Försvinnandet av byadammen

: En studie om byadammens förekomst och värden på Österlen

Abstract

Village ponds are a historical term for the ponds that functioned as a village, or similar, public source of water. In our modern society, the village ponds are suffering a risk of being forgotten by time. But with our constant technological and social developments, is there really any space left for them? And what values do they really bring to the world? This studies’ goal is to answer this through a series of questions. The main methods to answer this is through scientific sources and historical texts, as well as data analysis over species records as well as comparisons between historical maps and modern maps. The results showed that a big majority of village ponds in the study area Österlen have been lost over time. The most essential cause of this loss seemed to be the development of our society which rendered these ponds obsolete. The villages with a pond present showed a higher number of recorded species compared to those that had lost their ponds. This suggests that village ponds provide a higher natural value to the villages in question, especially by providing habitats for amphibians. Village ponds were also shown to possess a high cultural value. Lastly the question of preservation was discussed, with the conclusion that village ponds are worthy of preserving due to benefitting Sweden’s environmental goals.

Date of Award	2022-Dec
Original language	Swedish
Supervisor	Nils-Olof Svensson (Supervisor) & Ingemar Jönsson (Examiner)