The rise and fall of traditional forest management in southern Moravia: A history of the past 700 years

Abstract

European broadleaved forests have been influenced by humans for centuries. Historical management practices are related to environmental conditions but the role of socio-economic factors is also important. For the successful restoration of traditional management for conservation purposes, detailed knowledge on management history and on the driving forces of historical forest changes is necessary. In order to reconstruct long-term spatio-temporal dynamics in forest management, we chose the Pálava Protected Landscape Area, Czech Republic and analyzed archival sources spanning the past seven centuries. Forests in the study area comprise two relatively large woods (Děvín and Milovice) with different environmental conditions. Historical forest management in both woods was coppicing. The coppice cycle was lengthened from 7 years (14 century) to more than 30 years (19 century) with a fluctuating density of standards. After WWII, coppicing was completely abandoned. This led to pronounced changes in forest age structure accompanied by stand unification indicated by a sharp decrease in the Shannon index of age diversity. To study local attributes responsible for spatial patterns in coppice abandonment, we constructed a regression model with the date of abandonment as a dependent variable and three groups of explanatory variables: i) remoteness of forest parcels, (ii) morphometric environmental factors and iii) site productivity. In Děvín Wood, coppicing was abandoned gradually with the pattern of abandonment related significantly to slope steepness and forest productivity. Poorly accessible upper slopes and low productive forest sites were abandoned earlier. By contrast, in Milovice Wood, where no clear topographic gradient is present, the abandonment of coppicing was not related to any of the variables we studied. Our study brings insights into the history and consequences of past management practices, and can be used in current attempts to re-establish coppice management for conservation purposes and as a source of sustainable energy.

Bird composition and diversity in oak stands under variable coppice management in Northwestern Turkey

“…Coppice management was widespread throughout European forests for centuries but was largely abandoned in the second half of the 19 th century (Mullerova et al 2014, Srámeki et al 2015, mostly due to the substitution of firewood with fossil fuels (Sieferle 2001) and changes in silvicultural practices (Rackham 2008). In Turkey, coppicing has been a common practice for hundreds of years .…”

“…Because it favors vegetative regeneration, coppice management can also result in low genetic diversity of the stands (Calikoglu & Kavgaci 2002). Nonetheless, coppicing is still commonly used as a forest management system in southeastern Europe (Mullerova et al 2014). In addition, there has been a renewed interest in utilizing coppicing as a tool for biomass production and nature conservation (Srámeki et al 2015).…”

“…Breeding bird population density and community composition have been shown to vary with changes in coppice age (Fuller & Henderson 1992, Fuller & Warren 1993. Accordingly, forestry practices that alter the age and structure of forests, such as coppicing are highly relevant for bird species conservation (Mullerova et al 2014). Bird abundance often increases with forest maturity, altitudinal position, and development (cover and height) of the shrub layer (Diaz 2006).…”

Ecosystem services in forests of Calabria: stakeholders’ perception

“…In faggete gestite della Danimarca, Aude & Poulsen (2000) hanno rilevato l'assenza di molte crittogame epifite rispetto a faggete lasciate alla libera evoluzione. Al contrario, la mancanza di gestione dei boschi può avere effetti negativi sulla gestione e sul controllo degli attacchi parassitari, sulla biodiversità delle specie arboree che compongono il soprassuolo (Zlatanov et al 2012) e sulla biodiversità a livello di paesaggio (Müllerová et al 2014). Pertanto, se l'abbandono colturale ha effetti negativi sulla produzione legnosa, sulla protezione idrogeologica e sulla ricreazione in foresta, può avere, almeno parzialmente, un effetto positivo in termini di biodiversità specifica.…”

Tree shape and form in ancient coppice woodlands

“…Those landscapes have been created by long-term application of traditional landuse techniques, coppicing and pollarding in forestry belongs among them. Coppicing (Stajic at al., 2009;Szabo, 2009;Sjölund & Jump, 2013, Müllerová et al, 2014Szabó et al, 2015) and pollarding (Rozas, 2004;Read, 2006;Cousins & Duval, 2012;Mitchell, 1989) were widespread in Europe until the beginning of the 20 th century (Szabó et al, 2015). Dendroarchaeological research showed that coppicing started in the Neolithic, and was practiced throughout the European history (Szabo, 2009).…”