Europe's Changing Woods and Forests

From Wildwood to Managed Landscapes

Keith Kirby, Charles Watkins

• Publisher: CAB International
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781789243970
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Forestry
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Our understanding of the historical ecology of European forests has been transformed in the last twenty years. Bringing together key findings from across the continent, Europe's Changing Woods and Forests: From Wildwood to Managed Landscapes provides a comprehensive account of recent research and the relevance of historical studies to our current conservation and management of forests.Combining theory with a series of regional case studies, this book shows how different aspects of forestry play out according to the landscape and historical context of the local area, with broad implications for woodland history, policy and management. Beginning with an overview of Europe's woods and forests, the book reviews a variety of management techniques (including wood-pastures, coppicing, close-to-nature forestry and the impact of hunting), describes how plants and animals respond to changes in woodland and forest cover, and includes case histories from around the continent. It concludes with a discussion of how lessons learned from the past can help in the future. This book is both a vital resource and an interesting read for foresters, conservationists, landscape historians, geographers and ecologists.

Part I

Introduction and Overview

Within Part 1 of the book, the first chapter provides an overview of the current extent and composition of European woods and forests. This overview is followed (in Chapter 2) by a look at the methods used to study woodland history, including the exciting insights into past species movements that have been made possible by recent molecular genetic techniques.

We then look at how this variation in the extent and character of European woods and forests has arisen. What might the ‘natural’ forest cover across Europe – the wildwood of the title – have been prior to the development of farming in the Neolithic period (Chapter 3)? This is an area of active debate following the challenge to the conventional views of natural forest that have been made by Frans Vera.¹ In Chapter 4 the ecological consequences of increasing levels of human intervention in European woodland are described in terms of (for most of history) reductions in forest cover, changing tree composition and alterations to the other wildlife it contains.

¹Vera, F.W.M. (2000) Grazing Ecology and Forest History. CAB International, Wallingford, UK.

1 Overview of Europe’s Woods and Forests

Keith J. Kirby ^1* and Charles Watkins ²

¹Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK ²School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

^*E-mail: [email protected]

1.1 Introduction

Europe’s trees and woods range from Mediterranean olive groves to extensive forests of pine and spruce in Scandinavia, from tall lime trees in the forests of Poland to scrubby oaks barely overtopping the heather on Atlantic cliffs. Some contain beautiful orchids, strange beetles or wild wolves. These patterns reflect variations in past and present climates and soil conditions; the natural environment sets limits on what can live where. However, people have also been living in Europe for thousands of years. Since the last Ice Age, our ancestors have shaped the distribution, composition and structure of woods and forests (Williams, 2006). There is less forest now and it is more fragmented than in the distant past; in many countries the proportion of conifers to broadleaves has increased; some animals are now extinct, such as the wild ox, while others, such as the grey squirrel, have been introduced and become pests.

In this book, we explore the history and ecology of European woods and forests, and how the interplay of environmental and human factors has created different wooded landscapes across the continent. Unless we understand how the current patterns formed, we cannot expect to address future challenges to their management and conservation.

We have tried to cover the full spectrum of woodland cover – from dense closed-canopy plantations (Savill et al., 1997) to wood-pastures where trees occur in more open park-like landscapes maintained by grazing (Rotherham, 2013; Hartel and Plieninger, 2014) (Box 1.1). Where one category stops and another begins is not always clear-cut, so there is a fuzziness to the boundaries of the different definitions. We have, though, excluded the forests of the Russian Federation, which are so vast and distinct, historically, geographically and ecologically, that they deserve separate treatment (Teplyakov et al., 1998).

Box 1.1. Woods, forests and trees.

• ‘Wood’, ‘woodland’ and ‘forest’ are all used generally to describe tree-covered lands. Wood tends to be used where relatively small discrete areas of land are involved; woodland and forest are used for more extensive tracts.

• ‘Forest’ is also used in a more specialized sense in some chapters where it refers to land subject to Forest Law, particularly in the medieval period. Forest law was primarily concerned with regulating hunting and the land to which it applied might or might not be covered by trees, i.e. not all of it was forest in the modern sense.

• ‘Wood-pasture’ refers to landscapes where grazing by domestic stock or deer has created or maintained a relatively open tree cover. This includes parks whose boundaries are often marked by walls or fences as well as less well-defined areas with scattered trees.

• ‘Coppice’ refers to the practice of repeatedly cutting trees close to ground level, resulting in the regrowth of multiple stems from the stump, which can be harvested again when they have regrown, usually after intervals of between 5 and 30 years. ‘Pollarding’ is a similar process, but the cut is made at 2–3 m above the ground so that the regrowth is out of the reach of browsing animals.

• ‘Plantations’ are areas where the majority of trees have been planted. The stands may be created within existing woodland or on previously open ground, and are often referred to as ‘planted forests’. The trees may be native to the area or introductions; they may be planted in large even-aged blocks or as wide-spaced individual stems (Evans, 2009). Old plantations may be difficult to distinguish from naturally regenerated stands.

• ‘Ancient woods’ (or ancient forests) are those where there has been continuous woodland cover since a set threshold date, often around 1800, but sometimes earlier. These might, however, be on land that was open at some time before this date, so they are not necessarily primary. They have also usually been cut over or managed at some time.

• ‘Ancient trees’ are old for their species with features such as cavities or a hollow trunk, bark loss over sections of the trunk and a large quantity of dead wood in the canopy. The broader term, ‘veteran trees’, also includes younger individuals that have developed similar characteristics, perhaps due to adverse growing conditions or injury.

On the whole, we do not deal with the changing use and processing of the wood and timber (Peck, 2001; Owende, 2004), except where this has implications for the forest itself. We have also not considered, except in passing, other types of landscape change, for example the losses of species-rich grassland or heath through agricultural intensification (Meeus et al., 1990; Henle et al., 2008; Peterken, 2013).

Europe’s woods and forests and their history can be grouped into broad geographic zones – Mediterranean, temperate broadleaved and boreal coniferous. Nevertheless, within each zone, there are many variations on a theme, sometimes even between the history of one wood and the next, as demonstrated in surveys of woods in eastern England or for different Mediterranean landscapes (Grove and Rackham, 2001; Rackham, 2003). This variation in what has happened in particular places and regions is important. Both general trends and local differences are reflected, not just in the trees and shrubs, but in the smaller plants and in the insects, bird and mammals that live in the forests; all of these contribute to our rich cultural and biological heritage.

1.2 The Current State and Composition of European Woods and Forests

1.2.1 European forests in a global context

Just over a third (34%) of Europe’s land surface is wooded, but this makes only a minor contribution (5%) to the world’s forests, according to the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, 2010) (Fig. 1.1). This FAO report focuses on forest land use, not land cover. Forest land use is defined as areas with tree cover, or where management or natural processes will ultimately restore tree cover, and the predominant use is forestry. Areas are included if they span more than 0.5 ha with trees higher than 5 m and a canopy cover of more than 10%, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. Land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban land use is not included. In some cases, forest land use may include land temporarily without tree cover, for example during cycles of shifting cultivation, forest plantations and even-aged forest management.

Fig. 1.1 European forest cover (^*excluding the Russian Federation) compared with that of other continents: (a) total area (millions ha); (b) % land surface as forest. (From FAO, 2010.)

A recent alternative analysis has sought to address these problems by using Landsat data to quantify the extent of land where tree cover is greater than 25% (Hansen et al., 2013). There is a strong correlation for European countries between the estimates based on land use and on land cover by forest. The FAO data for the Iberian peninsula were, however, higher than the remotely sensed estimates (Spain 36% versus 23%; Portugal 38% versus 28%), reflecting the ambiguities around the inclusion (or not) of the extensive wood-pasture areas with relatively low tree cover in these countries.

Europe’s forest cover increased during the period 2000–2010, as it had done in the previous decade, although there was some loss of other wooded land between 1990 and 2000 (FAO, 2010). European forests are not just growing in extent but there has also been an increase in the growing stock (expressed as m³ ha^–1 of wood). This is despite a steady increase of 1.5% per annum (1990–2005) in the amount of wood harvested from European forests. Increasing nitrogen supply seems to have been the major cause of the changes observed during the 20th century (increased atmospheric deposition, but also improved soil nitrogen availability on sites that had formerly been degraded). Future changes in forest growth are more likely to be caused by increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide and increasing temperatures (particularly in northern latitudes) (Kahle et al., 2008).

Compared with other continents, Europe has the lowest percentage (<3%) of forests classed as primary, which are defined by FAO as consisting of native species, where there are no clearly visible indications of human activities, and the ecological processes have not been significantly disturbed. It should be noted though that, in Europe, determining whether any areas have never been disturbed by humans (directly or indirectly by grazing or deliberate fire) such that they may be termed primary (or ‘primeval’, or ‘virgin’ forest) is very difficult because evidence for woodland man...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• PART I. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
• PART II. THE VARIETY OF MANAGEMENT ACROSS EUROPEAN 
WOODS AND FORESTS
• PART III. HOW PLANTS AND ANIMALS HAVE RESPONDED 
TO THE CHANGING WOODLAND AND FOREST COVER
• PART IV. A VARIETY OF WOODLAND HISTORIES
• 21 The Development of Forest Conservation in Europe
• 22 The UK’s Ancient Woodland Inventory and its Use
• 23 Tree and Forest Pests and Diseases: Learning from the Past to 
Prepare for the Future
• 24 Reflections
• Index
• BackCover
• Color Plates