A novel modelling approach for evaluating the preindustrial natural carrying capacity of human population in Iceland
The pre-industrial natural carrying capacity is believed to have limited the human population in Iceland to a maximum of fifty to sixty thousand inhabitants. Since AD 1800 the Icelandic population has gradually grown up to nearly 300 thousand in 2005. In this paper a simple approach is used to evalu...
Published in: | Science of The Total Environment |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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2006
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Online Access: | https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/682077 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2006.08.013 |
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ftulundlup:oai:lup.lub.lu.se:eb701c50-7ecc-4899-9075-640ca87305ed 2023-05-15T16:47:03+02:00 A novel modelling approach for evaluating the preindustrial natural carrying capacity of human population in Iceland Haraldsson, Hördur Olafsdottir, Rannveig 2006 https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/682077 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2006.08.013 eng eng Elsevier https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/682077 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2006.08.013 wos:000242887700013 scopus:33751090327 Science of the Total Environment; 372(1), pp 109-119 (2006) ISSN: 1879-1026 Environmental Sciences Iceland climate change pre-industrial carrying capacity population sustainable vegetation cover system dynamic biological production contributiontojournal/article info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2006 ftulundlup https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2006.08.013 2023-02-01T23:28:26Z The pre-industrial natural carrying capacity is believed to have limited the human population in Iceland to a maximum of fifty to sixty thousand inhabitants. Since AD 1800 the Icelandic population has gradually grown up to nearly 300 thousand in 2005. In this paper a simple approach is used to evaluate the potential population size that the pre-industrial Icelandic environment could possibly sustain. A dynamic model was constructed that simulates the population size according to potential biological production available for livestock. Biological production was determined by the extent of the total potential vegetation cover based on the Degree-Day concept. Fluctuations in the mean annual temperature causes changes in the potential vegetation cover and as a consequence change the biological production sustaining livestock and ultimately human population. The simulation's results indicate that the potential population that the Icelandic environments could sustain during the pre-industrial period fluctuated between 40 and 80 thousand. The results further indicate that the severe land degradation experienced after the Viking settlement period in AD 900 had a marginal impact on the population size. The pre-historical population did however overshoot the natural sustainability on several occasions. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Lund University Publications (LUP) Science of The Total Environment 372 1 109 119 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Lund University Publications (LUP) |
op_collection_id |
ftulundlup |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental Sciences Iceland climate change pre-industrial carrying capacity population sustainable vegetation cover system dynamic biological production |
spellingShingle |
Environmental Sciences Iceland climate change pre-industrial carrying capacity population sustainable vegetation cover system dynamic biological production Haraldsson, Hördur Olafsdottir, Rannveig A novel modelling approach for evaluating the preindustrial natural carrying capacity of human population in Iceland |
topic_facet |
Environmental Sciences Iceland climate change pre-industrial carrying capacity population sustainable vegetation cover system dynamic biological production |
description |
The pre-industrial natural carrying capacity is believed to have limited the human population in Iceland to a maximum of fifty to sixty thousand inhabitants. Since AD 1800 the Icelandic population has gradually grown up to nearly 300 thousand in 2005. In this paper a simple approach is used to evaluate the potential population size that the pre-industrial Icelandic environment could possibly sustain. A dynamic model was constructed that simulates the population size according to potential biological production available for livestock. Biological production was determined by the extent of the total potential vegetation cover based on the Degree-Day concept. Fluctuations in the mean annual temperature causes changes in the potential vegetation cover and as a consequence change the biological production sustaining livestock and ultimately human population. The simulation's results indicate that the potential population that the Icelandic environments could sustain during the pre-industrial period fluctuated between 40 and 80 thousand. The results further indicate that the severe land degradation experienced after the Viking settlement period in AD 900 had a marginal impact on the population size. The pre-historical population did however overshoot the natural sustainability on several occasions. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Haraldsson, Hördur Olafsdottir, Rannveig |
author_facet |
Haraldsson, Hördur Olafsdottir, Rannveig |
author_sort |
Haraldsson, Hördur |
title |
A novel modelling approach for evaluating the preindustrial natural carrying capacity of human population in Iceland |
title_short |
A novel modelling approach for evaluating the preindustrial natural carrying capacity of human population in Iceland |
title_full |
A novel modelling approach for evaluating the preindustrial natural carrying capacity of human population in Iceland |
title_fullStr |
A novel modelling approach for evaluating the preindustrial natural carrying capacity of human population in Iceland |
title_full_unstemmed |
A novel modelling approach for evaluating the preindustrial natural carrying capacity of human population in Iceland |
title_sort |
novel modelling approach for evaluating the preindustrial natural carrying capacity of human population in iceland |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/682077 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2006.08.013 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Science of the Total Environment; 372(1), pp 109-119 (2006) ISSN: 1879-1026 |
op_relation |
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/682077 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2006.08.013 wos:000242887700013 scopus:33751090327 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2006.08.013 |
container_title |
Science of The Total Environment |
container_volume |
372 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
109 |
op_container_end_page |
119 |
_version_ |
1766037143125229568 |