Ancient Woods, Trees and Forests

As trees age, they become ecologically richer and more full of life. The process of a tree, wood or forest becoming ‘ancient’, however defined, involves a vast and subtle web of relations – among the trees themselves, with other organisms, with the wider landscape and with human beings. A single tree can provide a vast array of habitats which are an integral part of the complex co-evolutionary relationships evolved over its lifetime and later during its sometimes long afterlife. From ancient times 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, and what remains has been more or less altered from its original condition. Today, ‘virgin 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. The aim of this book is to help an understanding of the web of connections relating to ancient trees and woodlands, and to offer techniques to ensure effective conservation and sustainability of this precious resource. This book considers the key issues from a range of different aspects and varied geographical locations, beginning with fundamental concepts and reflecting on the strengths and limitations of the idea of ancient trees. Individual chapters then deal with cultural heritage, the archaeology of trees, landscape history, forest rights, tree management, saproxylic insects, the importance of dead wood, practical conservation and monitoring, biodiversity, and wood pasture among many other themes. Fresh perspectives are put forward from across Europe as far as Turkey, as well as Great Britain. Overall, given the urgent need to discover, understand, conserve and restore ancient woodlands and trees, this publication will raise awareness, foster enthusiasm and inspire wonder.

‘Back to the Future’—Oak wood-pasture for wildfire prevention in the Mediterranean

In the summer of 2021, enormous wildfires in the Mediterranean eliminated huge areas of mainly coniferous forest, destroyed adjacent settlements and claimed the lives of many people. The fires indicate effects of climate change and expose consequences of rural demographic changes, deficits in regional and touristic development planning and shortcomings in forest policy. This forum article highlights the dimensions of the problem, calls for a paradigm shift and shows solutions. Land abandonment, woody plant encroachment and non-reflective afforestation are leading to increasing amounts of combustible biomass. To prevent disastrous fires in future, fundamental changes in tree species composition, forest structure and management are essential. Plantations of reseeding pines are to be substituted by spacious or periodically open woodlands of long-lived trees with resprouting capacity such as Mediterranean oaks. Biomass-reducing practices including wood-pasture have to be revived in rural and peri-urban areas. Exemplary fire-resistant multifunctional oak woodlands occur throughout the Mediterranean. Urgent and medium-term measures in the burnt areas include promoting natural ecosystem regeneration, developing regionalized seed banks and nurseries to support native genetic resources, fostering vegetation mosaics of groves and multiple-use open and coppice woodland maintained by traditional practices, and in general forest management aiming at fuel biomass reduction and a policy counteracting land abandonment.

Late Holocene Vegetation History of Grevena Province, Northwestern Greece

<p>Palynological investigations aimed at reconstructing the vegetation history of the Grevena Province, northwestern Greece were conducted in association with an archaeological research project. Fossil pollen, spores, microscopic charcoal particles, and sediment stratigraphies of radiocarbon-dated sediment cores from three sites in pine, beech, and oak woodland zones provide evidence of climatic changes, land use, and erosion during the last 3500 years. Identification of pollen and spores was aided by an extensive reference collection of local species and construction of a pollen key modelled on that of Faegri & Iversen (1989). Extant vegetation units are characterized by their contemporary pollen assemblages. Surface samples collected along an elevational transect show that a fairly direct relationship exists between the major vegetation zones and pollen deposition: pine, beech, and oak pollen predominate in their respective zones. Over-representation of pine pollen is notable. The sequence from Gomara site in the pine wood-pasture zone at 1750 m asl covers the time span c. 1340 BC to 700 AD. A local open pine wood was gradually replaced by beech after c. 890 BC, perhaps through reduced disturbance and/or increased precipitation. A herbaceous pollen spike at c. 80 BC resulted from deposition of volcanic ash. Pine wood replaced beech at c. 330 AD. Two periods of accelerated erosion coincide with the pine wood phases and with anthropogenic burning and grazing. These periods are separated by a period of abandonment when the climate was probably wetter. The sequence from Anelia site in the beech wood zone at 1440 m asl spans c. 1560-1989 AD. The site was surrounded by beech wood for the duration of the sequence. Regional and local burning of vegetation is indicated by an abundance of microscopic charcoal particles from c. 1560 until c. 1730 AD, when it ceased. Periods of erosion occurred during this period. After c. 1730 AD a homogeneous peat formed on the wetland, suggesting a period of greater landscape stability. From pollen evidence, a variety of land-use practices such as cereal cultivation, grazing, coppicing, and lumbering were carried out in the vicinity of the site especially before c. 1730 AD, but these diminished after 1920 AD. The lower part of the sequence from Kellia site in the oak wood-steppe zone at 580 m asl is insecurely dated, but the upper part spans c. 1230-1989 AD. The lowlands were covered with deciduous/semi-evergreen oak woods for the duration of the sequence. Since c. 1230 AD land close to the site was intensively cultivated with a variety of cereals. Burning occurred frequently throughout the period. The ratio of deciduous to semi-evergreen oak pollen is correlated with temperature and indicates a decline from c. 1230-1680 AD, after which temperature increased, a pattern similar to that of the Little Ice Age. Frontispiece The cultural landscape of Grevena Province looking NE towards the Vourinos Mountains on the eastern border of Grevena, from a prominent hill about 1 1/4 km NW of the modern village of Itea. In the foreground is the stubble of a wheat field. Beyond is an 18th century church dedicated to Aghia Panaghia. The middle ground is the steppe oak wood pasture of Grevena plains. Recent erosion on the sides of gullies can be seen here, even though they appear to be well vegetated. Frescoes in the church are shown in the enlargement. It stands on a registered archaeological site, Grevena Project 108 (21 degrees 36.18' E, 40 degrees 04.29' N, 640 m asl) that covers more than 10,000 m2. Archaeological evidence dating to Early Iron Age, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, Roman, Early Medieval and Ottoman periods has been recorded.</p>

Late Holocene Vegetation History of Grevena Province, Northwestern Greece

<p>Palynological investigations aimed at reconstructing the vegetation history of the Grevena Province, northwestern Greece were conducted in association with an archaeological research project. Fossil pollen, spores, microscopic charcoal particles, and sediment stratigraphies of radiocarbon-dated sediment cores from three sites in pine, beech, and oak woodland zones provide evidence of climatic changes, land use, and erosion during the last 3500 years. Identification of pollen and spores was aided by an extensive reference collection of local species and construction of a pollen key modelled on that of Faegri & Iversen (1989). Extant vegetation units are characterized by their contemporary pollen assemblages. Surface samples collected along an elevational transect show that a fairly direct relationship exists between the major vegetation zones and pollen deposition: pine, beech, and oak pollen predominate in their respective zones. Over-representation of pine pollen is notable. The sequence from Gomara site in the pine wood-pasture zone at 1750 m asl covers the time span c. 1340 BC to 700 AD. A local open pine wood was gradually replaced by beech after c. 890 BC, perhaps through reduced disturbance and/or increased precipitation. A herbaceous pollen spike at c. 80 BC resulted from deposition of volcanic ash. Pine wood replaced beech at c. 330 AD. Two periods of accelerated erosion coincide with the pine wood phases and with anthropogenic burning and grazing. These periods are separated by a period of abandonment when the climate was probably wetter. The sequence from Anelia site in the beech wood zone at 1440 m asl spans c. 1560-1989 AD. The site was surrounded by beech wood for the duration of the sequence. Regional and local burning of vegetation is indicated by an abundance of microscopic charcoal particles from c. 1560 until c. 1730 AD, when it ceased. Periods of erosion occurred during this period. After c. 1730 AD a homogeneous peat formed on the wetland, suggesting a period of greater landscape stability. From pollen evidence, a variety of land-use practices such as cereal cultivation, grazing, coppicing, and lumbering were carried out in the vicinity of the site especially before c. 1730 AD, but these diminished after 1920 AD. The lower part of the sequence from Kellia site in the oak wood-steppe zone at 580 m asl is insecurely dated, but the upper part spans c. 1230-1989 AD. The lowlands were covered with deciduous/semi-evergreen oak woods for the duration of the sequence. Since c. 1230 AD land close to the site was intensively cultivated with a variety of cereals. Burning occurred frequently throughout the period. The ratio of deciduous to semi-evergreen oak pollen is correlated with temperature and indicates a decline from c. 1230-1680 AD, after which temperature increased, a pattern similar to that of the Little Ice Age. Frontispiece The cultural landscape of Grevena Province looking NE towards the Vourinos Mountains on the eastern border of Grevena, from a prominent hill about 1 1/4 km NW of the modern village of Itea. In the foreground is the stubble of a wheat field. Beyond is an 18th century church dedicated to Aghia Panaghia. The middle ground is the steppe oak wood pasture of Grevena plains. Recent erosion on the sides of gullies can be seen here, even though they appear to be well vegetated. Frescoes in the church are shown in the enlargement. It stands on a registered archaeological site, Grevena Project 108 (21 degrees 36.18' E, 40 degrees 04.29' N, 640 m asl) that covers more than 10,000 m2. Archaeological evidence dating to Early Iron Age, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, Roman, Early Medieval and Ottoman periods has been recorded.</p>

Peasant Perceptions of Landscape

This is the first book about peasant perceptions of landscape. It marks a step-change in the discipline of landscape history, as well as making a major contribution to the history of everyday life. Until now, there has been no sustained analysis of how ordinary medieval and early modern people experienced and perceived their material environment and constructed their identities in relation to the places where they lived. This book provides exactly such an analysis by examining peasant perceptions in one geographical area over the long period from AD 500 to 1650. It takes as its focus Ewelme hundred, a well-documented and archaeologically rich area of lowland vale and hilly Chiltern wood-pasture comprising fourteen ancient parishes. The analysis draws on a range of sources including legal depositions and thousands of field-names and bynames preserved in largely unpublished deeds and manorial documents. Archaeology makes a major contribution, particularly for understanding the period before 900, but more generally in reconstructing the fabric of villages and the framework for inhabitants’ spatial practices and experiences. In its focus on the way inhabitants interacted with the landscape in which they worked, prayed, and socialized, the book supplies a new history of the lives and attitudes of the bulk of the rural population who so seldom make their mark in traditional landscape analysis or documentary history.

Behavioral Responses of Tabanidae and Stomoxys calcitrans to Unbaited and Baited Nzi and Horse Pal Traps in Southern Sweden

The distribution and species diversity of tabanids and stable flies, Stomoxys calcitrans Linnaeus, 1758, in the research area, Hästhult (wood pasture) in Sweden, as well as the behavioral responses of biting flies to visual and olfactory cues were highlighted by this study. Beyond the control of tabanids and stable flies through the Nzi and Horse Pal traps that act as a surrogate host, this study sought to demonstrate the attractiveness of biting flies to these traps by comparing the results of the two periods in which the traps were unbaited and baited. The odor attractants, such as urine (a mixture of more than phenol) and acetone used to increase trap yields, made the difference to the Horse Pal and Nzi traps for S. calcitrans (L) because the number of flies caught was significantly higher. Through this study, Nzi trap with bait and Horse Pal trap with and without bait were tested for the first time as regards the tabanids and S. calcitrans (L) in Scandinavia. Surprisingly, the number of tabanids caught in the Nzi trap was equal in both situations with or without bait. The result underlined the idea that the Nzi trap manages to catch a large number of tabanids even in the absence of attractants. It turns out that the Horse Pal trap was just as effective with and without bait in capturing tabanids. Furthermore, the number of tabanids caught in both traps depended on the type of weather, and the number of stable flies depended on the weather and also the type of trap. The results of this study showed that both the visual and olfactory aspects of the Nzi and Horse Pal traps are always essential, being used successfully in the control of biting flies and optimized for various research purposes.

Do the Stripes on Three-Dimensional Models Overcome the Odor Signals in Tabanids Landing Choice?

Information about the important factors in tabanid flies visual orientation to hosts has been largely derived from experimental modifications of visual traps and decoys. In the present study performed in wood pasture (Hästhult), southern Sweden, three-dimensional striped models resembling the shape of Zebra, Bongo, Kudu and four control models of different homogenous colors (black, white, reddish-brown and brown) were baited with acetone and aged cow urine in order to test the behavioral preferences in terms of visual and olfactory stimuli in host-seeking tabanids. Attraction of tabanid flies to these models (3D) was high, possibly due to the greater visibility from several directions and also from a greater distance. Vision is important in activating, orienting tabanid flies to the host, as well as for their decision whether and where to land. This research revealed that the visual cues such as stripes on striped models became increasingly important in directing tabanids landing and searching behavior at close range. Likewise, the tabanids approach to attractants sources was overridden by visual cues (stripes) at greater extent compared with the more attractiveness to homogenous colors on control models. Moreover, the visual stimuli (stripes) played also a supplementary role, modifying the selection of landing area on striped model (land on homogenous color part in Bongo and Kudu) once alighting responses were initiated by odor. Tabanid species, especially Haematopota pluvialis and Tabanus bromius exhibited a preference for landing mostly on reddish-brown control model when given the choice of other colors. However, the complex interaction of attractants and visual cues (stripes, color, shape) in the later stages of resource location, remains relatively little studied in all species of tabanids.