Grazing ecology and forest history
Grazing ecology and forest history [electronic resource]
Edited by F. W. M. Vera.
- 1
- Wallingford UK CABI Publishing 2000
- 506pp.;
- CABI Books .
- CABI Books .
It is a widely held belief that a climax vegetation of closed forest systems covered the lowlands of Central and Western Europe before humans intervened in prehistoric times to develop agriculture. If this intervention had not taken place, it would still be there and so if left, the grassland vegetation and fields we see today would revert to its natural closed forest state, although with a reduced number of wild species. This book challenges this view, using examples from history, pollen analyses and studies on the ecology of tree and shrub species such as oak and hazel. It tests the hypotheses that the climax vegetation is a closed canopy forest against the alternative one in which species composition and succession of vegetation were governed by herbivores and that the Central and Western European lowlands were covered by a park-like landscape consisting of grasslands, scrub, solitary trees and groves bordered by a mantle and fringe vegetation. Comparative information from North America is also included, because the forests there are commonly regarded as being analogous to the primeval vegetation in Europe. This title is a revised, updated and expanded translation of book published in Dutch.
9781845933067
10.1079/9780851994420.0000 doi
land use natural grasslands scrub European Union Countries Europe trees reserved forests grazing palynology palaeoecology paleoecology Northern Europe Nordic Countries woody plants wilderness plant ecology Slovenia Southern Europe natural pastures eukaryotes Western Europe USA temperate forests agriculture Balkans history France herbivores shrubs Mediterranean Region plants Developed Countries plant succession Scandinavia landscape ecology forest ecology climax communities America North America parks APEC countries Central Europe Austria synecology stand establishment pollen analysis grasslands United States of America nature reserves Germany Sweden lowland areas light vegetation types forests OECD Countries botanical composition Poland
It is a widely held belief that a climax vegetation of closed forest systems covered the lowlands of Central and Western Europe before humans intervened in prehistoric times to develop agriculture. If this intervention had not taken place, it would still be there and so if left, the grassland vegetation and fields we see today would revert to its natural closed forest state, although with a reduced number of wild species. This book challenges this view, using examples from history, pollen analyses and studies on the ecology of tree and shrub species such as oak and hazel. It tests the hypotheses that the climax vegetation is a closed canopy forest against the alternative one in which species composition and succession of vegetation were governed by herbivores and that the Central and Western European lowlands were covered by a park-like landscape consisting of grasslands, scrub, solitary trees and groves bordered by a mantle and fringe vegetation. Comparative information from North America is also included, because the forests there are commonly regarded as being analogous to the primeval vegetation in Europe. This title is a revised, updated and expanded translation of book published in Dutch.
9781845933067
10.1079/9780851994420.0000 doi
land use natural grasslands scrub European Union Countries Europe trees reserved forests grazing palynology palaeoecology paleoecology Northern Europe Nordic Countries woody plants wilderness plant ecology Slovenia Southern Europe natural pastures eukaryotes Western Europe USA temperate forests agriculture Balkans history France herbivores shrubs Mediterranean Region plants Developed Countries plant succession Scandinavia landscape ecology forest ecology climax communities America North America parks APEC countries Central Europe Austria synecology stand establishment pollen analysis grasslands United States of America nature reserves Germany Sweden lowland areas light vegetation types forests OECD Countries botanical composition Poland