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Brachypodium sylvaticum; Fraxinus excelsior; Rubus plicatus; administrative management; biomass; botanical composition; canopy; climate change; eutrophication; flora; forest ecology; invasive species; species richness; temperate forests; tree growth; vegetation cover; woodlands; England
Abstract:
... We explore how the ground flora of a temperate woodland (Wytham Woods, southern England) changed in terms of species-richness, cover and biomass over five decades; what the drivers of change were; and possible future change as a consequence of the decline in Fraxinus excelsior as a canopy dominant. Vascular plants were recorded from 164 permanent, 10x10 m plots, distributed as a 141 m grid, in 197 ...
administrative management; data collection; forest ecology; inventories; organic carbon; soil carbon; topsoil; woodlands; England
Abstract:
... This study investigates changes in soil carbon under woodland combining data from the National Soil Inventory of England and Wales with data from the National Inventory of Woodlands and Trees to create a unique dataset with woodland management information at the sites where soil carbon was measured in 1980 and 2003. Three woodland management stages were compared: first rotation (i.e. recently plan ...
... In 2008 a severe canker disease of firs (Abies spp.) caused by Neonectria neomacrospora was reported in Norway. In 2011, the same disease was reported in Denmark and, in 2013, it was included in EPPO (European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization) Reporting Service as a new emerging disease. In 2015 the disease was detected in England causing dieback on firs. Different studies suggest d ...
Quercus robur; acute oak decline; forest ecology; forestry equipment; forests; phenotype; remission; trees; England
Abstract:
... Oak decline syndromes such as Acute Oak Decline (AOD) and Chronic Oak Decline (COD) are becoming increasingly prevalent and with this comes the need for more quantitative, sensitive and standardised visual oak health monitoring.Phenotyping protocols were developed to specifically measure oak decline severity and were based on a comprehensive set of simple to measure phenotypic descriptors. A total ...
Barbastella barbastellus; acoustics; administrative management; canopy; coppicing; economics; forests; habitat preferences; habitats; seasonal variation; species richness; stand management; summer; understory; woodlands; England
Abstract:
... Changing economics in the 20th century led to losses and fragmentation of semi-natural woodland in Britain and to a reduction in active woodland management with many becoming increasingly neglected, even-aged and with closed canopy. Lack of woodland management is known to contribute to declines in some taxonomic groups, for example birds. However, the response of bats to changes in woodland struct ...
administrative management; agricultural land; asexual reproduction; canopy; conservation areas; germination; land use change; temperate forests; terminal velocity; understory; England; Spain
Abstract:
... Recently-restored forests on former agricultural land have impoverished herbaceous understories. This is partly due to the poor colonizing capacity of understory plants, which makes them slow in responding to land use change. Functional traits can be used to compare old and recent understories and provide insight about which plant syndromes are missing after restoration intervention. In this work, ...
Agrilus; acute oak decline; administrative management; diagnostic techniques; ectomycorrhizae; fine roots; forest ecology; fungi; health status; microbiome; rhizosphere; soil; soil chemistry; tree health; trees; England
Abstract:
... Acute Oak Decline (AOD) is a decline-disease that has distinctive symptoms and poses a serious threat to oak. Our understanding of the causal factors of AOD remains poor but it is likely that multiple biotic and abiotic factors contribute to a deterioration in oak condition. There is evidence that indications of above-ground tree health status are frequently reflected below-ground in roots and ass ...
Agrilus; Quercus robur; acute oak decline; administrative management; autumn; bark; dendrochronology; forest ecology; health status; spring; stem elongation; trees; England
Abstract:
... Acute Oak Decline (AOD) is devastating thousands of native oaks, Quercus robur and Q. petraea, in the UK and continental Europe. The syndrome is principally caused by multiple, interacting bacterial species that degrade inner bark tissues. The level of host predisposition required prior to AOD infection is unknown. The two spotted oak buprestid Agrilus biguttatus is strongly associated with AOD, a ...
... The oomycete plant pathogen, Phytophthora austrocedri, is an aggressive killer of cypress trees causing severe mortality of Chilean cedar (Austrocedrus chilensis) in Argentina since the 1940 s and now of common juniper (Juniperus communis s.l.) in the UK. Rapid mortality of key UK juniper populations was first observed in the early 2000 s. The causal agent of mortality was confirmed as P. austroce ...
Barbastella barbastellus; Quercus; biodiversity; canopy; dead wood; felling; habitats; lactation; lidar; progeny; reproduction; risk reduction; roosting behavior; social behavior; surveys; trees; woodlands; England
Abstract:
... Bats use roosts for protection, sociality and reproduction. Lack of knowledge regarding the specific roost preferences of tree-dwelling bats means that roosts are regularly removed from woodland during felling and thinning interventions, even when woodlands are managed to promote biodiversity. The often-unintentional loss of roosts this way continues to constrain efforts to conserve many rare bat ...
... Forest fragmentation dominates the landscape in England and there is a concern about the associated forest edge effect especially in areas with high N inputs. This study quantifies this effect and the impact of high N deposition on forest and soil biogeochemical processes under 26 year old Corsican pine and 72 year old beech forest stands at Thetford forest, the lowest rainfall area of East Anglia ...
... In the UK, Acute Oak Decline (AOD) has caused much concern, due to its distinctive symptoms and its potential to impact oak species that form the largest component of native broadleaf woodland. Decline complexes involve multiple biotic and abiotic factors, which combine to reduce host vigor. In order to investigate forest decline, it is necessary to take a systems approach by considering biotic ag ...
... Moths are a vital ecosystem component and are currently undergoing extensive and severe declines across multiple species, partly attributed to habitat alteration. Although most remaining forest cover in Europe consists of intensively managed plantation woodlands, no studies have examined the influence of management practices on moth communities within plantations. Here, we aimed to determine: (1) ...
Phytophthora ramorum; canopy; disease severity; forest stands; forests; fungal diseases of plants; insect pests; landscapes; lidar; models; plant pathogenic fungi; statistical analysis; surveys; tree crown; trees; England; Scotland; Wales
Abstract:
... The invasive phytopathogen Phytophthora ramorum has caused extensive infection of larch forest across areas of the UK, particularly in Southwest England, South Wales and Southwest Scotland. At present, landscape level assessment of the disease in these areas is conducted manually by tree health surveyors during helicopter surveys. Airborne laser scanning (ALS), also known as LiDAR, has previously ...
... Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) is frequently planted as a monoculture, but it is also grown in mixed plantations with other native trees such as pedunculate oak (Quercus robur). Both pine and oak form ectomycorrhizas that cover their roots and extend into the soil, facilitating tree water and nutrient uptake in exchange for photosynthetic carbon. Forming the interface between the soil and tree root ...
... Acute Oak Decline (AOD) is a newly defined condition in the UK that forms a distinct component within the wider oak decline complex. It can be identified by distinctive stem symptoms, dark liquid seeping out between the bark plates from areas of necrosis in the cambial tissue, which are found in conjunction with signs of the two spotted oak buprestid Agrilus biguttatus. Novel bacterial species hav ...
... Commercially managed coniferous forest is often considered detrimental to wildlife despite their early developmental growth stages being well utilised by some species from a number of different taxa. Our study investigated the use of different aged conifer plantations by reptiles in southern England using arrays of artificial refuges, placed within 20 plantations of varying age, to determine the p ...
Cyanistes caeruleus; birds; breeding; clutch size; coppicing; data collection; demographic statistics; fecundity; highlands; interspecific competition; long term effects; monitoring; nest boxes; nesting; nesting sites; rain; spring; temperature; woodlands; England
Abstract:
... Changes in woodland management practices are implicated in observed population changes of many European woodland birds, yet the long-term effects of woodland management on bird demographics is poorly understood. Using detailed long-term (55year) datasets of both woodland management to plot level, and breeding birds from nest box monitoring, from an upland oak woodland in southwest England, I inves ...
... The native red squirrel is being replaced by the introduced North American eastern grey squirrel in the UK. Here, Sitka spruce dominated plantations containing a larch and pine element offer the best long-term opportunity to conserve the red squirrel because they can sustain populations in a forest environment where the competitive advantage of the grey squirrel is reduced. Forest habitat manageme ...
testa; Corylus avellana; shrubs; Crataegus monogyna; seed predation; predators; Acer pseudoplatanus; relative risk; direct seeding; Quercus robur; Fraxinus excelsior; nuts; small mammals; woodlands; risk reduction; Fagus sylvatica; rodents; England
Abstract:
... Direct seeding is potentially a cost-effective method for creating woodland and is particularly suited to establishing mixtures of species. Seed predation can cause poor establishment, and information on granivore preference for seed of different species is essential to evaluate relative risk and the need for control measures. We investigated consistencies in the preference of small mammals for re ...
deciduous forests; wind; botanical composition; natural regeneration; ground vegetation; stand density; stand composition; woodlands; forest plantations; storms; conifers; forest communities; forest damage; ecological restoration; England
Abstract:
... In October 1987 a severe storm caused catastrophic damage to many conifer plantations across south-east England. During 2006 a survey was carried out to investigate the success of natural regeneration by trees and whether the new woodlands were typical of local native woodlands. All sites had regenerated successfully and comprised predominantly native broadleaved trees. Although stocking was good ...
browsing; conifers; linear models; montane forests; wildlife damage management; forest-wildlife relations; computer analysis; feces; vertebrate pests; environmental factors; Capreolus capreolus; wildlife food habits; palatability; density; deer; tree damage; understory; England
Abstract:
... At moderate to high densities ungulates can impact negatively on forest crops and these may be managed by lethal control. In production forestry an understanding of the relationship between ungulate density, habitat-related factors and the incidence of tree damage may promote more efficient ungulate damage management than by lethal control alone. In plantation forests in the north east of England, ...
... The influence of single trees on saturated hydraulic conductivity (K s) was investigated for six isolated oak trees (Quercus robur) growing on a Dystric Gleysol in an area of parkland in northwest England. The K s was measured within the A soil horizon over a 0.10-0.25m depth using a borehole permeameter. A dataset of 119 K s values was obtained and comprises of 55 values from around 1 oak tree at ...
landscapes; landscape ecology; woodlands; forests; history; cultural heritage; anthropogenic activities; indigenous knowledge; case studies; forest ecology; forest hydrology; forest management; land use change; England
Sciurus carolinensis; forest-wildlife relations; tree damage; bark; tree mortality; Fagus sylvatica; forest stands; stand composition; forest trees; tree growth; England