A History of the Native Woodlands of Scotland 1500-1920

Smout, T. C.; MacDonald, Alan R.; Watson, Fiona

doi:10.1515/9780748637560

Cited by 13 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Summers (2018) summarises the history of Abernethy Forest from the early post glacial to modern times. Smout et al (2005) describe the history of Rothiemurchus Forest from 1650-1900. Steven & Carlisle (1959 give details of the other native pinewoods within the Cairngorms Connect area.…”

Section: A2 Altitudinal Rangementioning

confidence: 99%

A review of the vascular plant flora of the Cairngorms Connect project area, Scotland, and some possible implications of forest expansion to the natural tree line

Amphlett¹

2022

BIB

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Cairngorms Connect, a partnership of four adjoining land owners, is committed to a 200-year vision to enhance and restore habitats, species and ecological processes across a 592 km2 area within the Cairngorms National Park. This will be achieved by, inter alia, expanding woodland to its natural altitudinal limit, including high altitude sub-alpine scrub. All or parts of six native Caledonian pinewoods occur here, c.26% of the national total. Ancient, semi-natural woodland within the Cairngorms Connect area is 43% of the National Park total. Modelling of the extent of potential-natural woodland (sensu Peterken, 1981, 1996) indicates that below 600 m all terrestrial habitats are potentially capable of supporting some degree of tree and scrub cover. 899 vascular plant taxa have been recorded here, of which 693 are native to the area. 7.6% of native taxa are endemic to Great Britain (and Ireland) or to Scotland; these are mainly Hieracia (Hawkweeds). Of the native taxa, 23% are of national, and 11% of regional conservation concern. Few native taxa are widespread within the Cairngorms Connect area, most are local or rare. 40% of native taxa have been recorded in five or less monads (1 km squares), with 16% recorded from just a single monad. 12% of native taxa are associated with shaded locations or semi-shade (Ellenberg Light values 3-5). 51% of taxa are found in partial shade to well lit locations (values 6 and 7) and 37% of taxa in well lit to fully lit locations (values 8 and 9). Native taxa with Light values of 6-7 are the most frequent in 92% of monads with more than 10 recorded taxa. 65% of taxa of national conservation concern favour well lit to fully lit locations (Light values 8-9). Shading of plants, at altitudes below the potential tree line, is strongly influenced by the extent of woodland and scrub and its structure, and by herbivore grazing levels determining height and structure of the field layer. To achieve forest expansion to the natural tree line by natural regeneration will require sustained low levels of grazing and browsing, for decades, or longer. This is already leading to a taller field layer and an increased density of tree regeneration. 40% of native taxa may be negatively impacted, if existing and new woodland becomes dense with a high level of shading. Of these 'at risk' taxa, 50% have maximum height less than 50 cm and may be especially at risk from sustained periods of low grazing. Limited disturbance and lack of open sites and bare ground for seedling recruitment is another potential constraint on vascular plants. The issue of vegetation succession and shading, leading to possible loss of plant diversity is likely to be much less of an issue at altitudes around and above the tree line. Here there are likely to be benefits, with possible expansion of tall herb communities.

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Section: A2 Altitudinal Rangementioning

confidence: 99%

A review of the vascular plant flora of the Cairngorms Connect project area, Scotland, and some possible implications of forest expansion to the natural tree line

Amphlett¹

2022

BIB

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“…The Scottish Highlands are a highly modified environment containing unique ecosystems and wildlife communities. Humans modified the Scottish environment considerably from as early as 11,000 BP through land clearance for agriculture (Dumayne‐Peaty, 1999; O'Sullivan, 1974; Smout et al., 2007). Much of Scotland's woodland was subsequently lost from the 1500s to the 1900s with humans as a significant driving force (Smout et al., 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Humans modified the Scottish environment considerably from as early as 11,000 BP through land clearance for agriculture (Dumayne‐Peaty, 1999; O'Sullivan, 1974; Smout et al., 2007). Much of Scotland's woodland was subsequently lost from the 1500s to the 1900s with humans as a significant driving force (Smout et al., 2007). Currently, most of the country is classified as rural, with major land uses including agriculture, forestry, hunting, and wildlife conservation (Brand, 2021; Morgan‐Davies & Waterhouse, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land cover preferences and spatiotemporal associations of ungulates within a Scottish mammal community

Lovell,

Pettorelli,

Dawson

2024

Ecology and Evolution

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In the degraded and modified environment of the Scottish Highlands, novel ungulate communities have arisen following local extinctions, reintroductions, and the introduction of non‐native species. An understanding of the dynamics and interactions within these unique mammal communities is important as many of these mammals represent keystone species with disproportionate impacts on the environment. Using a camera trap survey, we investigated land cover preferences and spatiotemporal interactions within a Scottish ungulate community: the sika deer (Cervus nippon), the roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), the red deer (Cervus elaphus), and the wild boar (Sus scrofa). We used generalised linear models to assess land cover preferences and the effect of human disturbance; spatiotemporal interactions were characterised using time interval modelling. We found that sika deer and roe deer preferred coniferous plantations and grasslands, with sika deer additionally preferring woodland. For red deer, we found a slight preference for wetland over woodland; however, the explained variance was low. Finally, wild boar preferred grassland and woodland and avoided coniferous plantations, heathland, and shrubland. Contrary to our expectations, we found no evidence that human disturbance negatively impacted ungulates' distributions, potentially because ungulates temporally avoid humans or because dense vegetation cover mitigates the impacts of humans on their distributions. Furthermore, we detected a spatiotemporal association between sika deer and roe deer. Although the underlying cause of this is unknown, we hypothesise that interactions such as grazing facilitation or an anti‐predator response to culling could be driving this pattern. Our work provides a preliminary analysis of the dynamics occurring within a novel ungulate community and also highlights current knowledge gaps in our understanding of the underlying mechanisms dictating the observed spatiotemporal associations.

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