Abstract
Switches are processes in which there is positive feedback between vegetation and environment. Landscape features can be created and modified by switches. The concept has previously been used with physical factors and non-human animals as the switch mediator, i.e. the factor which the vegetation modifies and which in turn affects the vegetation. Here, the switch concept is extended to include some types of human behaviour as possible switch mediators. With this extension, the switch concept can explain the impact on the landscape of some types of human behaviour. Examples are given of the behaviour of mower drivers, mowing up to a boundary which they create and/or maintain, and of walkers trampling tracks which they create and/or maintain. Other possibilities are discussed briefly. It is concluded that the concept of a human-mediated switch can unify the study of human behaviour, vegetation processes and landscape ecology.
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Wilson, J.B., King, W.M. Human-mediated vegetation switches as processes in landscape ecology. Landscape Ecol 10, 191–196 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00129253
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00129253