Continuity and change in the vegetation of a Central European oakwood

Abstract

The issue of continuity in deciduous oakwood vegetation has been in the forefront of woodland ecological studies for many decades. The two basic questions that emerge from existing research are whether or not oakwoods can be characterized by long-term stability and what may be the driving forces of the observed stability or change. To answer these questions in a well-defined case study, we examined the history of a large subcontinental oakwood (Dúbrava) in the southeastern Czech Republic with interdisciplinary methods using palaeoecological and archival sources. Palaeoecology allowed us to reconstruct the vegetation composition and fire disturbances in Dúbrava in the past 2000 years, while written sources provided information about tree composition and management from the 14th century onwards. The pollen profiles show that the present oakwood was established in the mid-14th century with an abrupt change from shrubby, hazel-dominated vegetation to oak forest. This change was most probably caused by a ban on oak felling in ad 1350. From the 14th to the late 18th centuries Dúbrava had multiple uses, of which wood-pasture and hay-cutting kept the forest considerably open. The second remarkable change was dated to the late 18th century, when multiple-use management was abandoned and Dúbrava was divided into pasture-only and coppice-only parts. The last major shift occurred in the mid-19th century, when modern forestry and Scotch pine plantation became dominant. We conclude that Dúbrava Wood did not show stability in the long run and that its species composition has dramatically changed during the last two millennia. The most important driving force in the shaping and maintenance of the unique vegetation of Dúbrava was human management.

Past levels of canopy closure affect the occurrence of veteran trees and flagship saproxylic beetles

“…Modern forestry measures as well as application of strict "hands- Responsible management of protected forests must take into account local history of the site (Foster et al, 2003;Jamrichová et al, 2013). Whenever there is a need to ensure continuous presence of veteran trees, the maintenance of existing veterans must go together with the recruitment of new cohorts of trees that could replace the old ones in the future.…”

“…The varied canopy closure was primarily maintained by natural factors such as fires, grazing of large herbivores and windthrows (Bengtsson, Nilsson, Franc, & Menozzi, ; Bradshaw & Hannon, ; Hultberg, Gaillard, Grundmann, & Lindbladh, ; Vera, ). Later, the natural disturbances were supplemented or gradually replaced by traditional forest management including, for example, pasture grazing, coppicing and burning (Jamrichová et al., ; Kirby & Watkins, ; Rackham, ; Szabó, Müllerová, Suchánková, & Kotačka, ). In the past two centuries, however, the remaining natural disturbance factors have largely been suppressed and the traditional management has been replaced by the practices of modern forestry (Bürgi, ; Brunet, Felton, & Lindbladh, 2012).…”

Grappling with Interdisciplinary Research: Response to Pooley

“…We intended to encourage conservation professionals to consider how the “turn toward history … can serve as a bridge that can link our various disciplines” (Cronon ). Be it far from us to suggest that there is a better way to do interdisciplinary research than collaboration—our own work is also based on collaboration between ecologists, palynologists, dendrochronologists, geographic information system specialists, archaeologists, and historians (e.g., Jamrichová et al ).…”

Holocene fire regimes, vegetation and biogeochemistry of an ecotone site in the Great Lakes Region of North America

“…Therefore, predicting the effects of climate on fire frequency also must consider vegetation and fuels. Forest ecosystems dominated by Quercus (oaks) are especially interesting because over millennial time scales Quercus forests are considered to be stable and resilient to disturbances (Jamrichova et al 2013). However, adaptations to fire vary within the genus Quercus.…”