NEW INSIGHTS CONCERNING IDENTIFICATION, MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION OF INDIGENOUS TREES AND SHRUBS IN THE NETHERLANDS

In densely populated European countries like the Netherlands, old landscape elements such as ancient woodlands and ancient hedges are today rare. Owing to the introduction of exotic species and indigenous trees and shrubs imported from other climate zones, recognition of truly wild, i.e. autochthonous, individuals and populations is now problematical, posing challenges for forest management agencies, particularly at Natura 2000 sites. The author has developed a method for recognising genetically pure wild woody species, based on characteristics of the plant itself and those of the growing site. With this method, explained here, around 70% of the Netherlands has been surveyed, along with much of Flanders and part of the lower Rhine region of Germany. The results are illustrated with reference to two Dutch ancient woodlands, where new insights were obtained in terms of native status of the woody species and the ‘authenticity’ of the tree and shrub layer.

The ancient woodland concept as a practical conservation tool: the Turkish experience

Why ancient woodlands and wood species restoration and rehabilitation is necessary? In Turkey there are over 500 taxa of trees and shrubs, however only a few of them play a vital role both naturally and culturally. The technical term here is ‘intergenerational equity’, or in plainer language, not messing things up for our children and grandchildren. In ancient woodland restoration and rehabilitation approach in Turkey, there is no lack of knowledge to implement suitable strategies, however what is more often lacking is an understanding of the overall landscape and the factors that determine whether different land-uses are mutually reinforcing or in conflict. These applications need to accommodate new perspectives and ideas to put ancient woods back into the natural and cultural landscapes. The experience gained indicates that such implementations require supportive local and national policy frameworks and a strong constituency of local-level support. As a country with already significant areas of a highly degraded nature, but also containing diverse natural and cultural landscapes, Turkey should apply suitable techniques to bring these ancient woods back into their original landscapes in order to sustain its cultural and natural heritage. Ascertaining, and then maintaining, the condition of ancient woodland in Turkey like in UK will be a major challenge for the future. Turkey contains ancient cultural landscapes with distinctive ancient wood and ancient woodlands. They are strongly influenced by human activity reaching back far into history. This is very obvious in Anatolia, a region where eastern and western civilizations meet. The region has also been recognized by eastern and western civilizations nearly as a ‘tree paradise’ with its diverse tree species adapted to different climatic and geomorphological conditions. In this context, it has been aimed to; (1) emphasize the interaction between cultural features and diverse forest landscapes with ancient woodlands, (2) introduce the understanding of ancient woodland concept in Turkey, (3) determine the typical prominent ancient woodland taxa, (4) represent some techniques in order to restore degraded ancient woodland ecosystems in Turkey and (5) seek opportunities for the planning of undisturbed ancient landscapes as a cultural heritage. Additionally, the importance of developing strategies in order to prevent the loss of ancient woodlands was tried to be illustrated by two case studies on Common yew (Taxus baccata L.) and Common boxwood (Buxus sempervirens L.), which have been continuosly present in Anatolia since thousands of years, became an important component of cultural landscapes, however strongly influenced by human activity resulting with the degardation and loss of their habitats.

Migration of vascular plant species to a recent wood adjoining ancient woodland

Woodland communities can be restored by natural succession in sites adjoining ancient woodlands which can act as seed sources for trees, shrubs and woodland herbs. The influence of dominant tree species and the distance from an adjacent ancient oak-hornbeam woodland upon the floristic composition of species in a recent pine wood planted on dry rendzina soil were studied. It was found that, in spite of a 52-year long succession, the border between woods was sharp and the composition of species in the recent wood were significantly different than in the adjacent ancient woodland. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that the distance to the ancient woodland had a significant influence on species distributions in the recent wood. The numbers of species from the <em>Querco-Fagetea</em> class, vegetatively reproducing species and myrmecochores decreased with this distance, whereas the numbers of anemochores increased. The migration rate of many woodland species, calculated on occurrence of the farthest individuals was very slow, varying from 0.0 m year^-1 to 0.38 m year^-1. The restoration of the field layer vegetation in the studied pine wood was much slower than in recent deciduous woods on rich and moist soils where the migration rate of some species exceeded 1.50 m year^-1. Recent woods adjacent to ancient woodlands can be more effectively colonised by woodland species only when they are dominated by broad-leaved trees with quickly decomposing litter, and the spatial continuity of these woods persists for a long period.