Remote Ireland community survived a millennium of environmental change
Study finds social conditions key to long-term resilience during times of dramatic change

Date:
April 27, 2022
Source:
PLOS
Summary:
A remote community in Ireland was adaptable enough to persist
through a millennium of environmental change, according to a
new study.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A remote community in Ireland was adaptable enough to persist through a millennium of environmental change, according to a study published April
27, 2022 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Gill Plunkett and Graeme Swindles of Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, U.K.


========================================================================== There are numerous examples of past societies severely impacted by environmental changes, including climate change, natural disasters, and
other dramatic ecological shifts contributing to food crises, epidemics,
and other calamities. However, it's more difficult to determine long-term effects of environmental disturbances. In this study, the authors examine environmental and community changes over a thousand years of occupation
in the Antrim Plateau in the north of Ireland.

This study analyzed a peat core recording environmental changes over
the last millennium at a site called Slieveanorra. The authors inferred environmental and human occupation changes with data from microbes,
natural plants, and crop plants, and they established fine-scale dating
with ash layers, organic remains, and historical accounts. Their record provided no evidence of long- term disruption to human occupation related
to environmental changes.

These results reflect a community that was able to either escape the
effects of environmental change, or to 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. In the face of environmental change,
the authors suggest, not all human communities respond the same way, and
this variation is largely linked to social conditions of each respective population. Understanding this complexity is key to understanding what conditions make communities vulnerable to cultural collapse in the face
of 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."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by PLOS. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Gill Plunkett, Graeme T. Swindles. Bucking the trend: Population
resilience in a marginal environment. PLOS ONE, 2022; 17 (4):
e0266680 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266680 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220427140645.htm

--- up 8 weeks, 2 days, 10 hours, 51 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)