Ove Eriksson

My research focus currently is on:

Human niche construction and history of species diversity patterns in Scandinavian cultural landscapes.

I have a long standing interest in crossing scientific boundaries between ecology and human social history, mainly archaeology and agrarian history. This project is based on a framework of niche construction theory and aims at analyzing how land-use practices have developed over the last millennia, and how these practices have formed, and become influenced by, features of the vegetation. A focal topic is the development of infields/outland (inägor/utmark). The project also concerns current conservation programs aimed at preserving the often rich biodiversity present in remnants of the ‘old’ agrarian landscapes.

 

Selected recent publications

Eriksson, O. 2022. Floristic legacies of historical land use in Swedish boreo-nemoral forests: a review of evidence and a case study on Chimaphila umbellata and Moneses uniflora. Forests 13: 1715

Eriksson, O. 2022. Coproduction of food, cultural heritage and biodiversity by livestock grazing in Swedish semi-natural grasslands. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 6: 801327

Herzon, I., Raatikainen, K., Helm, A., Rusina, S., Wehn, S. & Eriksson, O. 2022. Semi-natural habitats in the European boreal region: caught in the socio-ecological extinction vortex? Ambio 51: 1753-1763.

Eriksson, O. & Glav Lundin, L. 2021. Legacies of historic charcoal production affect the forest flora in a Swedish mining district. Nordic Journal of Botany 2021: e03312

Eriksson, O. 2021. The importance of traditional agricultural landscapes for preventing species extinctions. Biodiversity and Conservation 30: 1341-1357.

Eriksson, O., Arnell, M. & Lindholm, K.-J. 2021. Historical ecology of Scandinavian infield systems. Sustainability 13: 817

Glav Lundin, L. & Eriksson, O. 2021. The decline of Gentianella campestris: three decades of population development of an endangered grassland plant in Sweden. Nordic Journal of Botany 39: e03007

Eriksson, O. 2020. Origin and development of managed meadows in Sweden: a review. Rural Landscapes: Society, Environment, History 7(1): 1-23.

Eriksson, O. & Glav Lundin, L. 2020. 'Gooseberry is the only thing left' - a study of declining biological cultural heritage at abandoned crofts in the province of Södermanland, Sweden. International Journal of Heritage Studies 26: 1061-1076.

Arnell, M., Cousins, S.A.O & Eriksson, O. 2019. Does historical land use affect the regional distribution of fleshy-fruited woody plants? PLoS One 14(12): e0225791

Eriksson, O. 2018. What is biological cultural heritage and why should we care about it? An example from Swedish rural landscapes and forests. Nature Conservation 28: 1-32.

Eriksson, O. 2018. Evolution of the seed habit: is niche construction a missing component? Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 11: 1-9.

Johansson, V.A., Bahram, M., Tedersoo, L., Köljalg, U. & Eriksson, O. 2017. Specificity of fungal associations of Pyroleae and Monotropa hypopitys during germination and seedling development. Molecular Ecology 26: 2591-2604.

Eriksson, O. 2016. Evolution of angiosperm seed disperser mutualisms: the timing of origins and their consequences for coevolutionary interactions between angiosperms and frugivores. Biological Reviews 91: 168-186. Biol Rev (322 Kb)

Eriksson, O. & Cousins, S. A. O. 2014. Historical landscape perspectives on grasslands in Sweden and the Baltic region. Land 3: 300-321. Land (1002 Kb)

Eriksson, O., Bolmgren, K., Westin, A. & Lennartsson, T. 2015. Historic hay cutting dates from Sweden 1873-1951 and their implications for conservation management of species-rich meadows. Biological Conservation 184: 100-107.

Eriksson, O. 2013 Species pools in cultural landscapes: niche construction, ecological opportunity and niche shifts. Ecography 36: 403-413.