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A comment on London's Thames, once biologically dead, has been coming back to life. Parent comment

Re:London's Thames, once biologically dead, has been coming ... by danans on Friday November 12, 2021 @11:58AM (#29201577)
IIRC this is attributed to the fact that the Vikings came to Iceland from Scandinavia via Scotland, a place with very thick soils capable of regenerating forests.

Superficially Iceland looked forested like Scotland, so they continued their existing animal grazing practices, which along with logging then destroyed the thin topsoil layer of Iceland.

I think it was Jared Diamond who summarized it like that, but in the context of Greenland, where the Viking immigrants suffered and even worse fate, but the patterns are similar.

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Re:London's Thames, once biologically dead, has been coming ... by njarboe on Friday November 12, 2021 @01:40PM (#29202956)
Iceland certainly does not have many trees outside of settlement areas. But I noticed this island in the middle of a river that was growing a little forest[1]. I thought at the time that it must be all the grazing of the numerous sheep and horses I saw, that kept the forest from returning.

[1]https://njarboe.com/iceland/IcelandTreeIslandSkogafoss.jpg

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Re:London's Thames, once biologically dead, has been coming ... by avastmick on Friday November 12, 2021 @09:01PM (#29206667)
The impact of sheep is under estimated. On Dartmoor in the UK sheep roam freely and there are very few trees. However, there are pockets of fenced areas that are thickly grown with upland oak and ash that would have presumably been what the whole moor would have had.
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Re:London's Thames, once biologically dead, has been coming ... by tuatoru on Friday November 12, 2021 @03:06PM (#29203956)
Turkey, Greece, and the Eastern Mediterranean generally also used to be forested, until people came with goats.
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Re:London's Thames, once biologically dead, has been coming ... by brabel on Friday November 12, 2021 @02:18PM (#29203426)
Nice! But the little island seems to be next to slopes on both sides, well protected from the elements... maybe that helps?!
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Re:London's Thames, once biologically dead, has been coming ... by vkou on Friday November 12, 2021 @07:54PM (#29206316)
Counterintuitively, the existence of a forest provides protection from the elements for the trees that make it up. Forests shape their own climate in other wonderous ways - for another example, they tend to make their biome more humid.
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