimentos, aves (sabiá-poca) predaram girinos expostos de L. labyrinthicus, mas nenhum girino foi consumido no tratamento em que eles podiam se esconder. Portanto, o hábito noturno e a utilização de refúgios diurnos devem proteger os girinos de tais predadores. Os girinos de L. labyrinthicus são capazes de predar ovos de ninhos de espuma heteroespecíficos, mas os de L. syphax não. Se o grupo de L. pentadactylus é monofilético, bacias escavadas e batimento da espuma em movimentos laterais podem ser possíveis derivações exclusivas do grupo. No entanto, adultos grandes, girinos carnívoros e desovas com ovos tróficos parecem representar sinapomorfias correlatas (evolução associada) de um subgrupo restrito. Com base nessa associação de caracteres, será possível predizer aspectos-chave da ecologia reprodutiva (e.g., ovos tróficos, girinos oófagos) das 19 espécies do grupo de L. pentadactylus com base no tamanho corporal (CRC) de adultos. / Doutor em Ecologia e Conservação de Recursos Naturais

A Mata Atlântica é um dos biomas mais biodiverso e ameaçados do planeta. Grande parte de seus remanescentes está localizada no Vale do Ribeira (SP), onde se encontra a maioria das populações quilombolas do estado. Os quilombos do vale surgiram de povoados formados por escravos abandonados, fugidos e alforriados que vem ocupando o vale desde o início da colonização européia na região, no século XVI. A principal estratégia de subsistência destas populações ao longo dos séculos foi a coivara, sistema agrícola capaz de conferir grande heterogeneidade à paisagem florestal. Entretanto, nas últimas décadas, a coivara tem sofrido um processo de transformação, devido a fatores como: o aumento demográfico, o avanço da economia de mercado, a implantação de leis ambientais e políticas desenvolvimentistas. O objetivo deste estudo é compreender como a coivara contribuiu para a formação da paisagem florestal na comunidade de remanescente de quilombo de São Pedro, no vale do Ribeira. A construção de uma narrativa histórica dos processos que contribuíram para as transformações deste sistema auxilia na compreensão das mudanças nos padrões de subsistência locais e de que forma estas se refletem nessa paisagem. Para tanto, levantamos a memória social local, através de técnicas etnográficas e de história oral. Além disso, realizamos trilhas monitoradas para estudar a percepção ambiental das unidades paisagísticas, bem como a configuração espacial das roças e capoeiras. Com a aplicação de tais métodos, pudemos constatar que no passado, a abertura de clareiras para o cultivo dependia de uma série de fatores: a disponibilidade de capital social para o trabalho, a demanda familiar para a produção de alimento e as relações econômicas com o mercado regional. Ao mesmo tempo, a lógica de ocupação da paisagem era fruto da associação entre o conhecimento da dinâmica ecológica local e normas sociais estabelecidas. A unidade doméstica, composta pela casa de fora e pela capuova, foi a expressão material mais constante da agência humana na paisagem. Os processos de transformação da coivara se iniciaram na década de 1950, com a construção de rodovias e consequente diminuição do isolamento regional. A partir disso, a intensificação do corte de palmito e o estabelecimento da pecuária com a chegada dos grileiros, na década de 1970, levaram ao redirecionamento das atividades econômicas. Por consequência, ocorreu a diminuição da área das unidades agrícolas e do número de áreas sob cultivo. A partir da construção de uma escola no bairro, nos anos 70, ocorreu a concentração das residências em vila, que estimulou a concentração das unidades de cultivo ao redor. A intensificação da fiscalização ambiental na região, nos anos 80, passou a restringir as atividades locais de subsistência. Como resultado, observamos que duas tendências podem ser observadas atualmente: segmentação e homogeneização da paisagem em áreas destinadas ao manejo, por um lado, e o estabelecimento de uma formação de floresta madura, não mais passível de derrubada, por outro. Tal tendência pode resultar na diminuição da complexidade estrutural e da dinâmica ecológica da floresta local. Concluímos que, apesar da nova configuração espacial da coivara e da tendência à segmentação, a criação de pastagens e a extração de palmito parecem ser mais impactantes para a fragmentação da paisagem florestal. Por conta das mudanças levantadas, atualmente a população de São Pedro se depara com o desafio de combinar as restrições ambientais à necessidade de produzir itens com valor de mercado. Somado a isso, precisam reorganizar o trabalho coletivo e reformular a concepção local da paisagem e o seu uso para garantir, no futuro, sua permanência neste território. / The Atlantic Rainforest is one of the worlds most diverse and threatened biomes. The majority of its remnants are located at the Ribeira Valley (SP) where several of the States quilombola populations remain. The Valleys quilombos originated from a population of freed, abandoned or refugee slaves brought to the region in the beginning of the European colonization during the 16th century. The main subsistence strategy these populations have developed is the slash-and-burn agriculture (coivara), a system capable of proffering great heterogeneity to the forest landscape. However, the coivara system has been undergoing a transformation process in the last decades due to demographic increase, advance of the local economy and the implementation of environmental and political developmental legislation. The aim of this study is to understand how the coivara system has contributed to the forest landscape formation of the São Pedro quilombo community at the Ribeira Valley. A historic narrative of the processes that contributed to the systems transformation helps understand the changes in the local subsistence patterns and the way these changes reflect in the landscape. In order to do so, the local social memory was sought through ethnographic and oral history methods. Furthermore, monitored trails were carried out to study the environmental perception of landscape units and the spatial configuration of swidden and fallow plots. These methods allowed us to realize that, in the past, gap openings for crop cultures depended on a series of factors, such as: availability of social capital for labor, family demand on crop production, and economic ties with the regional market. Simultaneously, the landscape occupation was a product between the knowledge of the local ecological dynamics and the established social norms. The domestic unit, composed of the casa de fora and the capuova, was the most constant expression of human presence in the landscape. The coivara transformation processes began in the 1950s with road constructions decreasing the regions isolation. From then on, the intensification of palm-heart extraction and cattle ranching brought along with land grabbers in the 1970s, redirected the communities economic activities. As a consequence, both the number of cultivated areas and the area of each agricultural unit decreased. During the 70s, with the construction of a school in the region, the houses were displayed in a village form, which stimulated the concentration of cultivated units around it. Moreover, the intensification of environmental inspection in the region during the 80s restricted their local subsistence activities. As a result, two tendencies may be observed nowadays: segmentation and homogenization of the landscape into areas destined to management on one hand, and the establishment of a mature forest formation, unable to be cut down, on the other. This might result in a decrease of the structural complexity and ecological dynamics of the local forest. We conclude that, despite the new spatial configuration of the swidden plots and the tendency to segmentation, cattle grazing sites and palm-heart extraction seem to be most harmful, causing most of the forest landscape fragmentation. Due to these changes, the São Pedro community faces, nowadays, the challenge of combining their need to produce items with market value with the environmental restrictions brought upon them. Moreover, they must reorganize their collective labor activities and reformulate the local landscape conception and use to ensure, in the future, their permanence in that territory.

This thesis, an environmental history of a selected number of Swedish military training environments, is based on observation of military landscapes with a permanent presence of military-related objects and activities, all of which leave their traces in the environment, and how continued military activity is legitimised with environmental arguments. By also observing military policies and documents, I look into how the Swedish military frame their own training environments, and how ‘environmentalist’ discourses is adopted to justify past and present activities. The military landscapes must also be considered in a wider context of geopolitics and security; hence I also include an historical analysis of military land appropriation and defense policy in Sweden. An important contribution with this thesis, besides provide a Swedish context to studies of military landscapes, lies also in testing a historical ecological framework in analyses and methods when approaching research on military landscapes, as I consider this thesis as a pilot-project on Swedish military landscapes providing incentives for further studies. The Swedish military landscapes studied in this thesis have both a centennial and decadal presence of military activities. Some training sites such as Marma and Revinge, which are also Natura 2000 areas, have had a military presence since the 19th century, and the various military structures and buildings promote a kind of military biography, an identity tied to landscapes, reinforcing military presence. The presentation of military sites as ecological refuges for rare species and habitats is evident in the management plans for the studied landscapes. The way military space is understood, legitimised and produced from the perspectives of the military policy level is, as I will argue, centred on two core motivations. First, it is that military presence in a landscape is the product of a militarisation processes, considering a geopolitical context and defense policies. The military presence has long-term effects in form of an alteration of physical nature and development of a high biodiversity. Second, the long-term positive effects, enhances an environmentalist discourse within the military when it comes to legitimise past and present military space, and to justify a continued military presence in a landscape. / Denna uppsats, en miljöhistoria av ett utvalt antal svenska militära övningsområden, är baserat på en observation av militära landskap med en permanent närvaro av militärrelaterade objekt och aktiviteter vilka lämnar sina spår i miljön, och hur fortsatt militär aktivitet legitimeras genom miljöargument. Jag analyserar militära riktlinjer och dokument, för att se på hur svensk militär förhåller sig till dess övningsområden, och hur diskurser om miljövård används för att motivera fortsatt militär aktivitet. De militära landskapen bör studeras i en större geopolitisk säkerhetskontext; därför inkluderar jag också en historisk studie av svensk försvarspolitik och militära markanskaffningar. En viktig insats med denna uppsats, förutom att bidra med en svensk kontext till militära landskapsstudier, är att testa ett historiskt-ekologiskt ramverk i analys och metod vid studier av militära landskap då jag anser att denna uppsats är ett pilot-projekt för militära landskapsstudier i Sverige och ger incitament till vidare forskning i ämnet.   De svenska militära landskapen som studeras här har upp till en hundraårig närvaro av militär aktivitet. Vissa övnings- och skjutfält såsom Marma och Revingehed, vilka också är Natura 2000- områden, har haft militär aktivitet sedan slutet av 1800- talet, och de varierande militära ytorna och byggnaderna främjar en militär biografi, en identitet knuten till landskapet, vilken förstärker fortsatt militär närvaro. Presentationen av de militära fälten som ekologiska refuger av sällsynta arter och habitat är uppenbar i skötsel- och vårdplanerna av de studerade landskapen. Sättet som det militära landskapet förstås, legitimeras och produceras ur militärperspektiv i policy och dokument är, som jag kommer argumentera, koncentrerade kring två faktorer. För det första, militär närvaro i ett landskap är ett resultat av en militariseringsprocess baserat på en geopolitisk kontext och försvarsbeslut. Militär närvaro har en långsiktig effekt i form av en förändring av den fysiska naturen och utvecklingen av en biologisk mångfald. För det andra, de långsiktiga positiva effekterna underbygger en naturvårdsdiskurs inom militären när det kommer till att motivera dåtida och nuvarande militär landskapsanvändning, och för att rättfärdiga en fortsatt militär närvaro.