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The study may have implications for contemporary conservation strategies
<\/p>\nPosted on 5 March 2026<\/p>\n
The study may have implications for contemporary conservation strategies
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The bubonic plague, which swept across Europe between 1347 and 1353, is estimated to have killed up to one half of the continent\u2019s population. The sudden loss of life led to the abandonment of farms, villages and fields, creating what researchers describe as a massive historical \u2018rewilding\u2019 event.<\/p>\n
Many modern environmental theories suggest that human activity is inherently damaging to biodiversity, raising the expectation that nature would have flourished in the wake of the plague.<\/p>\n
However, an analysis of fossil pollen records from across Europe appears to tell a different story, at least for plant communities.<\/p>\n
Untouched landscapes<\/p>\n
Jonathan Gordon, Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of York\u2019s Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity<\/a>, said: \u201cWe examined plant diversity in the centuries before and after the Black Death and found that biodiversity declined significantly in the 150 years following the pandemic.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs farmland was abandoned, traditional land management practices ceased and forests spread. Rather than driving an increase in plant biodiversity, biodiversity plummeted. We only started to see a recovery once human populations rebounded and agricultural activity resumed – a process that took roughly 300 years to return to pre-plague levels.\u201d<\/p>\n The findings, published in the journal Ecology Letters<\/a>, challenge the idea that the richest ecosystems are found in landscapes untouched by humans. Instead, the researchers argue that many of the plant species valued today depend on long-term human disturbance, such as farming, grazing and land clearance.<\/p>\n Recovery<\/p>\n The conclusions may have implications for contemporary conservation strategies, particularly the growing \u2018rewilding\u2019 movement, which often promotes the withdrawal of human activity from landscapes to enable nature recovery.\u00a0<\/p>\n The research suggests that simply removing people does not automatically lead to healthier or more diverse ecosystems, and this should be considered in future environmental policies.<\/p>\n