Heath

Characteristics

Heathland is favoured where climatic conditions are typically hard and dry, particularly in summer, and soils acidic, of low fertility, and often sandy and very free-draining; a mire may occur where drainage is poor, but usually is only small in extent. Heaths are dominated by low shrubs, 20 cm to 2 m tall.

Heath vegetation can be extremely plant-species rich, and heathlands of Australia are home to some 3,700 endemic or typical species in addition to numerous less restricted species. The fynbos heathlands of South Africa are second only to tropical rainforests in plant biodiversity with over 7,000 species. In marked contrast, the tiny pockets of heathland in Europe are extremely depauperate with a flora consisting primarily of heather (Calluna vulgaris), heath (Erica species) and gorse (Ulex species).

The bird fauna of heathlands are usually cosmopolitan species of the region.

Anthropogenic heaths

Anthropogenic heath habitats are a cultural landscape that can be found worldwide in locations as diverse as Northern and Western Europe, the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar and New Guinea.

These heaths were initially made or expanded by centuries of human clearance of the natural forest and woodland vegetation by grazing and burning. In some cases, this clearance went so far that parts of the heathland have given way to open spots of pure sand and sand dunes, with a local climate that, even in Europe, can rise to temperatures of 50 C in summer, drying the sand spot bordering the heathland and further raising its vulnerability for wildfires. Referring to heathland in England, Oliver Rackham says, "Heaths are clearly the product of human activities and need to be managed as heathland; if neglected, they turn into woodland".

The conservation value of these human-made heaths has become much more appreciated due to their historical cultural value as habitats; consequently, most heathlands are protected. However, tree incursion also threatens them because of the discontinuation of traditional management techniques, such as grazing and burning, that mediated the landscapes. Some are also threatened by urban sprawl. Anthropogenic heathlands are maintained artificially by a combination of grazing and periodic burning (known as swailing), or (rarely) mowing; if not so maintained, they are rapidly recolonised by forest or woodland. The recolonising tree species will depend on what is available as the local seed source, and thus it may not reflect the natural vegetation before the heathland became established.

In literature

The heath features prominently in:

• King Lear, by William Shakespeare
• Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë
• The Return of the Native, by Thomas Hardy
• Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton
• The Letters of Vincent van Gogh, by Vincent van Gogh

Gallery

File:Lüneburger Heide 109.jpg|Lüneburg Heath, an anthropogenic heath in Lower Saxony, northern Germany File:Fynbos.jpg|Fynbos heathland, South Africa File:Heath.jpg|Heathland at Woodbury Common, Devon (England), featuring purple flowers of Calluna vulgaris and yellow flowers of Ulex gallii File:Botany_Bay_National_Park_-panoramio(29).jpg|Heathland in Royal National Park, Sydney File:Netherlands, Veluwe (2), Epe, Renderklippen.jpg|Heathland in the Veluwe forest, Netherlands File:Jussi heath in autumn.JPG|Heath in the Põhja-Kõrvemaa Nature Reserve in Estonia File:Heath Poland.jpg|Heath on the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland in Poland File:Die back valley gnangarra.jpg|A heath landscape in the Stirling mountains of Western Australia, with a "dieback"-infested valley in the mid-ground

References

References

1. (1985). "A Guide to the Vegetation of Britain and Europe". [[Oxford University Press]].
2. Anon. "Heath and Moorland". FSC.
3. Specht, R.L. 'Heathlands' in 'Australian Vegetation' R.H. Groves ed. Cambridge University Press 1988
4. {{WWF ecoregion
5. (2006). "When is a habitat not a habitat? Dramatic resource use changes under differing weather conditions for the butterfly Plebejus argus". [[Biological Conservation]].
6. Rackham, Oliver. (1997). "The History of the Countryside". Phoenix.
7. Atkins, William. (2015). "The moor: a journey into the English wilderness".
8. (7 April 2013). "Dartmoor fire 'largest in years'". [[BBC News]].