Ancient Woods, Trees and Forests

Ecology, History and Management

Edited by

Offers practical techniques and robust science to help ensure effective conservation of ancient trees and forests.
Includes a wide range of geographical perspectives and cross-disciplinary expertise from leading scholars in the field.
Abundantly illustrated, making the content appealing and the arguments memorable.

Subject: botany-plant-science-forestry woodland-forest-habitat habitat-management

Tags:

botany
Coming Soon
forest
trees
woodland

Description

From antiquity until today, trees and woods have inspired artists, writers and scientists; they have shaped cultures and reverberated through belief systems. Yet worldwide forest cover has declined dramatically over the last 1,000 years. Now, primeval forests are only to be found at a few sites unreachable by humans, and even then they are affected by climate change, atmospheric pollution and species extinctions.

Nonetheless, ancient woods, trees and forests are at the core of many global landscapes. Understanding the vital resources that they provide requires genuinely multidisciplinary research. With contributions from major authorities in the field such as Oliver Rackham, Frans Vera, Elisabeth Johann, George Peterken and Melvyn Jones among others, this timely volume reflects on the importance of our oldest trees from a range of perspectives and varied geographical locations.

Individual chapters consider eco-cultural heritage, the archaeology of trees, landscape history, forest rights, tree management, saproxylic insects, the importance of deadwood, practical conservation and monitoring, biodiversity, wood-pasture and more. Fresh insights are provided from across Europe as far as Turkey. Given the urgent need to understand, conserve and restore ancient woodlands and trees, this book will do much raise awareness, foster enthusiasm and inspire wonder.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.53061/KZAD4079

The concept of ancient woods and woodlands in Turkey (Alper Çolak, Simay Kirca & Ian D. Rotherham)

Tanneries and treescapes (Christine Handley)

The diversity of ancient woodlands in Austria (Elizabeth Johann)

The wood-pasture; for food, wood and biodiversity (Frans Vera)

Ancient woodland in concept and practice (George Peterken)

Ancient rights in ancient woodlands (Graham Bathe)

The cultural heritage of woods and forests (Ian D. Rotheram)

Mapping ancient and other trees of special interest (Jill Butler)

Tree abundance, density and age structure (Keith Alexander)

Ancient Forests in Germany (Monika Wulf)

The key factors which determine species-richness in saproxylic invertebrates (Niklas Jansson, Ogün C. Türkay)

Archaeology of trees, woodland, and wood-pasture (Oliver Rackham)

The importance of an open grown tree (Ted Green)

Old growth and dead wood as key factors for nature conservation in managed forests (Werner Konold, Thomas Kaphegyi, Rudolf Lühl, Nicole Schmalfuss, Mathias Rupp & Thomas Waldenspuhl)

Harald Schaich

Using pollen data and models to asses landscape structure and the role of grazers in pre-agricultural Denmark (Anne Brigitte Nielsen)

About the Author

Ian D. Rotherham is Emeritus Professor at the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He is an authority on landscape history and particularly on the history, heritage and ecology of woodlands and peatlands. He has published widely, including over 500 academic research papers, around 50 books and many hundreds of popular articles.

Alper H. Çolak is a Professor in the Department of Silviculture of Istanbul University - Cerrahpaşa, Faculty of Forestry. He has many years of experience with close-to-nature silviculture, high mountain forestry practices, species and habitat conservation and restoration and rehabilitation of forest landscapes.

Simay Kirca is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Landscape Planning and Design of Istanbul University - Cerrahpaşa, Faculty of Forestry. She is currently developing landscape planning approaches for conservation and identifying vulnerable ecosystems, while integrating the functions and values of traditional cultural landscapes into the planning process.