Michael Bollig - African Landscapes
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Landscape studies provide a crucial perspective into the interaction between humans and their environment, shedding insight on social, cultural, and economic topics. The research explores both the way that natural processes have affected the development of culture and society, as well as the ways that natural landscapes themselves are the product of historical and cultural processes.Most previous studies of the landscape selectively focused on either the natural sciences or the social sciences, but the research presented in African Landscapes bridges that gap. This work is unique in its interd.
Michael Bollig: author's other books
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Michael Bollig
Kléber Ghimire
Darrelyn Gunzburg (editor)
Anna Grichting (editor)
Bettina Reitz-Joosse
Walter Hood
Jessica Joyce Christie
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Part 1
Arid Landscapes: Detection and Reconstruction - Perspectives from Earth Sciences and Archaeology
Arid Landscapes: Detection and Reconstruction - Perspectives from Earth Sciences and Archaeology
Olaf Bubenzer and Michael Bollig (eds.) Studies in Human Ecology and Adaptation African Landscapes Interdisciplinary Approaches 10.1007/978-0-387-78682-7_1 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009
1. Landscape in Geography and Landscape Ecology, Landscape Specification and Classification in Geomorphology
Olaf Bubenzer 1
(1)
Department of Geography, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Abstract
At first, mainly with respect to the German literature but with comparisons to some recent Anglophone papers, an excursive overview of the development and the meaning of the term landscape in geography and landscape ecology is given. This is followed by a description of how the surface of a given landscape can be specified and classified within geomorphology as a basis for further investigations in the natural sciences and humanities.
1.1 Introduction
The term landscape has been used for more than 150 years within the multidisciplinary geoscientific and bioscientific terminology. Alexander von Humboldt () dealt with it and defined landscape as the total character (or impression) of a region. Since this period until the present scientists have been engaged in questions such as: is it possible to describe and classify a landscape objectively? Which factors determine a landscape?
Geography with its integrative-holistic approach allows an interdisciplinary analysis. The earths surface with its relief is fundamental for many processes in the geosystem which form and change the landscape. Therefore, this contribution presents the terrain analysis and the terrain classification in an exemplary fashion.
1.2 Landscape in Geography
Landscape in general and regional geography).
Geographers who study landscape history determine the landscape as their real field of research (see below), whereas other scientists disapprove of the holistic term because of its inaccuracy. In Germany, Hard () demands a renunciation of the landscape and geocomplex paradigma.
Within applied geography, the landscape represents the highest integration level of the geographical space and includes all abiotic, biotic, and anthropogenic (technical) components. In this sense landscape can be defined as a segment of the geosphere of any size but which is determined by a homogeneous structure and an interaction system of its components (interaction of substances and processes) (Klink, ).
1.2.1 Evolution
Early scientific definitions of landscape came from Middle and East Europe and were developed both in geography and biology (Bastian, , b) it is possible to outline the following evolution.
At the beginning the previously mentioned complex and holistic view of landscape prevailed (e.g., landscape as the total character of a region, Alexander von Humboldt, ).
This period of increasing quantification of central landscape elements entered a second phase at the end of the 1980 with the revolutionary development in computer hardware and software that allowed the input, management, analysis, and presentation of ever-increasing amounts of data with spatial reference within geographical information systems (Duttmann, ) which made possible the quantification and networking of separate factors such as rock, terrain, climate, hydrography, flora, fauna, soil, human, and economics, as well as politics in the form of singular layers in a geographical information system (GIS).
During the last 10 to15 years, especially in connection with the Global Change Program, humans are no longer viewed only in their physical-material existence (as part of the biosphere), but more as thinking and acting beings in the landscape. This has considerably broadened the previous opinion that landscape is a product of the environment and land use (Tress & Tress, ).
A fundamental aid to solving the transformation problems between the environment and the society (and vice versa) is the definition of landscape functions and landscape potentials (see also the contribution of Bolten et al., this volume). Landscape functions means not only fluxes of energy, nutrients, or species between the landscape elements or patchmatrix interactions (Forman, ). A further goal is to overcome the differences between qualitative and quantitative approaches in order to bring together social and natural sciences. With regard to the ACACIA project this means that interdisciplinary research was done during all working steps, from the discussion of adequate methods, during the combined field research, the data analysis, and the publications.
1.3 Landscape in Landscape Ecology
The development of the discipline landscape ecology from its roots to the present is reviewed by Klink et al. ().
The main aspects of the geosynergeticecological interaction system within the landscape ecology are structure, function, and dynamic (Haase, ).
The characterisation of the landscape with the terms structure, function, and change is also used in the Anglo-American literature (Forman & Godron, ).
The structure of a given landscape is the result of the former and the recent formative processes. On the other hand, the spatial distribution and the strength of the processes were, and are, driven by the landscape structure. For actual investigations it is only possible to observe the recent functionality (Syrbe, ). To exemplify this for one abiotic landscape factor the following chapter describes the specification and classification of the earths surface within geomorphology.
1.4 Specification and Classification of Landscapes in Geomorphology
1.4.1 Definition and Approaches
Geomorphology [from Old Greek g , earth; morph , shape; and logos , word, knowledge] is the science of the shape of the solid earth surface, its developing factors and processes. Therefore, it is the science of the georelief of the earths crust (Brunotte, ).
According to Kugler () the geomorphic inspection of the terrain is possible with respect to its characteristics (spatially and habitually), to its building material (substantially), and/or to its genesis (historic-genetically, dynamic-prognostically).
This subdivision indicates the following main approaches of geomorphology.
- Description of forms (see Chapter 4.2) with qualitative (geomorphography) and quantitative methods (geomorphometry)
- Explanation of the general genesis of the forms (geomorphogenesis)
- Resulting geomorphic processes (geomorphodynamic) which are generated by the media involved (ice, snow, water, air, or biotic activities)
- Dating of the forms
- Their stratigraphical classification (geomorphochronology)
According to Dikau () two approaches exist for a fundamental understanding of formprocess relations:
Landforms are deduced according to rules and assumptions which are based on physical laws. The background is the functional effect of formative processes which act in special circumstances. Several single studies with respect to biogenic, aeolian, fluvial marin, limnic, glacial, nival, gravitative, cryogenic, cosmogenic, and technogenic/anthropogenic processes exist (literature survey, e.g., in Summerfield, ).
The surface as the result of its genesis, that is, the effect of the formative processes which have been effective over a longer period (e.g., Tricart, , p. 17).
3. In summary it can be said that landforms are the result of one or several formative phases (single phase or multiphase) as well as one or several formation processes (monogenetic or polygenetic). Considering the worldwide occurrence of definite landforms with their mean sizes and lifetimes, some dependencies are obvious ( ).
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