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Intensive woodland management in the Middle Ages: Spatial modelling based on archival data
... Those landscapes have been created by the long-term application of traditional forest management techniques, which include coppicing and pollarding. These silvicultural systems were in widespread use in Europe until the beginning of the 20 th century (Mitchell, 1989;Müllerová et al., 2014;Szabó et al., 2015). Dendro-archaeological research has shown that coppicing started in the Neolithic, and was practiced throughout the European history (Szabó, 2009). ...
... Based on the careful study of archival sources, Szabó et al. (2015) argued that coppicing was not only widespread in the lowland regions of Moravia in the Late Middle Ages but also rather predominant or even exclusive. Practically all lowland woods were intensively managed by coppicing. ...
... Practically all lowland woods were intensively managed by coppicing. Szabó et al. (2015) calculated the area of woodlands needed to obtain firewood to be 4 500 km 2 in Moravia in the Late Middle Ages (from the 15 th to 16 th century). ...
Coppicing and pollarding were the most widespread historical silvicultural systems in broadleaved forests of the European part of the deciduous temperate forest zone from the Neolithic times until the early 20th century, when they were abandoned in many European countries. Their decrease is well documented in the Czech Republic, where coppice woodlands occurred on an area of 1 457.4 km2 in 1845 and only on 109.9 km2 in 2013. In most Central and North-Western European countries (where coppice woodlands were dramatically transformed into high forests), coppice woodlands and especially stored coppices and coppices with standards are now considered from a biodiversity conservation perspective as valuable forest habitats providing important conditions for saproxylic species and a unique herbaceous layer. In the Czech Republic, the benefits of ancient coppice woodlands are appreciated by conservationists as well.
In countries where the conversion of most coppice woods into high forests has been completed, there is a danger of losing biodiversity. Similarly, the cultural and historical heritage relating to ancient coppice woodlands could be threatened. The failure to identify ancient coppice woodlands may result in accidental damage to the sites by management activities, which could otherwise be avoided. Sustainable management of coppice woodlands resources could be achieved by both considering the traditional management concepts and introducing new ecologically, economically and socially sound management practices, as well as by a close cooperation of various state authorities and non-governmental organizations at different levels - local, regional and national.
... Much of the existing coppice woodlands are characterized as ancient woodlands (Rackham 2003). Coppicing (Müllerová et al. 2014, Szabó et al. 2015 and pollarding (Mitchell 1989) were in widespread use as silvicultural systems until the beginning of the 20 th century, as shown by their frequent depiction in visual arts from this period (Lacina 2016). The first evidence of coppicing from the territory of the Czech Republic dates back to the year 1384 (Müllerová et al. 2014). ...
... Second, there is a long history of AVZ mapping in the Czech Republic, resulting in detailed information available on AVZs for the whole country (e.g., stored in the biogeography register, which is a database where information about AVZ distribution is stored at the cadastral areas level - Vlčková et al. 2015). Third, the characterization of AVZs contains information about climatic conditions, which are the main driver influencing coppices distribution (Szabó et al. 2015). The gradient in tree species composition ranges from good resprouters at lower altitudes and low AVZs (e.g., oaks and hornbeam -Carpinus betulus) to a worse resprouter (beech) and finally to non-resprouters (the conifers silver fir and Norway spruce) at higher altitudes in mountains. ...
... Coppicing and pollarding were the most widespread historical silvicultural systems in broadleaved forests of the European part of the deciduous temperate forest zone from Neolithic times until the early 20 th century (Mitchell 1989, Stajic et al. 2009, Szabó 2009, Müllerová et al. 2014, Szabó et al. 2015, when they were abandoned in many European countries (Szabó 2010b. The decrease in coppicing is well documented by our source data, as coppice woodlands occurred on an area of 1457.4 km 2 in 1845 and only 109.9 km 2 in 2013. ...
Coppicing started in the Neolithic period and has been practiced throughout European history. This traditional silvicultural system was abandoned in many European countries during the 20 th century. The Czech Republic now has a very low proportion of coppice woods (CW), as more than 1000 km 2 CW were converted into high forests after World War II. Nevertheless, many CW were maintained as stored coppices, which could be the last remainders of ancient coppice woods (ACW) in the Czech Republic. Knowledge of area and distribution of stored coppices is currently missing in the Czech Republic, because they are recorded as high forests in forest management plans. Many stored forests are currently approaching the maturity age, with a high risk that these last ACW remainders will be lost; therefore, an inventory of ancient coppice woods is necessary. In our study, we develop an index of likelihood of coppice occurrence (COP) based on the distribution of habitats favourable for coppices , as well as on past and current occurrence of CW in the Czech Republic from historical maps. COP index values were then used to generate a map showing the relative likelihoods of occurrence of ACW, which can serve as a baseline to support the compilation of an ACW inventory and their mapping in the field. Our results can help prioritize forest areas to be inventoried based on their higher probabilities of ACW occurrence.
... historickými pohlednicemi, daňovými soupisy, specializovanými archivními mapami apod.) (VRŠKA 1998, MÜLLEROVÁ et al. 2014, SZABÓ et al. 2015, avšak vždy je třeba mít na paměti principiální rozdíly mezi jednotlivými zdroji a tím pádem zvažovat, jaké kombinace jsou možné a smysluplné. ...
... In the border areas, LU/LC changes were slightly different (BIČÍK et al. 2010, RAŠÍN & CHROMÝ 2010. Trend of canopy closure and vanishing of the open woodlands was described from several areas (MIKLÍN & ČÍŽEK 2014, SZABÓ et al. 2015. Similar trends were found out also in the PNP area, as conservation management is mainly noninterventional and thus multiple spreading of woodlands and homogenization of forests. ...
... století a z poměrně velké části i na počátku 20. století(MIKLÍN & ČÍŽEK 2014, SZABÓ et al. 2015. ...
This paper deals with land cover changes in the Podyjí National Park area, their causes
and their effect on the park’s biodiversity. Maps that served as sources to assess the long term trends
showed that forest cover increased from 66.7% in 1841 to 88.5% in 2014. Geodatabases with fine
classification of land cover (20 categories including four types of woodlands according to canopy
closure) were created using aerial photographs from the years 1938 and 2014. Analyses using landscape
metrics showed that closed forest cover increased from 52.1% to 81.0% between 1938 and
2014. The area of (semi-)open woodlands and grasslands with scattered trees and shrubs decreased
by 69.0% (from 25.3% to 7.8%) during the past eight decades. Grassland cover decreased at a similar
pace (from 4.7% to 1.6%, i.e., by 65.8%). Agricultural land turned from a mosaic of very small
fields, often with trees and grasslands, into either forest or large blocks of arable land. Substantial
homogenization and unification of the national park’s landscape occurred during the 20th century,
resulting from changes in landscape and forestry management. We conclude that large-scale management
efforts aimed at conservation and restoration of open woodlands and grasslands are vital to
conserve the biodiversity of the national park.
... Coppicing is a traditional forest management form, which used to be widespread in pre-industrial Europe, especially in the lowlands (Rackham 2003, McGrath et al. 2015, Szabó et al. 2015. It uses the ability of broadleaved trees to grow back after cutting from the stump or the root system. ...
... The Czech forest law distinguishes three categories of forests: commercial forests (which aim at timber production), forests for special purposes (where for example nature protection, water protection or recreation takes precedence over timber production), and protective forests (whose aim is to protect the soil and where harvests are minimal). The history of coppicing in the Czech Republic goes back at least to the 14th century and coppice woods were probably omnipresent in the lowlands in the Late Middle Ages (Szabó 2010, Szabó et al. 2015. By the end of the 18th century, practically all non-mixed broadleaved forests were coppiced. ...
Coppicing was a widespread form of forest management in European broadleaved forests. While it is still practised in south-eastern Europe, in central and western Europe it was almost completely replaced by high forest management. Currently there are increasing efforts to reintroduce coppice management into former coppice woods. However, little comprehensive knowledge is available about the extent of coppice reintroduction and the processes governing it on larger spatial scales. In this paper, we created a list of coppice reintroduction sites in the Czech Republic and conducted qualitative data analysis through semi-structured interviews to understand what motivated site managers to start with coppicing and what obstacles they have had to face. Results show that coppice reintroduction is still in its beginnings, carried out at altogether eight sites. The main motivation of site managers is nature conservation, while the most important obstacles are practical issues, such as legislative barriers or lack of workforce. Other motivating factors identified in European countries (production of renewable energy source and potential for rural employment) have so far played a minor role in the Czech Republic. We conclude that a major challenge for future forest policies will be to utilise the economic experiences of regions with active coppicing to foster the spread of coppice woods in order to combine renewable energy production with biodiversity conservation.
... In most current publications, authors focus mainly on the issues of changes in the forest area in the context of settlement and related exploitation of forests (e.g. Klingelhöfer 1992, Morin et al. 1996, Szabó 2012, Szabó et al. 2015. The periods of this exploitation and the extents of forests are determined by archaeological research, for example, by using airborne laser scanning (ALS) data to locate the remains of charcoal furnaces and dating of charcoals found in them (Brejcha 2013, Paradis-Grenouillet et al. 2015, Groenewoudt, Spek 2016. ...
... The model was visualised using the geographic information system (GIS) platform as a chorochromatic map, unlike the point symbol maps or choropleth maps that are usually in reconstructions of the forest cover (e.g. Szabó et al. 2015, Związek, Panecki 2017). ...
The settlement established under German law in Chełmno Land in the 13th century, the resultant changes in the structure of agriculture and land cultivation techniques, and the growing demand on wood as timber, fuel and raw materials for crafts, all combined to contribute to the significant deforestation of the territory. The extent of this deforestation remains conjectural. The purpose in creating a model of forest area in 13th-century Chełmno Land was to attempt to reconstruct it and determine its size and, consequently, to verify hypotheses concerning the scale and the ultimate end of deforestation in the research area. The spatial model is based on published historical and archaeological data relating to selected components of the geographical environment that pertain to the forest area. A retrogressive method combined with Multi-Criterion Evaluation (MCE) was used to build a forest area model. The basic platform for collecting, analysing and visualising spatial data was the geographic information system (GIS). The presented estimates indicate that the forest area of Chełmno Land in the 13th century was larger than had previously been assumed, at about 20–25% of the entire territory.
... CWS forest management was widely used in medieval and post-medieval Europe 1,3,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] , and remained essential in many parts of the continent until the nineteenth century, when petroleum and natural gas increasingly took over the role of providing the primary fuel source 3 . The decreasing importance of firewood consequently altered the goal of forest management towards timber production 19 . ...
... Half the identified CWS standards from France originate from recently felled trees, reflecting the bigger role of traditional oak forests in modern France 57 . Consequently, these results are not considered as representative of the actual prevalence of CWS forest structures in medieval central Europe 9,16 . The total amount of identified CWS standards is conspicuously low (1.2% and 1.8% for Bavaria and France, respectively) but greater than what would be expected by chance alone (the probability of detecting a cyclical growth release pattern in the historical dataset by chance = 0.7%). ...
To satisfy the increasing demand for wood in central Europe during medieval times, a new system of forest management was developed, one far superior to simple coppicing. The adoption of a sophisticated, Coppice-with-Standards (CWS) management practice created a two-storey forest structure that could provide fuelwood as well as construction timber. Here we present a dendrochronological study of actively managed CWS forests in northern Bavaria to detect the radial growth response to cyclical understorey harvesting in overstorey oaks (Quercus sp.), so-called standards. All modern standards exhibit rapid growth releases every circa 30 years, most likely caused by regular understorey management. We further analyse tree-ring width patterns in 2120 oak timbers from historical buildings and archaeological excavations in southern Germany and north-eastern France, dating between 300 and 2015 CE, and succeeded in identifying CWS growth patterns throughout the medieval period. Several potential CWS standards even date to the first millennium CE, suggesting CWS management has been in practice long before its first mention in historical documents. Our dendrochronological approach should be expanded routinely to indentify the signature of past forest management practices in archaeological and historical oak wood.
... In the past, coppicing was a traditional forest management applied across almost the whole of the Czech Republic. In the coppices were dominant easily resprouting species such as hornbeam, oak, and lime [1]. Aside from coppicing, practices like livestock grazing, litter raking, hay harvest, old grass burning, stump digging, etc. were frequently used in forests. ...
... We also recorded the characteristics of all 163 standards (11 standards for every plot except for plots 1A and 5B where there were only 10 standards per plot) in larger harvested plots with variable management types: (A) C-W-S, litter raking, and sheep grazing; (B) C-W-S and sheep grazing; (C) C-W-S and litter raking; and (D) C-W-S as well as in smaller control plots (K). The circumference of each standard was measured three times: (1) in March 2017 during the establishment of the experiment; ...
Research Highlights: The influence of litter raking and livestock grazing on the development of juvenile sessile oak and European hornbeam sprouts as well as on sessile oak standards were studied. Such experiments are very rare, especially in central Europe where these activities have been prohibited for several decades. Little is known on how these ancient management activities affect tree growth. Background and Objectives: Traditional management practices in coppice forests such as grazing and litter raking have been abandoned, but have recently been studied as to whether these practices can substantially contribute to an increase in the species diversity of coppices. The important question is, however, how these practices influence the growth of coppice-with-standards. Therefore, this study focused on the effect of grazing, litter raking, and their combination on both sprouts and adult trees in a coppice-with-standards system one year after harvest. Materials and Methods: The experiment was carried out in the area of the Training Forest Enterprise Masaryk Forest Křtiny, Czech Republic, in a forest stand dominated by sessile oak and European hornbeam. We analyzed 132 oak polycormons, 132 hornbeam polycormons, and 163 oak standards. Results: The number of sprouts per stump was affected by the stump size and management practice: (A) coppice-with-standards, litter raking, and sheep grazing; (B) coppice-with-standards and sheep grazing; (C) coppice-with-standards and litter raking; and (D) coppice-with-standards), but not by tree species. The number of the sprouts as well as their height increased with the stump size. In contrast, grazing resulted in a smaller height of the sprouts while thinner sprouts were found under a combination of grazing and raking. When comparing the species, the oak sprouts were higher and thicker when compared to the hornbeam sprouts. The increment of standards increased after stand harvest. This, however, was not the result of grazing or raking, but the response to the reduction of tree number and thus of competition between neighboring trees. Conclusions: The results showed that there were rather negative impacts from the implemented traditional management practices on the growth of sprouts. This may lead to the question of whether ecological diversity resulting from the traditional practices may prevail their negative effect on the growth of the coppices.
... This has been developed in particular within the framework of the ERC LONGWOOD project (Szabó et al., 2018). This database, which focuses on three types of forestrelated information (forest size, species composition and management) has made it possible to analyse forest changes in the Czech Republic from the Middle Ages through today to assess legacies with regards to current forests and to address conservation issues (Altman et al., 2013;Jamrichová et al., 2013;Szabó, 2013;Müllerová et al., 2015;Szabó et al., 2015;. This database can be adapted and expanded to include other types of historical forest information, such as natural disturbances. ...
... Exploring and analysing these driving factors not only allows for a better understanding of current forest ecosystems but also helps to develop forestry management techniques that can function in a sustainable manner in the current socioeconomic conditions". Despite the increasing precision, improved by both high-spatial and high-chronological resolution and interdisciplinarity, examples of applied palaeo-ecological or historical study toward conservation-related issues are still rare (Altman et al., 2013;Jamrichová et al., 2013;Szabó, 2013;Müllerová et al., 2015;Szabó et al., 2015;Natlandsmyr and Hjelle, 2016). One lock yet to break open for integrating data from the past into current ecological and conservation issues, is the lack of time continuity in research, from historical (or even prehistorical) periods to today. ...
... The significant extent of coppice woodlands in the late Middle Ages is documented by results of a study of their distribution in Moravia ( Szabó et al. 2015). The overview of coppice woodlands distribution in Moravia in the late Middle Ages was compiled from a database of written archive records with the information on the occurrence of coppice woodlands in individual cadastres. ...
... The map of the assumed occurrence of ancient coppice woodlands constructed according to COP index ( Maděra et al. 2016b) was verified on the example of MEP Kuřim where 547 ha of coppice-originated forests were recorded as compared with 1200 ha of coppice woods recorded in the inventory of 1845. The decrease documents the process of converting the coppices, which reached maximum spread in the Middle Ages ( Szabó et al. 2015), into the high forest described from the Czech Lands already in the 1617th centuries ( Müllerová et al. 2014, 2015), signalling a need for their inventory and establishment of appropriate care ( Maděra et al. 2016a). ...
Ancient coppice woodlands are forest stands of coppice origin with a long-term continual development and preserved typical natural and historic elements of old coppices. Significant natural elements in ancient coppices include polycormons of coppice shoots, pollard trees, trees with holes, dendrotelms, reserved trees, ecotones, glades and significant plant and animal species. Significant historic elements of localities with ancient coppices include archaeological monuments, boundary ditches and walls, boundary stones, boundary trees, myths and legends, sacral objects, old roads and paths, technical objects and plough land remainders. The paper presents differentiation of assumptions for the occurrence of ancient coppices in the territory of the Czech Republic using the COPF coefficient and examples of results from basic regional inventory (Kuřim region) and detailed local survey (locality Lebeďák) of coppice-originated forests. The extinction of the phenomenon of ancient coppice woodlands would mean irreparable impoverishment of the natural and cultural heritage.
... These taller and older trees are called standards and the management system is called coppice-with-standards. In the Late Middle Ages coppices were widespread in areas below 500 m a.s.l. ( Szabó et al. 2015) and rotation cycles shorter than 10 years were common (Szabó 2010). Coppicing favoured those trees that were good at regenerating vegetatively, especially Carpinus betulus. ...
... Although they are no longer managed in this way, the tree species composition still reflects this influence. For example, the current distribution of oak-hornbeam forests in Moravia is roughly coincident with the extent of coppice management in the Late Middle Ages ( Szabó et al. 2015). In the absence of management, oak would be probably outcompeted by hornbeam or noble hardwoods, and at higher altitudes, hornbeam by beech. ...
The Czech Republic belongs to the temperate broad-leaved deciduous forest biome for its largest part, but two of its dry lowland areas belong to the forest-steppe biome. Landscapes corresponding to the coniferous forest biome and alpine tundra occur mainly as temperate orobiomes in small areas. Eight altitudinal vegetation belts from lowland to alpine are distinguished. There are high diversities of different vegetation types mainly in deep river valleys in the Bohemian Massif, karst areas, sandstone pseudokarst areas, on solitary volcanic hills, in glacial cirques, lowland riverine landscapes and serpentinite areas. Potential natural vegetation across most of the country is deciduous and mixed forests of beech, oak, hornbeam and noble hardwoods, and coniferous forests of spruce and fir. However, large areas of these forests have been cleared or converted into forest plantations. Open landscape is covered mainly by arable land and perennial grassland. Diversity, ecology, distribution, history and dynamics of the different vegetation types defined in the national vegetation classification are described here in detail.
... 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). ...
... 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). ...
Ancient coppice woodlands are coppice-originated forest stands with a long-term continual development, and with the preserved typical natural and historic elements of old sprout forests. Prominent natural elements in the ancient coppice woodlands are namely old coppice stools. There is, in scientific literature, lack of information about features of ancient coppice stools. Therefore, our contribution aims to describe shape and form of ancient coppice stools, including the most important microhabitat of coppice woodlands - dendrothelms. Based on field survey of 20 localities of important coppice woodlands we recorded 135 ancient coppice stools of 13 tree species and a total of 80 dendrothelms in 9 tree species. Basic features of ancient coppice stools and dendrothlems were measured and evaluated.
... 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). ...
... 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). ...
Ancient coppice woodlands are coppice-originated forest stands with a long-term continual development, and with the preserved typical natural and historic elements of old sprout forests. Prominent natural elements in the ancient coppice woodlands are namely old coppice stools. There is, in scientific literature, lack of information about features of ancient coppice stools. Therefore, our contribution aims to describe shape and form of ancient coppice stools, including the most important microhabitat of coppice woodlands - dendrothelms. Based on field survey of 20 localities of important coppice woodlands we recorded 135 ancient coppice stools of 13 tree species and a total of 80 dendrothelms in 9 tree species. Basic features of ancient coppice stools and dendrothlems were measured and evaluated.
... Coppicing could be implemented as the sole management regime of a forest stand, or as coppice-with-standards, where coppice trees, which were mainly used for the production of fuelwood, were combined with standards (single-stem trees) to produce timber [28,29]. However, despite the extensive description of such historical woodland management practices, mostly through written historical sources [22,30], they remain poorly documented based on paleo-botanical data, especially for the temperate lowland areas in NW Europe. ...
Wood and charcoal were key sources of energy during early industrialization in Europe (18th century), preceding the large-scale exploitation of fossil coal. Past timber harvesting implied land transformation and woodland resources management. Therefore, relict charcoal kilns and historical documents of forest management are important sources of information about past woodland composition and structure. However, ancient charcoal kilns are poorly documented in temperate woodlands in the lowlands of western Europe, especially combined with historical written sources. In this study, charcoal production was investigated in an area in NE France, by combining charcoal and historical sources analysis, along with innovative dating methodologies. Thus, by using both radiocarbon and optically-stimulated luminescence dating, we showed that the activity lasted until recent times (19th–early 20th centuries) and Carpinus was the dominant taxon in charcoal assemblage. Moreover, kiln attributes seemed to be independent of topographical variables. Woodlands in this area were subject to a coppice-with-standards management, where small diameter wood was preferred to produce charcoal and large diameter stems, mainly Quercus and Fagus, were traded as timber. The dominance of Carpinus is rather uncommon in charcoal studies but supports the importance of Carpinus as fuelwood since the Middle Ages, as confirmed by many written sources.
... The long tradition of CWS forest management in Europe led to various studies from the fields of forest history and dendroarchaeology (e.g., Bernard et al., 2014;Szabó et al., 2015;Vandekerkhove et al., 2016). As wood samples originating from archeological excavations or historical constructions lack information on site and stand conditions, it is likely that, across Europe, a substantial part of oaks originates from CWS managed forests. ...
Tree-ring widths (TRW) of historical and archeological wood provide crucial proxies, frequently used for high-resolution multi-millennial paleoclimate reconstructions. Former growing conditions of the utilized trees, however, are largely unknown. Potential influences of historical forest management practices on climatic information, derived from TRW variability need to be considered but have not been assessed so far. Here, we examined the suitability of TRW series from traditionally managed oak forests ( Quercus spp.) for climate reconstructions. We compared the climate signal in TRW chronologies of trees originating from high forests and coppice-with-standards (CWS) forests, a silvicultural management practice widely used in Europe for most of the common era. We expected a less distinct climate control in CWS due to management-induced growth patterns, yet an improved climate-growth relationship with TRW data from conventionally managed high forests. CWS tree rings showed considerably weaker correlations with hydroclimatic variables than non-CWS trees. The greatest potential for hydroclimate reconstructions was found for a large dataset containing both CWS and non-CWS trees, randomly collected from lumber yards, resembling the randomness in sources of historical material. Our results imply that growth patterns induced by management interventions can dampen climate signals in TRW chronologies. However, their impact can be minimized in well replicated, randomly sampled regional chronologies.
... Previous scholars have justified the use of archival data in research to analyze, predict, and interpret observable facts in research(Barraclough, af Wahlberg, Freeman, Watson, & Watson, 2016;Gligor, Esmark, & Holcomb, 2015;Szabó, Müllerová, Suchánková, & Kotačka, 2015).Acemoglu et al. (2016) used a relationship network to obtain archival data to analyze unusual returns from firms that have employees nominated for high public office positions. Similarly, to procure the raw archival data I contacted decision-making, mortgage professionals, via networking, phone, and email, whom originated and funded retail mortgages in the state of Florida.Creating and sustaining effective working relationships requires a scholar to use a robust professional network within the targeted industry, which is important to further reinforce academic and professional research applications(de Sivatte, Gordon, Rojo, & Olmos, 2015;Houghton, 2016;Malone & Issa, 2013). ...
... It is usually characterized by short rotations, ranging from 15 to 20 years up to 50-60 years, depending on the tree species and the site conditions (Unrau et al., 2018). Cultivation techniques have been well documented since the Middle Ages (Piussi, 1982;Szabó et al., 2015;Piussi and Stiavelli, 1986;Piussi and Zanzi Sulli, 1997). Coppice has imprinted the broadleaved forest landscape across Europe since the establishment of the early human settlements, with important changes in terms of extention from 1600 to now (McGrath et al., 2015). ...
Although coppice forests represent a significant part of the European forest area, especially across southern Countries, they received little attention within the Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) processes and scenarios, whose guidelines have been mainly designed to high forests and national scale. In order to obtain “tailored” information on the degree of sustainability of coppices on the scale of the stand, we evaluated (i) whether the main coppice management options result in different responses of the SFM indicators, and (ii) the degree to which the considered SFM indicators were appropriate in their application at stand level. The study considered three different management options (Traditional Coppice TC, coppice under Natural Evolution NE, and coppice under Conversion to high forest by means of periodical thinning CO). In each of the 43 plots considered in the study, which covered three different European Forest Types, we applied a set of eighteen “consolidated” SFM indicators, covering all the six SFM Criteria (FOREST EUROPE, 2020) and, additionally, tested other sixteen novel indicators shaped for agamic forests and/or applicable at stand level. Results confirmed that several consolidated indicators related to resources status (Growing stock and Carbon stock), health (Defoliation and Forest damage), and socio-economic functions (Net revenue, Energy and Accessibility) were highly appropriate for evaluating the sustainability of coppice at stand level. In addition, some novel indicators related to resources status (Total above ground tree biomass), health (Stand growth) and protective functions (Overstorey cover and Understorey cover) proved to be highly appropriate and able to support the information obtained by the consolidated ones. As a consequence, a subset of consolidated SFM indicators, complemented with the most appropriate novel ones, may represent a valid option to support the evaluation of coppice sustainability at stand level. An integrated analysis of the SFM indicators showed that NE and CO display significant higher environmental performances as compared with TC. In addition, CO has positive effects also on socio-economic issues, while TC -which is an important cultural heritage and a silvicultural option that may help to keep local communities engaged in forestry – combines high wood harvesting rates with dense understory cover. Overall, each of the three management options showed specific sustainability values; as a consequence, their coexistence at a local scale and in accordance with the specific environmental conditions and the social-economic context, is greatly recommended since it may fulfill a wider array of sustainability issues.
... Geographers have a tradition of using historical and archival data to better understand spatial phenomena (Pearson and Collier 1998;Knowles 2002;Cunfer 2005;Bonnell and Fortin 2014;Szab o et al. 2015). As GIS became a primary tool for analyzing spatial patterns, researchers working in historyfocused traditions fused historic data sets with GIS tools (I. ...
Despite the importance of land legacy effects on land use/land cover change (LULCC), historical data remain underutilized in analyses of social–environmental systems (SES). Drought, a slow-onset disaster, serves as an ideal case study to examine how multitemporal LULCC provides context for contemporary land use patterns. We use historical geographic information systems (HGIS) to analyze land ownership change, resource access, and land use in Cimarron County, Oklahoma, the epicenter of the Dust Bowl. We digitize archival county plats covering 1931 through 2014 into an HGIS. Through analysis of ownership information, we trace changes in familial and corporate landholdings during this period, exploring how different landowner types have changed over time. Aerial photography analysis helps to quantify the adoption of irrigation in relation to family survivability. Results show that families with larger landholdings in the 1930s were significantly more likely to persist through the Dust Bowl and continue owning land in the present. Access to the Ogallala Aquifer also increased the duration of land ownership. Corporate operators were most aggressive in adopting irrigation. Results raise questions of sustainability and uneven access to resources. We argue that land legacy has profound impacts nearly a century later. Further, SES studies can benefit from incorporating HGIS into their repertoire.
... view from site no. 3 towards the north-east, generated with the zugspitze software (with permission by ulrich deuschle, https://www.udeuschle.de/panoramas/makepanoramas_en.htm) well as to repair and heat them in the autumn and winter seasons (Williams 2000;Kaplan et al. 2009;Szabo et al. 2015). A microscale analysis was conducted in ArcGIS based on the digital terrain model made with the GRID network geometry (Kampczyk et al. 2016). ...
The Myślibórz Gorge, located within the Kaczawy Foothills, is well-known to environmentalists and scholars studying the past. The investigations launched in the 1990s made it possible to determine the chronology of three of the archaeological sites in this area. In 2018, two hillforts – on the Kobylica and Golica hills – were investigated. Czech literature classifies such hillforts as the ostrožna-type. The excavations of these hillforts made it possible to establish to date them between the 9th and 10th centuries.The hillforts were located on hilltops with similar altitudes above the sea level, less than 200 m from each other. Such a spatial arrangement made it possible to control the gateway to the Myślibórz Gorge from the north-east. Reasons for developing a defensive system in the southern part of the gorge are obscure, as is the role that two other early medieval hillforts played in it. Was it simply a warning system, or rather part of a comprehensive network of defensive sites?
... Regime is also dependent on the species, while high forest is suited for all forest species, coppice can only be used with species that are able to sprout from stumps or roots [7,31] (Figure 1). Coppice stands and forests have been a traditional management system in Europe [8,32,33]. The coppice system abandonment started in the late 19th century and was especially noticeable during the 20th century [33][34][35][36]. ...
... Although it is now accepted that human interventions since the Neolithic period have led to the fragmentation and sharp reduction of forested areas (Rackham 1980;Roberts et al. 2018), recent works tend to demonstrate the essential economic role of these areas, in particular through the development of the wood resource, building material and fuel essential to the development of craft activities such as coal mining, metallurgy, lime production (Dupin et al. 2017;Py-Saragagaglia et al. 2017;Rassat et al. 2013;Szabó et al. 2015). ...
... Today, most forests in Europe are closed, shady habitats. In the past, however, natural disturbances such as grazing and fires, and silvicultural practices such as wood pasturing, controlled burning and coppicing, maintained open, sunny mosaics of forest in various seral stages (Vera 2000;Szabó 2010;Szabó et al. 2015). This mosaic harbored diverse assemblages of animals and plants (Hédl et al. 2010;Bugalho et al. 2011;Vodka and Č ížek 2013). ...
The habitat fragmentation and isolation threaten populations of rare species. Organisms become endangered because of the primary habitat loss, but also due to limited dispersal capacity. Whether threatened species are limited more by their dispersal capacity or by lack of suitable habitats is an unresolved question critical to effective conservation. To address the question, we investigated patterns of colonisation by light demanding woodland plants in patches (clearings) of broadleaf forest where open canopy conditions were restored by partial cutting. Six pairs of identically sized (40 × 40 m) clearings were created in closed canopy thermophilous oak forest. Each pair included a clearing isolated in the closed forest and a clearing connected to an alluvial meadow and migration corridor along a river. Within each clearing, we followed colonization success by threatened and common species for 8 years. To assess the relative role of species pool, dispersal limitation and niche-based competition processes (viewed through the plant functional traits), we compared vegetation composition of the clearings to that of surrounding habitats (closed forest, open forest, meadow, forest edge). Clearings hosted more threatened species than closed forests, forest edges and meadows. Existing patches of open forest harboured the highest diversity of threatened species. Their proximity increased colonization success of threatened plants in clearings. Higher colonization rates by threatened plants were associated with shorter distances to source habitats and higher light, higher pH and lower moisture values in the clearings. Clearing type affected composition and ecological strategies of threatened species. Connected clearings were colonized by taller light-demanding species with higher seed mass, more suitable for establishment in a highly competitive environment, while the isolated clearings were colonized by shorter species with higher specific leaf area, better equipped for a more shaded environment. Species richness of threatened species increased in the first 3 years and decreased in last years, indicating that forest thinning creates only a short-term regeneration window with tree and shrub canopy closing back relatively fast. Active intervention should be therefore repeated in short intervals, preferably as shifting mosaics of differently aged stands. Our results bring novel information on the relative importance of habitat quality, isolation, and biotic filtering on communities of threatened species and their colonization success.
... The challenge in this case is that the data are likely to have been collected in different locations, or at different spatial and temporal scales, and thus an effort to force one or more of the datasets to match the others, resulting in less robust explanations. There are of course an increasing number of examples of collaborative work that more fully couple the efforts of historians and paleoecologists (England et al. 2008;Harris 2013;Haldon et al. 2014;Szabó et al. 2015;Sadori et al. 2016;Xoplaki et al. 2016;Di Cosmo et al. 2018). As yet though, we have not fully exploited the rich historical archives of the Mediterranean and Europe in writing the historical ecology of the region. ...
ContextThe importance of societal factors in shaping forest area, structure and composition through economic activity, policy, governance, and population changes is frequently acknowledged in ecologic studies, however the specific socioeconomic factors that lead to land use change through time are rarely articulated.Objectives
We present a consilience-driven approach for integrating socioeconomic and paleoecologic data to explore land use legacies and interpret causes of past abrupt environmental change.Methods
We combine paleoecologic history reconstructed from pollen analysis of lake sediments and contemporary historical narratives of socioeconomic change developed from archival sources illustrated by three case studies from two sites in the Italian Apennines.ResultsWe found that in the Rieti Basin, central Italy, between 850 and 900 AD (coeval with the beginning of the Medieval Climate Anomaly—MCA), under the new Carolingian rule, the imperially sponsored monastery at Farfa consolidated small landholdings, leading to more active land management and significant forest loss for agricultural activities. In contrast, at Pollino in southern Italy between 1050 and 1100 AD, also during the MCA, Norman conquest helped to convert a deforested landscape into an actively managed fir forest for timber needed for construction. At both sites, depopulation and land management between 1350 and 1400 AD caused by the Black Death, led to forest rewilding, however each site took a different trajectory.Conclusions
The studies presented offer examples of how the integration of detailed historical narratives with high-resolution paleoecologic reconstructions can provide a more nuanced examination of the interrelationship between societal factors and climate forcing in shaping land-use legacies and has the capacity to illuminate the link between specific human pressures and pathways of ecological change over many centuries.
... Lesy NP Podyjí jsou přibližně z jedné čtvrtiny tvořeny porosty výmladkového původu. Výmladkové hospodaření, neboli pařezení, je jednou z nejstarších a nejběžnějších forem využívání lesa v evropských lesích nízkých poloh (Szabó et al. 2015). Nejstarší dochované údaje o výmladkových lesích dnešního NP Podyjí jsou obsaženy v Josefínském katastru a sahají do konce 18. století (Vrška 1998). ...
The effect of artificial canopy opening on the diversity of weevils (Curculionoidea) was studied at two study plots in oak dominated formerly coppiced forest in the eastern part of Podyjí National Park in the Czech Republic. The canopy opening resulted in a significant increase of species richness from an initial 33 (before the opening) to 57 species two years later. Both species and functional diversity increased immediately after the canopy opening, but they were strongly dependent on time, with an optimum approximately in the middle of investigation period. Last year the average diversity was already decreasing, most likely due to the acceleration of succession. Nine species listed in Red List of Threatened Invertebrates of the Czech Republic were recorded, and their number increased after the canopy opening as well. More light in the forest especially had a positive effect on herbicolous species-most of them penetrating into clearings from the surrounding non-forest habitats-while the number of arboricolous species remained nearly unchanged. Several faunistically interesting species were also recorded. Our results show that active canopy opening within restoration of traditional coppicing can be an effective tool to support a wide weevil community, including rare or threatened species of conservation value.
... A maradék 888 hektáron belül 291 hektár rubetumként szerepel, amely valószínűleg a sar- jerdők helyi neve volt. 13 Ha feltesszük, hogy a choustníki uradalom területe nem változott je- lentősen 1379 és 1447 között, akkor az 1447-ben kivágott 50 hektár 6 és 18 év közötti vágásfordu- lóra utal az egész uradalom keretében (attól füg- gően, hogy csak a rubetumokat vagy a teljes nem silva nigra állományt vesszük-e alapul). Ezek a számok jól megfelelnek az ismert korabeli viszo- nyoknak, de természetesen felvetik a kérdést, hogy az erdők többségében (a fekete erdőkben) miért értékesítettek olyan kevés fát 1447-ben. ...
... The typical CWS forest consists of two important layers: The underwood (coppice layer) consisting of shrubs, young trees and stump regrowth used as firewood and the standards (solitary trees) used for feeding animals (acorns) and as timber (Ellenberg & Leuschner, 2010, Peterken, 1993. Coppicing is a rotation system based on harvesting the under- wood in a particular area in one year, moving to the next area in the following year and coming back to the initial area after a certain time period of 7 ( Szabó et al., 2015) to 40 years (Szabó, 2010). The standards are usually kept for longer rotation periods (Ellenberg & Leuschner, 2010). ...
Aims
Coppice-with-standards (CWS) management was one of the most important disturbances in Central European forests in the past. As our knowledge about the effects of coppicing on species richness and composition needs to be enhanced, we carried out vegetation studies in the currently largest CWS project in Germany. In this article we focus on two issues: 1. Coppicing induced changes and trends in species richness and composition from year to year and 2. Development of species richness and composition in 19 years of CWS restoration.
Location
Salzgitter Höhenzug mountains between Liebenburg and Goslar, Lower Saxony, Germany. Climate: subatlantic to subcontinental; soil: Limestone rendzina with low water storage capacity.
Methods
In 2013 we resurveyed the plant species composition of 12 permanent plots analysed every year from 1994 till 2002. The dates of coppicing were recorded for all of these plots, which enabled us to analyse the dynamics of species richness and composition after coppicing on a year to year basis. Differences in species richness and composition were analysed using ANOVA, H-test, DCA and GLMM.
Results
In 19 years of CWS restoration mean plot species richness increased significantly, mainly attributed to the increase in woody species, such as Quercus robur and Sorbus torminalis. The Ellenberg indicator value for nutrients decreased significantly, whereas the indicator value for light increased significantly. The typical dynamic after coppicing consists of a continuous increase in shrub layer coverage and an increase in herb layer coverage with a maximum in years 3 and 4 after coppicing. Total species richness as well as richness of open habitat and forest species and true forest species also showed an increase with its maximum in years 3 and 4 after coppicing.
Conclusions
Our results showed that the alternation of light and shaded phases had a positive impact on species richness, particularly on tree regeneration. Considering the trend of decreasing species richness level in Central European forests, CWS forests play a major role in the conservation of vascular plant species diversity. In contrast to other studies, the increase in species richness after coppicing did not result from an increase in weedy, nitrogen-demanding species. The so called “nitrogen time bomb” scenario (which other authors assumed to be happening after opening the canopy) did not occur in the studied area. The low water storage capacity of the limestone rendzina soil may be one reason, as there was not sufficient water and nitrogen for the more demanding species.
... The destruction of traditional village groves is a nationwide phenomenon, with modern development continuing to destroy groves and surrounding landscapes, resulting in grove datasets being restricted to presence-only data. A recent study, for example, adopted a similar approach to investigate the distribution and extent of coppice management in the Czech Republic (Szabó, Müllerová, Suchánková, & Kotačka, 2015). ...
Our study aims to understand the spatial context of community-based landscape systems for conservation planning. To this end, the present study analyzes the factors affecting spatial distribution of Korea’s traditional village groves, which form a distinctive component of Korea’s traditional community-based landscape. Using maximum entropy (MaxEnt) modeling, we identified four strongest contributory factors that affect the current occurrences of village groves. First, the probability of occurrences declined with increasing human population density within a 300 m radius, and, second, it was lower where there was high forest cover (>80%) within a 500 m radius. Third, we found a unimodal pattern for the occurrence probability for precipitation during the coldest quarter with the probability peaking in areas where mean precipitation is 118 mm, while the occurrence probability for mean diurnal temperature range was generally positively correlated. Based on the assumption that spatial analysis could highlight priorities and implications for conservation, our results reveal the importance of understanding the grove landscape as a manifestation of the linkages between nature and humans as well as the importance of modern scientific approaches to manage the spatial elements of traditional landscape systems.
... Several papers attempted to make a spatially more complex use of the LONGWOOD database. For example, Szab o et al. (2015) used the entire pre-1566 part of the database to study the history of coppicing in Moravia in the Late Middle Ages. This investigation was based on identification of an oft-used medieval word (rubetum) as coppice. ...
European forests have been copiously documented for centuries. However, forest-related archival sources were rarely utilised to their full potential, mainly because of the difficulties in producing compatible data from large amounts of very different sources. Furthermore, analysing such data for larger areas in high resolution was hardly possible prior to the emergence of historical GIS. This paper presents the geodatabase of the LONGWOOD project, which includes tens of thousands of pieces of information on forest history from the 11th to the 20th century for 3,567 townships in the eastern Czech Republic (c. 27,000 km²). The paper describes the challenges we met, briefly summarizes the results, evaluates the database in a worldwide context and introduces possible directions for future research.
... Regarding forest management planning, Europe has long-historical experience (e.g., Müllerová, Szabó, & Hédl, 2014;Rackham, 1980;Szabó, Müllerová, Suchánková, & Kotačka, 2015). Forest planning typically aims to provide long-term and consistent production and supply of services, by defining the activities and the timing of the activities needed to reach such goal (Baskent & Keles, 2005;Hellrigl, 1986). ...
Improvements in the management of Natura 2000 sites are essential to achieve the targets set out by the Habitats and Birds Directives of the European Union. A current focus is on the development of management plans, which are fundamental instruments in the implementation of conservation measures. This study explores the viability of using existing forest plans to assist in this purpose. As case study, we consider the regulatory framework of the Veneto Region, northern Italy. We collected quantitative and qualitative data on forest plans at the regional and at three sub-regional spatial scales: local, district, and biogeographical. Forest plans cover about 54% of the terrestrial area of Natura 2000 sites in Veneto, and 75% of Sites of Community Importance in the Alpine biogeographical region. At the local scale of analysis, metrics from forest plans represent a valuable historical record which can be used to interpret the current state and future trends, especially for forests with long management records. These data can be used to assess biodiversity indicators for the monitoring of Natura 2000 forest and non-forest habitats, in compliance with Article 17 of the Habitats Directive. Moreover, the heterogeneous stand conditions which are promoted by some forest management approaches can improve the conservation efforts for some habitats and species. The scale of local forest plans are typically the most appropriate for implementing habitat management strategies. From this study, we conclude that management authorities should take advantage of the wide spatial coverage and distribution of existing forest plans, especially in mountain areas inside and outside the Natura 2000 network, for the successful conservation of European Union habitats and species.
... from which time on it was largely abandoned (Hopkins and Kirby 2007;Szabó et al. 2015). In other regions, such as the Mediterranean or France, it remains an important type of forestry management to this day. ...
... windthrows or fires) (Adámek, Bobek, Hadincová, Wild, & Kopecký, 2015;Hultberg, Gaillard, Grundmann, & Lindbladh, 2015;Niklasson et al., 2010) and grazing of large herbivores (Bengtsson, Nilsson, Franc, & Menozzi, 2000;Vera, 2000) European forests have at least partly been open for most of their Holocene history. These natural processes have gradually been replaced by human activities such as coppicing and wood pasture (Rackham, 1998;Szabó, 2009;Szabó, Müllerová, Suchánková, & Kotačka, 2015). The open canopy conditions that are required for trees to reach large diameters and veteran state have thus endured until modern times. ...
Veteran and solitary trees are key structures supporting biodiversity in many wooded ecosystems. Their global decline threatens numerous organisms associated with them, including several insect species protected by law that serve as umbrella species. The floodplain along the lower Morava and Dyje rivers is considered a hotspot for saproxylic organisms associated with veteran trees. The area is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and part of NATURA 2000. Between 2006 and 2015, we mapped 11,596 veteran and habitat trees in the area. The mapping also included the distribution of several insects associated with veteran trees including three beetle species (Cerambyx cerdo, Osmoderma barnabita, and Eurythyrea quercus) and two ant species (Liometopum microcephalum and Lasius fuliginosus). The data on the position, abundance, diameter, forest structure and health of the veteran trees and trees inhabited by the above species are presented in a map created in ArcGIS Online. These data serve as an important source of information for the management of nature conservation of the area.
... Coppicing, an ancient forest management system, was for centuries the prevailing method of forest use in Europe (Buckley and Mills 2015a;Szabó et al. 2015). It can be assumed that a whole range of species and functional groups, as well as types of temperate forest ecosystems, have developed and persisted via traditional management (Kirby and Watkins 2015). ...
Coppice abandonment had negative consequences for the biodiversity of forest vegetation and several groups of invertebrates. Most coppicing restoration studies have focused only on a single trophic level despite the fact that ecosystems are characterized by interactions between trophic levels represented by various groups of organisms. To address the patterns of functional diversity in the perspective of coppicing restoration, we studied the short-term effects of conservation-motivated tree canopy thinning in an abandoned coppice with standards in Central Europe, a region where such attempts have been rare so far. The functional diversity of vascular plants and spiders, chosen as two model trophic groups within the forest ecosystem, was compared between thinned and control forest patches. To characterize functional patterns, we examined several functional traits. These traits were assigned to two contrasting categories: response traits reflecting a change of environment (for both vascular plants and spiders) and effect traits influencing the ecosystem properties (only for vascular plants). Functional diversity was analysed by CCA using two measures: community-weighted means (CWM) and Rao’s quadratic diversity (RaoQ). CCA models revealed that the canopy thinning had a positive effect on the diversity of the response traits of both trophic groups and negatively influenced the diversity of effect traits. In addition, we found distinct seasonal dynamics in functional diversity of the spider communities, which was probably linked to leaf phenology of deciduous trees. We conclude that canopy thinning affected functional diversity across trophic groups during the initial phase of coppicing restoration. With necessary precautions, careful canopy thinning can be effectively applied in the restoration of functional diversity in abandoned coppices.
... Staré letecké snímky umožňují přesně analyzovat změny skutečného zápoje, avšak s relativně malým historickým dosahem. Rekonstrukce dřívějších poměrů je možná s využitím jiných metod a zdrojů -archivních map a dalších materiálů (Szabó et al., 2015), paleoekologických metod (Vera, 2000) aj. ...
Otevřené (řídké) lesy a (polo)přirozené travní porosty patří k ochranářsky nejcennějším
ekosystémům Česka, místům s největší biodiverzitou i koncentrací ohrožených a chráněných
druhů. Proto je otázka jejich historie, vývoje, krajinných změn a vhodného managementu
důležitou a aktuálně řešenou problematikou. Práce popisuje změnu krajinného krytu v
několika chráněných územích jižní Moravy (NP Podyjí, CHKO Pálava, lužní lesy dolních
toků Moravy a Dyje a vybraná maloplošná zvláště chráněná území) na základě historických a
současných leteckých snímků s důrazem na různě zapojené lesní porosty. Z výsledků vyplývá,
že prakticky ve všech sledovaných lokalitách došlo v průběhu 20. století jednak k úbytku
bezlesí (zejména ochranářsky cenných kulturních stepí a polopřirozených luk), jednak k
výraznému zahuštění dříve různě otevřených či rozvolněných porostů. To je v souladu s
všeobecnými trendy změn krajiny v České republice, což ukazuje na nedostatky
managementu těchto chráněných území. Otevřené lesy i travní porosty jsou v současné době
(až na výjimky) vázány na lidskou činnost, bezzásahový management vede k postupnému
zarůstání bezlesí a zapojování lesa. Zatímco u travních porostů je aktivní management dnes
běžnou praxí (i když je jeho plošný rozsah omezen z finančních důvodů), otevřené lesy u nás
udržovány nejsou vůbec. Přitom na jejich důležitost ukazují i výsledky navazujících výzkumů
v těchto modelových územích. Vzhledem k významu řídkých lesů je nutné pro zachování
biodiverzity nejen zastavit další zapojování dosud existujících otevřených lesů, ale také zavést
aktivní management vedoucí k jejich (částečnému) obnovení.
... Open, structured and/or pasture woodlands are considered to be some of the most important and diverse temperate ecosystems (Chytrý et al., 2012;Eggers et al., 2010;Mabry, Brudvig, & Atwell, 2010) and together with old and solitary trees (mainly oaks, which are remains of these traditional forest management methods) they are key features of biodiversity (Hall & Bunce, 2011;Hédl, Kopecký, & Komárek, 2010;Vodka, Konvička, & Čížek, 2009). Such ecosystems used to be common throughout the whole of Europe (Hartel & Plieninger, 2014;Vera, 2000) and the Czech Republic (Szabó, Müllerová, Suchánková, & Kotačka, 2015). However, today we face a problem of their widespread disappearance (Bércesné Mocskonyi, 2011;Brunet, Felton, & Lindbladh, 2012;Rotherham, 2013) and their extent remains largely unknown. ...
The area of the Morava and Dyje Rivers confluence is one of the most biologically diverse localities in the Czech Republic, recognised under many international forms of nature protection. In this paper we analyse and present land use/land cover (LULC) changes that took place over the last century. Using aerial photographs from the years 1938, 1953, 1976 and 2009, we differentiate 24 categories of LULC with a special focus on forest management. The most important detected changes are (i) closure of open/structured woodlands, (ii) change from an agricultural mosaic into large-field arable land, (iii) regulation of water courses, (iv) decrease in grassland area and (v) increase in forest logging intensity. LULC trends in this area differ significantly from the general LULC development within the Czech Republic. The results are presented in six map sheets showing LULC in (a–d) the studied years, (e) processes of LULC changes and (f) LULC change intensity. The thematic maps are accompanied by aerial photographs selected to show characteristic features of landscape structure in a certain period and by graphs including those visualising landscape metrics.
... clearance) to produce firewood or in order to ensure charcoal supply (e.g. MCKEOWN 1994;MIGHALL et al. 2000;SZABÓ et al. 2015), since charcoal was needed by metalworkers as fuel to ore smelting. ...
Research on palaeoenvironmental archives has challenged the widely accepted view that atmospheric metal
pollution started with the Industrial Revolution, by demonstrating that it dates back to the Bronze Age when
mining and metallurgical activities spread. These activities and the exploitation of natural resources for metal
extraction and smelting involved intense transformation of the landscape from the Iron Age onwards, with
forest decline, among others, one of the most common. This paper examines the methodology used for the
detection of past atmospheric metal pollution and other environmental impacts associated with mining and
metallurgy and reviews the research performed in this field in North Iberia, with special attention to centuries
AD V-XI
The book extends the information for the exhibition Life in the Forests. The basis of the publication is a catalogue of evidence of human activities in forests documented during three years of research at three selected sites (South, North, Centre). The catalogue is complemented by a brief overview of the history of the Drahany Highlands with an emphasis on forest management and a selection of modern methods of researching objects of human activities in forest. A separate chapter discusses the characteristics of the objects, conservation and the reflection of human activities in art.
We assessed the value of coppice stools in connection with selected factors in three different areas of the Drahany Highlands (Czech Republic). The stool value was assessed by evaluating the morphological features. Stools were selected in forest stands with an age of 80 years and older. We analysed the potential influence of twenty-five variables (for example, the exposure, forest vegetation zone, potential natural vegetation, actual or historical owner, edaphic category, etc.) on the stool value. We found that the historical ownership, climatic region, and category of potential natural vegetation significantly affect the coppice stool value. We observed the occurrence of stools with a higher stool value in moderate climatic region type 3 (MT3), in scree and ravine woodlands and in the territory of the historical owners of the Mitrovsky and Salm-Reifferscheid families. According to our results, the probability of the occurrence of coppice stools decreases with an increasing stool value.
Forests are generally considered relatively near-natural ecosystems, despite often experiencing fairly intensive uses, including conversion of the main tree species and intensive management. In Central Europe, it can be assumed that forest with continuity of thousands of years remained only in locations inaccessible to humans (e.g., steep slopes in remote mountains). For most other forested areas, it is obvious that they were completely or partly deforested at least once in the past and used as non-forested land (e.g., arable land or grassland). The wide distribution of historical arable fields (e.g., Celtic fields or ridges-and-furrows) throughout Europe is the best confirmation of this belief. Particularly in the last two decades, the long-lasting effect of previous non-forest uses on patterns and processes of abiotic and biotic parameters of currently forested areas has been studied more intensively. In parallel, the research field of historical ecology, which is not new in itself, has received increased attention and is considered significant to the further study of ecosystems and landscapes. Due to the large number of existing publications, it is possible to summarise the results to date and to identify research gaps that still exist. This information was compiled and is contained in the five sections in this paper. Definitions and procedures are presented in Sect. 2, which is divided into subsections on the definition of landscape legacies, human interventions and time frame establishment (Sect. 2.1) and the search and selection of publications (Sect. 2.2). The findings on aboveground and belowground legacies (Sect. 3) are presented separately for vascular plants and cryptogams (Sect. 3.1), animals or animal communities (Sect. 3.2), topographic features (Sect. 3.3), soil chemistry and soil biological activity (Sect. 3.4) and biomass and tree growth (Sect. 3.5). In Sect. 4, these issues are discussed in connection with research questions that have not been answered or have only been answered incompletely. Finally, essential conclusions are concisely provided (Sect. 5).
The general objective of the study was to assess the main drivers for visiting the forest and the frequency of the visits in the Czech Republic. A nationwide collection of data of the sociological research as part of The Market & Media & Lifestyle Research Project was carried out every year in the Czech Republic under the licensed cooperation with Kantar Media. The project is unique by the large scope of the questions in the questionnaires and by the high number of respondents. A total of 8794 Czech inhabitants aged 12 years and above from all the regions were involved in the survey in 2018. Information about the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of all the respondents were obtained. In the closed questions, the respondents reported the frequency of the forest visits and its drivers. The main driver for visiting the forest was just to go for a walk or just to enjoy the outdoors, especially during their holidays or weekends, amounting to 79% of the inhabitants. Meditation and relaxation as well as sport in the forest, were also considered as important motives for forest recreation. On the contrary, 95% of the visitors did not practice game hunting, although game has a long tradition in the Czech Republic. Improvement on managing the forest for recreation should focus on participatory forest management to find a consensus between the public and forest stakeholders. Common decisions may help set up forest recreational goals with positive impacts on forest ecosystem services.
Open woodlands are biologically highly diverse habitats, and veteran (i.e., old, senescent) trees are key structures supporting their biodiversity. Open canopy structure had been maintained by both natural- and human-induced disturbances. In the past two centuries, suppression of such disturbances, together with forestry intensification, has turned most lowland woodlands into closed-canopy forests. We investigated the effect of increased canopy closure on veteran trees and several threatened beetles associated with them.
Understanding the effects of coppicing on forest ecosystems is important for progress towards sustainable forest management. A newly established coppicing experiment in a secondary temperate deciduous forest in the SE Czech Republic provides a rather unique insight into succession driven by canopy thinning in a forest still lacking species typical for forests established a long time ago. Herbaceous layer vegetation was monitored for four subsequent years in 2012– 2015. We focused on the influence of canopy thinning intensity in two different forest types defined by dominant tree species (oak and lime). Our results showed that
The area at the confluence of the Morava and Dyje Rivers is one of the biologically most diverse landscapes of Czechia. This paper focuses on its land use/land cover changes, obtained from aerial photographs from 1938, 1953, 1976 and 2009, analyzed by a use of landscape metrics. The most important landscape changes in this period were as follows: (i) an all but complete disappearance of open and structured woodlands; (ii) a transformation of the mosaic of very small agricultural fields into large-scale fields of mostly arable land; (iii) a significant decrease in grasslands; (iv) regulations of water courses; (v) an outstanding increase in logging intensity during the last twenty years. The preservation of the area's biodiversity demands a start of active conservation management, focused on opening of woodlands, a decrease in forest logging and a suitable selection of logging localities.
The
area at the confluence of the Morava and Dyje Rivers is one of the biologically most diverse
landscapes of Czechia. This paper focuses on its land use/land cover changes, obtained from
aerial photographs from 1938, 1953, 1976 and 2009, analyzed by a use of landscape metrics.
The most important landscape changes in this period were as follows: (i) an all but complete
disappearance of open and structured woodlands; (ii) a transformation of the mosaic of very
small agricultural fields into large-scale fields of mostly arable land; (iii) a significant decrease
in grasslands; (iv) regulations of water courses; (v) an outstanding increase in logging intensity
during the last twenty years. The preservation of the area’s biodiversity demands a start of active
conservation management, focused on opening of woodlands, a decrease in forest logging and
a suitable selection of logging localities.
A checklist of vascular plants of the Czech Republic is provided, based on the Kubát et al’s Key to the flora of the Czech Republic from 2002 and volumes 7 and 8 of the Flora of the Czech Republic as taxonomic reference, and incorporating numerous floristic, taxonomic and nomenclatural novelties. Native, alien, both naturalized and casual, as well as frequently cultivated taxa are included. Species, subspecies, nothospecies and nothosubspecies, and some frequently used variety names are listed. For cultivated plants, the taxonomic rank of Group is widely applied. For practical purposes, 188 species aggregates and other informal species groups are defined. References are made to corresponding taxonyms in the Key or the two Flora volumes when name or orthography changes occurred. Most important changes in nomenclature, taxonomy, recently described taxa and additions to the country’s flora are annotated. The flora of the Czech Republic includes 3557 species (plus 194 additional subspecies) and 609 (plus 13 additional nothospecies) hybrids. Of these, 2256 species are native, 464 naturalized (228 archaeophytes and 236 neophytes) and 837 casual aliens. Further, 324 cultivated taxa of different ranks are listed. The list includes categorizations of alien species of Pyšek et al.’s second edition of the Catalogue of alien plants of the Czech Republic and Red List categorizations of Grulich’s third edition of the Red List of vascular plants of the Czech Republic, both published in Preslia in 2012.
Aim During the last decades, an increasing number of studies have stressed the importance of historical human influence on the ecology of forests and on the characteristics of forest soils. Therefore, the objectives of this study are (1) the quantification of the land use history of Ename Wood from 1278 to 1990 and (2) to find out whether the former land use of the forest has long-lasting effects on present-day chemical soil properties.
Location The 62-ha present-day Ename Wood is situated in western Belgium and is the remainder of the 145-ha historical Ename Wood.
Methods We disposed of eighteen land-use maps for the period between 1278 and 1990 which were digitized using a geographic information system (GIS). Transition between the different land uses and Shannon–Wiener diversity indices were calculated to quantify the history of changing land use. Mixed soil samples were taken in lots delimited on the basis of the historical data. Next, the soil properties were combined with the land-use variables using redundancy analysis and ANOVA.
Results The quantification of the land use changes showed that the present Ename Wood is the result of several forest regression and progression phases, with a complete clearance in the nineteenth century. Diversity in land use was maximal between the fourteenth and the sixteenth century due a variety of transitional forms between forest and pasture. A positive correlation between the duration of arable land use since the 19th century clearance and soil pH, calcium and phosphate content was observed and a negative correlation was found with the carbon content, the total nitrogen content and the C:N ratio. These correlations are probably caused by a combination of acidification processes and the accumulation of organic matter under forest in combination with manuring practices in the twentieth century. Present-day forest lots which have been pastured for some time between 1278 and nineteenth-century clearance still had a significantly lower pH and degree of base saturation, which is probably caused by the export of nutrient rich plant material at that time.
Discussion and conclusions The results demonstrate that the developed methodology is successful and confirm that historical land use, even in the distant past, can still influence present-day soil characteristics. For this reason, long-term historical land use should always be considered in forest ecological research.
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.
Transforming the results of species distribution modelling from probabilities of or suitabilities for species occurrence to presences/absences needs a specific threshold. Even though there are many approaches to determining thresholds, there is no comparative study. In this paper, twelve approaches were compared using two species in Europe and artificial neural networks, and the modelling results were assessed using four indices: sensitivity, specificity, overall prediction success and Cohen's kappa statistic. The results show that prevalence approach, average predicted probability/suitability approach, and three sensitivity-specificity-combined approaches, including sensitivity-specificity sum maximization approach, sensitivity-specificity equality approach and the approach based on the shortest distance to the top-left corner (0,1) in ROC plot, are the good ones. The commonly used kappa maximization approach is not as good as the afore-mentioned ones, and the fixed threshold approach is the worst one. We also recommend using datasets with prevalence of 50% to build models if possible since most optimization criteria might be satisfied or nearly satisfied at the same time, and therefore it's easier to find optimal thresholds in this situation.
Access to adequate supplies of fuel was a crucial constraint upon the growth of pre-industrial cities. This article puts forward estimates of London's demand for fuel, principally firewood, in the fourteenth century and considers the ability of its hinterland to meet it. The documented activities of the city's woodmongers conform closely to a theoretical supply zone as defined by transport costs. London obtained its firewood supplies from a relatively restricted area, within which it stimulated specialized commercial production. The use of coal as a fuel in London suggests that the limits of the wood-fuel system were being approached by c. 1300.
Aim This paper presents a tool for long-term global change studies; it is an update of the History Database of the Global Environment (HYDE) with estimates of some of the underlying demographic and agricultural driving factors.
Methods Historical population, cropland and pasture statistics are combined with satellite information and specific allocation algorithms (which change over time) to create spatially explicit maps, which are fully consistent on a 5′ longitude/latitude grid resolution, and cover the period 10,000 bc to ad 2000.
Results Cropland occupied roughly less than 1% of the global ice-free land area for a long time until ad 1000, similar to the area used for pasture. In the centuries that followed, the share of global cropland increased to 2% in ad 1700 (c. 3 million km2) and 11% in ad 2000 (15 million km2), while the share of pasture area grew from 2% in ad 1700 to 24% in ad 2000 (34 million km2) These profound land-use changes have had, and will continue to have, quite considerable consequences for global biogeochemical cycles, and subsequently global climate change.
Main conclusions Some researchers suggest that humans have shifted from living in the Holocene (emergence of agriculture) into the Anthropocene (humans capable of changing the Earth's atmosphere) since the start of the Industrial Revolution. But in the light of the sheer size and magnitude of some historical land-use changes (e.g. as result of the depopulation of Europe due to the Black Death in the 14th century and the aftermath of the colonization of the Americas in the 16th century) we believe that this point might have occurred earlier in time. While there are still many uncertainties and gaps in our knowledge about the importance of land use (change) in the global biogeochemical cycle, we hope that this database can help global (climate) change modellers to close parts of this gap.
The paper presents results of the charcoal analysis from the lakeshore settlement of Chalain 4 in the French Jura (Dép. Franche-Comté),
dated by dendrochronology from 3040 to 3000bc. The investigated material comes from waterlogged organic layers (excluding fire events) where charcoals are assumed to be
the residues of domestic fires only. The anthracological (charcoal) analysis reveals a complex domestic firewood management
in balance with the social organisation and the technical and economic systems of the settlement. This firewood economy is
characterised by the avoidance of wood species intended for other activities, such as building or foddering, and by the preferential
use of wood less than 10cm in diameter. The areas from which firewood was obtained are also connected to woodland clearance
for cultivated land, which suggests that firewood was gathered along the paths, which were travelled daily.
From 1941–;1944 nearly 30 phytosociological relevés were completed by F. K. Hartmann in the Rychlebské Mountains, a typical
mountainous area in northeastern Czech Republic. Of the original plots still covered with adult grown beech (Fagus sylvatica) forest, 22 were resampled in 1998 and 1999. In order to describe the recent vegetation variability of the sites 57 relevés
were recorded. Changes in vegetation were estimated using relative changes in species density and ordinations (PCA, RDA).
Environmental changes were assessed using Ellenberg indicator values when no direct measurements were available. A decline
in species diversity has been documented, particularly, many species occurring frequently in deciduous forests with nutrient
and moisture well-supplied soils around neutral have decreased. In contrast, several light-demanding, acid- and soil desiccation-tolerant
species have increased. Natural succession, quantified as forest age, contributed slightly to these changes. In Ellenberg
indicator values, a decline in F (soil moisture), R (soil calcium) and N (ecosystem productivity), and an increase in L (understorey
light) were shown. This is interpreted as the influence of modified forestry management and of airborne pollutants. Intensified
logging caused the canopy to open and soil conditions to worsen. The latter is most likely also due to acid leaching of soil
cations (Ca, K, Na). This caused a decline in soil productivity, thus the effect of nitrification could not be detected. The
original relevés may have differed in size influencing the results.
Between the tenth and twentieth century the population of Paris city increased from a few thousand to near 10million inhabitants.
In response to the growing urban demand during this period, the agrarian systems of the surrounding rural areas tremendously
increased their potential for commercial export of agricultural products, made possible by a surplus of agricultural production
over local consumption by humans and livestock in these areas. Expressed in terms of nitrogen, the potential for export increased
from about 60kgN/km²/year of rural territory in the Middle Ages, to more than 5,000 kgN/km²/year from modern agriculture.
As a result of the balance between urban population growth and rural productivity, the rural area required to supply Paris
(i.e. its food-print) did not change substantially for several centuries, remaining at the size of the Seine watershed surrounding
the city (around 60,000km²). The theoretical estimate of the size of the supplying hinterland at the end of the eighteenth
century is confirmed by the figures deduced from the analysis of the historical city toll data (octroi). During the second
half of the twentieth century, the ‘food-print’ of Paris reduced in size, owing to an unprecedented increase in the potential
for commercial export associated with modern agricultural systems based on chemical N fertilization. We argue that analysing
the capacity of territories to satisfy the demand for nitrogen-containing food products of local or distant urban population
and markets might provide new and useful insights when assessing world food resource allocation in the context of increasing
population and urbanization.
Changes in forests are influenced by, and themselves influence, such local conditions as soil, climate and exposure, and also the demands put on the forests by society. Forestry has played a crucial role, since the 19th century at least, in the way these demands are fulfilled through the use and management of forests. This paper describes a regional case study of the history of forestry practices in the north-eastern part of the central plateau of Switzerland during the 19th century, based on an analysis of official documents connected with forestry. The analysis examines, in particular, how the creation of new terms such as 'Niederwald' (i.e., simple coppice forest) and 'Mittelwald' (coppice-with-standards forests) influenced the way in which forestry officials classified forests, which, in turn, influenced how forestry was planned and implemented.
During the 19th century, community authorities increasingly took to transforming coppice forests into high forests. This trend was critically observed by forestry officials, who themselves conducted similar transformations in the cantonal forests directly managed by them. According to a classification of stand descriptions which used definite criteria for the different forest types, most of the decline of coppice-with-standards forests occurred after the middle of the 20th century. This development is discussed with respect to changing demands for the different sorts of timber produced in the different forest types.
Kolmogorov's goodness-of-fit measure, D_n , for a sample CDF has consistently been set aside for methods such as the D^+_n or D^-_n of Smirnov, primarily, it seems, because of the difficulty of computing the distribution of D_n . As far as we know, no easy way to compute that distribution has ever been provided in the 70+ years since Kolmogorov's fundamental paper. We provide one here, a C procedure that provides Pr(D_n < d) with 13-15 digit accuracy for n ranging from 2 to at least 16000. We assess the (rather slow) approach to limiting form, and because computing time can become excessive for probabilities>.999 with n's of several thousand, we provide a quick approximation that gives accuracy to the 7th digit for such cases.
Includes 77 native and naturalized species belonging to six subgenera, six sections and 21 series. Data on the total distribution area and occurrence in the Czech Republic are given for native species. -from Author
This book provides a comprehensive guide to the various methods by which roundwood and the products of roundwood are measured around the world. It presents and compares many different log scaling methods in terms of procedures and conversion ratios. Topics covered include grading logs, log manufacturing quality, statistical sampling methods and methods for determining log yard inventories and mill log usage volume. Detailed tables of data, covering characteristics, and log weight to volume ratios, are presented for the main commercial timber species of the world. The drivers of roundwood product recovery are also discussed and illustrated with numerous graphs and tables.
Changes in forests are influenced by, and themselves influence, such local conditions as soil, climate and exposure, and also the demands put on the forests by society. Forestry has played a crucial role, since the 19th century at least, in the way these demands are fulfilled through the use and management of forests. This paper describes a regional case study of the history of forestry practices in the north-eastern part of the central plateau of Switzerland during the 19th century, based on an analysis of official documents connected with forestry. The analysis examines, in particular, how the creation of new terms such as 'Niederwald' (i.e., simple coppice forest) and 'Mittelwald' (coppice-with-standards forests) influenced the way in which forestry officials classified forests, which, in turn, influenced how forestry was planned and implemented. During the 19th century, community authorities increasingly took to transforming coppice forests into high forests. This trend was critically observed by forestry officials, who themselves conducted similar transformations in the cantonal forests directly managed by them. According to a classification of stand descriptions which used definite criteria for the different forest types, most of the decline of coppice-with-standards forests occurred after the middle of the 20th century. This development is discussed with respect to changing demands for the different sorts of timber produced in the different forest types.
In the alpine region of Austria in centuries human beings have shaped the landscape by activities using the resources given by nature such as rocks, minerals, soil, climate, topography, vegetation, and water, a progress which created what we nowadays call cultural landscape. The woodland was indispensable to farming because it contributed essentially to the nourishment of the population by the supply of fat, meat, milk, honey, medical plants, herbs, berries, and mushrooms. Thus the important part of the rural economy was forest grazing and stock breeding. The diversity of domestic animals with different needs (horses, cattle, cows, goats, sheep, pigs, poultry) allowed a sustainable utilization of the limited resources. During the late Middle Ages forest utilization escalated caused by an increasing population. On the one hand woodland was cleared and turned to farmland, yet also forest grazing increased due to the growing number of livestock. On the other hand there was a growing demand for energy (fuel wood and charcoal) for the supply of the settlements as well as the mining industry. As the area of farmland could not be increased by other means, a high pressure onto the forest resulted and gave rise to social disagreements. Conflicts arose due to the different demands for utilization on the same forest area. However, the traditional small-scale farming practices, in particular in their structure of self-supply, preserved a variety of cultural ecosystems till the end of the Middle Ages.
Humans have managed European landscapes, including woodlands, for millennia. Prior to the birth of modern forestry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there existed two basic management forms for lowland broadleaved woods: coppicing and wood pasture. While the existence and characteristics of these two basic management types are well-known, the reasons why particular woods were coppiced while others pastured are little investigated. As a case-study, we chose two large ancient woods in the southern Moravian region of Central Europe. One was managed as coppice, while the other as wood pasture for most of their histories. The woods are similar in size, location, climate and vegetation. We examined several potential explanations (terrain morphology, soil productivity, abundance of woodland, ownership and economy) for past management decisions in these woods. We found that the links between soil productivity, economic demands and ownership were of key importance. Other factors were less significant, for example woodland abundance played no detectable role in spite of the decreasing availability of woodland resources. We also found that tradition mattered; it took a major shift in ideology to change entire management strategies. In sum, management decisions were driven by a complex network of multiple interactions among the individual factors.
In Western and Central Europe, many woods are clearly separated from the surrounding countryside by permanent physical boundaries. While such boundaries are now out of use, in the past they were widespread and important landscape features. This paper argues that many woodland boundaries originate from the Middle Ages and perhaps even more from the Early Modern Period. Their existence was connected to a specific form of woodland management (coppicing) but also to ownership structures and through these to grazing regimes. With their various forms, permanent woodland boundaries served to separate woodland from the surrounding countryside both in a legal and physical sense. There are four basic types of permanent woodland boundaries: woodbanks, walls, stone rows and lynchets, all of which can still be studied in the landscape today. Because of their varied state of preservation and also because of the difficulties in creating relative chronologies, dating woodland boundaries is a very challenging task. However, even a basic typology can provide valuable information for a number of scientific disciplines, including landscape history, historical geography, archaeology and ecology. Permanent woodland boundaries are a part of European cultural heritage. They should be recognised and protected similarly to all other ancient landscape features.
German scientific forestry is generally referred to as a starting point for the concept of sustainability and the variety of interpretations it has found in recent public and scientific discourses. Its early history in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, however, is treated, more or less, as a ‘founding narrative’ with all the typical aspects of this literary device: simplicity, a degree of mysticism and a teleological relation to the current state of the art. But there is more insight to be gained from the history of scientific forestry, and sustainability in particular, than the affirmative creation of tradition. The origins of sustainability were fraught with conflict. Focusing on timber production and financial revenue for the state treasury, scientific forestry simplified the biological composition of forests, re-organized their internal structure along the lines of legibility and accountability, and restricted access for users other than scientifically trained personnel. The modernization and streamlining of Central European forests provoked resistance and violent clashes. After about four decades, foresters also noted environmental changes in the forests such as increased vulnerability to drought, storms and forest pests. The history of forest management planning, introduced in the 1820s, and of experimental forestry in the 1860s, exemplifies how techno-scientific systems communicate with socio-cultural and natural environments. However strongly a science-based reform programme tries to disentangle itself from the politics of nature, such programmes, as well as the terminology by which they are fed into and received by public discourse, are subject to historical change and power struggles.
The long-term effects of nitrogen fertilization on ground vegetation were examined at three coniferous forests sites where the last N fertilization had been carried out 15–18 years previously and clear-felling 5–12 years previously. At the Farabol site in S Sweden, with Norway spruce and ground vegetation dominated by Deschampsia flexuosa, the total N dose (600 kg ha⁻¹) had been applied with or without sulphur. At the Norway spruce site Mangskog in SW Sweden, the vegetation prior to clear-felling was dominated by low herbs and Vaccinium myrtillus, and total N dose had ranged from 480 to 2400 kg N ha⁻¹. At the Scots pine site Billingsjön in C Sweden, total N dose had ranged from 360 to 1800 kg N ha⁻¹, the vegetation was lichen-rich and dwarf shrubs dominated prior to clear-felling. The abundance of species in the field and bottom layers was analyzed both by observations of species presence and by examination of point-intercept records.
Historical sources of the use of the forests around the manor Hald during three centuries are used to outline a typical development for many areas on poor sandy soils in Denmark. The balance between forest, shrub, agricultural land, fallow and heathlands in the zone depended on the intensity of land-use for agriculture, grazing and wooden products. The forests at Hald were never totally deforested, and since the forest act of 1805 and first conservation in the early 20th century, the open and shrubby oak woods have developed into oak forest. In a preliminary analysis, data on under-storey vegetation and light conditions from 1916 are compared to data from 1995. Due to conservation of the forest, light penetration has been drastically reduced in the forest since early this century and the reduced light penetration in combination with increased nitrogen deposition has changed the under-storey vegetation significantly. Species diversity and abundance have declined and the typical raw humus species are relatively better adapted to the present conditions. The relative importance of management and air pollution is discussed in relation to succession and preservation of oak forests at a certain successive stage on oligotrophic sandy soils.
MaxEnt is a program for modelling species distributions from presence-only species records. This paper is written for ecologists and describes the MaxEnt model from a statistical perspective, making explicit links between the structure of the model, decisions required in producing a modelled distribution, and knowledge about the species and the data that might affect those decisions. To begin we discuss the characteristics of presence-only data, highlighting implications for modelling distributions. We particularly focus on the problems of sample bias and lack of information on species prevalence. The keystone of the paper is a new statistical explanation of MaxEnt which shows that the model minimizes the relative entropy between two probability densities (one estimated from the presence data and one, from the landscape) defined in covariate space. For many users, this viewpoint is likely to be a more accessible way to understand the model than previous ones that rely on machine learning concepts. We then step through a detailed explanation of MaxEnt describing key components (e.g. covariates and features, and definition of the landscape extent), the mechanics of model fitting (e.g. feature selection, constraints and regularization) and outputs. Using case studies for a Banksia species native to south-west Australia and a riverine fish, we fit models and interpret them, exploring why certain choices affect the result and what this means. The fish example illustrates use of the model with vector data for linear river segments rather than raster (gridded) data. Appropriate treatments for survey bias, unprojected data, locally restricted species, and predicting to environments outside the range of the training data are demonstrated, and new capabilities discussed. Online appendices include additional details of the model and the mathematical links between previous explanations and this one, example code and data, and further information on the case studies.
The present study sums up the results of pollen analyses showing that in Czechoslovakia climax virgin coniferous forests existed at middle altitudes (ca 300–700 m ASL), where such forests have not previously been postulated to any great extent.The average pollen spectra (Fig. 1) dating back to the early Subatlantic Period, i.e. to a period climatically similar to the present one, suggest that these forests can be divided into two main types:A)
coniferous forest dominated by Abies alba but with an admixture of Picea excelsa and Pinus silvestris.
B)
coniferous forest dominated by Ploca excelsa with varying amounts of Pinus silvestris and low representation of Abies alba.
In neither case any significant representation of deciduous trees (Quercus spec. or Fagus silvatica) is postulated.The geographical distribution of pollen diagrams with a coniferous type of pollen spectrum in SA 1, the distribution of the place name of Cern les (Black Forest) denoting a coniferous forest usually with dominant Abies, and the oldest archive documents available, were taken into account when drafting a map of the probable distribution, or higher representation, of past virgin coniferous forests in Czechoslovakia. It shows that a higher occurrence of the first type (A) dominated by Abies can be postulated for the edge of the eskomoravsk vrchovina Highlands (including the elezn hory Mtns), the Chebsk pnev and eskobudjoviek panev Basins, in the eastern part of the Svitavsk vrchy Hills in the Opavsk vrchy Hills and the neighbouring slopes of the Nizk Jesenik Mountains, in the Ostravsk pnev Basin and in the neighbouring parts of the Beskydy Mtns foothills. Lower occurrence can be postulated in the central part of the eskomoravsk vrchovina Highlands, in the neighbourhood of Plze (the Rokycansk vrchovina Hills), in the eastern foothills of the Brdy Mtns, in the Orlick hory Mtns foothills and sporadically also elsewhere.In the intermontane basins of the Western Carpathians, the existence of coniferous forests of the second type (B), dominated by Picea, can be considered to be demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt in the Spisk and Oravsk kotlina Basins. Their occurrence in the Liptovsk and Turianska kotlina Basins is probable but their extent and significance have still to be demonstrated palynologically.Der vorliegende Arbeit fasst die Ergebnisse der bisherigen Pollenanalysen aus der Tschechoslowakei zusammen, die die Ursprnglichkeit der Klimax-Nadelwlder in den mittleren Lagen (ca. 300–700 M..d.M.) unseres Gebietes, wo derartige Waldtypen bis jetzt im grsseren Masse nicht vermutet werden, nachweisen.Auf Grund der Analysen der durchschnttlichen Pollenspektren, die aus dem lteren Subatlantikum stammen, also aus elnem Zeitabschnitt, der unseren heutigen klimatischen Verhltnissen sehr hnlich ist, gelangen die Verfasser zum Schluss, dass die ursprnglichen, durch den Menschen nicht beeinflussten Nadelbestnde in unserem Gebiet in zwei Haupttypen zerfielen:1.
Nadelwlder mit berwiegender Ables alba und beigemischter Picea excelsa, bzw, Pinus silvestris.
2.
Nadelwlder mit dominierender Picea excelsa, mit vernderlicher Beimischung von Pinus silvestris und pur geringer Vertretung von Abies alba.
In keinem der beiden Flle wird eine bedeutendere Vertretung der Laubgehlze (Quercus sp. div. oder Fagus silvatica) vorausgesetzt.Auf Grund der geographischen Verteilung der Pollendiagramme mit dem Nadeltyp des Pollenspektrums im ltaren Subatlantikum, ferner auf Grund der Verbreitung des Ortsnamens ern les oder Schwarzwald, der in unserem Geblet einen Nadelwald mit berwiegender Abies zu bezeichnen pflegt, und auf Grund der ltesten Archivdokumente wurde eine Karte der wahrscheinlichen Verbreitung, bzw. hherer Vertretung der ursprnglichen Nadelwlder im Gebiet der CSSR zusammengestellt. Aus ihr folgt, dass wir ein hufigeres Vorkommen des ersten Typs mit einem bergewicht der Tanne vor allem in Randgebieten der Bhmisch-Mhrischen Hhe (einschl. elezn hory Berge) voraussetzen knnen, ferner in den Becken Chebsk pnev und eskobudjoviek pnev, im stlichen Teil des Hgellandes Svitavsk pahorkatina, im Hgelland Opavsk pahorkatina und an den anliegenden Hngen des Gebirges Nizk Jesenik, im Becken Ostravsk pnev und in den angrenzenden Teilen des Hgellandes Podbeskydsk pahorkatina. Ein geringes Auftreten dieses Typs kann man auch im Zentrum der Bhmisch-Mhrischen Hhe voraussetzen, ferner in der Umgebung der Stadt Pize (Hgelland Rokycansk pahorkatina), im stlichen Brdy-Vorgebirge, im Hgelland Podorlick pahorkatina und vereinzelt bestimmt auch anderswe.In den karpatischen Gebirgsbecken knnen wir die Nadelwlder des zweiten Typs, d.h. Wlder mit berwiegender Picea in den Becken Spiska kotlina und Oravsk kotlina als nachgewiesen betrachten. Wahrscheinlich kommen sie auch in den Becken Liptovsk kotlina, bzw. Turiansk kotlina vor, aber der Umfang und die Bedeutung ihres Vorkommens mssen erst berprft werden.
Nitrate-nitrogen fertilization triggered germination of dormantRubus idaeus L. (red raspberry) seeds naturally buried in the forest floor of 50-year-old coniferous stands of eastern Quebec. Orthogonal contrasts revealed a significant linear effect between the rates of nitrate applied and red raspberry seedling counts over two consecutive growing seasons. The fertilization treatments stimulated emergence to a greater extent in year 2 than in year 1. The potential effect of nitrate on raspberry seed dormancy breakage is briefly discussed in relation to site disturbance.Une fertilisation azote sous forme de nitrate dclenche la germination de graines deRubus idaeus L. (framboisier sauvage) naturellement enfouies dans le parterre de peuplements forestiers conifriens gs de 50 ans, situs dans l''est du Qubec. Les contrastes orthogonaux ont montr un effet linaire significatif entre les doses de nitrate appliques et le dnombrement de semis de framboisier sauvage durant deux saisons de croissance conscutives. Les traitements de fertilisation ont davantage stimul l''mergence du framboisier sauvage la seconde anne qu'' la premire. L''auteur discute brivement de l''effet possible du nitrate sur la leve de la dormance de graines de framboisier sauvage en relation avec les perturbations forestires.
Pollen stratigraphies are the most spatially extensive data available for the reconstruction of past land-cover change. Detailed knowledge of past land-cover is becoming increasingly important to evaluate the present trends in, and drivers of, vegetation composition. The European Pollen Database (EPD) was established in the late 1980s and developed in the early 1990s to provide a structure for archiving, exchanging, and analysing Quaternary pollen data from Europe. It provides a forum for scientists to meet and engage in collaborative investi-gations or data analysis. In May 2007 several EPD support groups were developed to assist in the task of maintaining and updating the database. The mapping and data accuracy work group (MADCAP) aims to produce an atlas of past plant distributions as detected by pollen analyses in Europe, in order to meet the growing need for this data from palaeoecologists and the wider scientific community. Due to data handling problems in the past, a significant number of EPD datasets have errors. The initial task of the work group, therefore, was a systematic review of pollen sequences, in order to identify and correct errors. The EPD currently (January 2009) archives 1,032 pollen sequences, of which 668 have age-depth models that allow chrono-logical comparison. Many errors have been identified and corrected, or flagged for users, most notably errors in the pollen count data. The application of spatial analyses to Communicated by F. Bittmann. pollen data is related to the number of data points that are available for analysis. We therefore take this opportunity to encourage the submission of pollen analytical results to the EPD or other relevant pollen databases. Only in this way will the scientific community be able to gain a better understanding of past vegetation dynamics.
This paper presents how long-term socioeconomic processes influenced the management and structure of a lowland ancient wood in the south-eastern Czech Republic from the 14th century to the present. The analysis draws on a wide range of historical documents to establish that the size, management and structure of Děvín Wood was remarkably stable throughout the study period except for the last 60 years. It is argued, however, that the long-term stability of woodland management and structure contrasts with the multiple changes that can be observed in the driving forces behind this stability. Four kinds of driving forces are distinguished (business, need for firewood, nature conservation and forestry policy), whose various combinations maintained the coppice structure of the Wood for six centuries. It is concluded that landscape ‘stability’ and ‘change’ are highly context-dependent, and that socioeconomic driving factors are a crucial link between forest ecology and history, representing a means to understand and control current ecosystems and future changes. The paper also demonstrates that in European historical ecology it is necessary to integrate qualitative and quantitative sources in order to study periods before ca. 1800 AD, i.e. the appearance of modern quantitative sources, because societal processes have exerted their influence on landscapes much longer than 200 years.
Humans have transformed Europe's landscapes since the establishment of the first agricultural societies in the mid-Holocene. The most important anthropogenic alteration of the natural environment was the clearing of forests to establish cropland and pasture, and the exploitation of forests for fuel wood and construction materials. While the archaeological and paleoecological record documents the time history of anthropogenic deforestation at numerous individual sites, to study the effect that prehistoric and preindustrial deforestation had on continental-scale carbon and water cycles we require spatially explicit maps of changing forest cover through time. Previous attempts to map preindustrial anthropogenic land use and land cover change addressed only the recent past, or relied on simplistic extrapolations of present day land use patterns to past conditions. In this study we created a very high resolution, annually resolved time series of anthropogenic deforestation in Europe over the past three millennia by 1) digitizing and synthesizing a database of population history for Europe and surrounding areas, 2) developing a model to simulate anthropogenic deforestation based on population density that handles technological progress, and 3) applying the database and model to a gridded dataset of land suitability for agriculture and pasture to simulate spatial and temporal trends in anthropogenic deforestation. Our model results provide reasonable estimations of deforestation in Europe when compared to historical accounts. We simulate extensive European deforestation at 1000 BC, implying that past attempts to quantify anthropogenic perturbation of the Holocene carbon cycle may have greatly underestimated early human impact on the climate system.
The availability of detailed environmental data, together with inexpensive and powerful computers, has fueled a rapid increase in predictive modeling of species environmental requirements and geographic distributions. For some species, detailed presence/absence occurrence data are available, allowing the use of a variety of standard statistical techniques. However, absence data are not available for most species. In this paper, we introduce the use of the maximum entropy method (Maxent) for modeling species geographic distributions with presence-only data. Maxent is a general-purpose machine learning method with a simple and precise mathematical formulation, and it has a number of aspects that make it well-suited for species distribution modeling. In order to investigate the efficacy of the method, here we perform a continental-scale case study using two Neotropical mammals: a lowland species of sloth, Bradypus variegatus, and a small montane murid rodent, Microryzomys minutus. We compared Maxent predictions with those of a commonly used presence-only modeling method, the Genetic Algorithm for Rule-Set Prediction (GARP). We made predictions on 10 random subsets of the occurrence records for both species, and then used the remaining localities for testing. Both algorithms provided reasonable estimates of the species’ range, far superior to the shaded outline maps available in field guides. All models were significantly better than random in both binomial tests of omission and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was almost always higher for Maxent, indicating better discrimination of suitable versus unsuitable areas for the species. The Maxent modeling approach can be used in its present form for many applications with presence-only datasets, and merits further research and development.
Across the early modern period actors at all levels of European society expressed fears of imminent ‘wood scarcity’ with potentially catastrophic social and economic consequences. Debates as to the ‘reality’ of this risk have subsequently been pursued in many national historiographies with little international comparison. This article provides a cross-national synthesis of this work, along with novel perspectives on the causes of such debates; an examination of the condition of European woodland and the regulation thereof; and reflections on whether Europe was approaching a state of ecological exhaustion around the time of the Industrial Revolution. It is argued that the framework for regulation and debate was set in the fifteenth and early sixteenth century with the widespread development of state oversight of woodlands. Quantitative evidence of the level of supply and demand for wood suggests however that a general, as opposed to a localized, shortage of wood was not plausible before the later eighteenth century. Earlier fears were generated by a combination of an emerging governmental sense of responsibility for resource management, local pressures exerted by urban growth and industry, and above all competition among different users of the woodland. Genuine shortages had emerged by the Napoleonic period but were largely remedied during the nineteenth century by the widespread application of scientific forestry, though at the cost of serious social conflict. This suggests that Europe was not close to an ecological frontier at this period.
This essay argues that high medieval economic growth in Champagne and elsewhere in northern France encouraged a switch in the primary focus of woodland management from extensive silvo-pastoralism to intensive small wood production. For the first time in the thirteenth century, coppicing, short cycles of cutting and regeneration of trees capable of resprouting from stumps or trunks, came to dominate sylviculture as an intensively managed, market-oriented system, one that lasted for centuries. This essay thus provides a wider context for the late medieval and early modern French state's role in shaping forest exploitation. Royal officials did not so much innovate as respond to new market opportunities by appropriating and generalizing practices that had long existed in many regions. Before the sixteenth century few educated experts ventured into the details of woodland management, which remained largely the preserve of nonelite peasants, foresters, and woodmongers, the bearers of a traditional, orally transmitted ecological knowledge.
26 The survey has been edited 1880; A modern, full-scale analysis of it is U
- Woodland Szabó
Szabó, Woodland and Forests in Medieval Hungary, Oxford, 2005, 57e62.
25 ZDB I (note 20), 369, no. 605.
26 The survey has been edited: J. Truhlá r (Ed), Registrum bonorum Rosenbergicorum anno MCCCLXXIX compilatum, Praha, 1880; A modern, full-scale analysis of it is U.
Maximum entropy modeling of species geographic distributions
- J Phillips
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- R E Schapire
J. Phillips, R.P. Anderson and R.E. Schapire, Maximum entropy modeling of species geographic distributions, Ecological Modelling 190 (2006) 231e259; J. Elith, S.J.
34 ZDO I (note 20 Král uv dv ur document quoted in J. No zi cka
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- Bonorum Rosenbergicorum
33 Truhlá r, Registrum bonorum Rosenbergicorum (note 26), 28.
34 ZDO I (note 20), 72, no. 270; Král uv dv ur document quoted in J. No zi cka, P rehled vývoje na sich les u, Praha, 1957, 156.
) 28e57. 6 A good starting point for orientation in the vast palynological literature is
- Warde Finsinger
Warde, Fear of wood shortage and the reality of the woodland in Europe, c.1450e1850, History Workshop Journal 62 (2006) 28e57.
6 A good starting point for orientation in the vast palynological literature is R.M. Fyfe, J.-L. de Beaulieu, H. Binney, R.H.W. Bradshaw, S. Brewer, A. Le Flao, W. Finsinger, M.-J.
Household firewood consumption in Sweden during the nineteenth century) 55e78; I. Pleinerová, B rezno: experiments with building old Slavic houses and living in them
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- Andersson
Warde, Fear of wood shortage (note 5), 38; M. Lindmark and L. F. Andersson, Household firewood consumption in Sweden during the nineteenth century, Journal of
Northern Studies 2 (2010) 55e78; I. Pleinerová, B rezno: experiments with building old Slavic houses and living in them, Památky archeologické 77 (1986) 104e176; G. Billen, S.
Historická geografie 20 (1982) 15e87; F. Hautefeuille, La délimitation des territoires paroissiaux dans les pays de moyenne Garonne (Xe-XVe siècles)
- Bohá C
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Bohá c, Katastry e málo vyu zitý pramen k d ejinám osídlení, Historická geografie 20 (1982) 15e87; F. Hautefeuille, La délimitation des territoires paroissiaux dans les
pays de moyenne Garonne (Xe-XVe siècles), Médiévales 49 (2005) 73e88; A. Winchester, Discovering Parish Boundaries, Aylesbury, 1990.
Selecting thresholds of occurrence in the prediction of species distributions) 385e393. 50 For example, Warde, Fear of wood shortage (note 5), 37e39. 51 For an overview, see
- P M Liu
- T P Berry
- R G Dawson
- L Pearson
- P Fialová
- M Horská
- E Ku Cera
- J Maur
- M Musil
- Stloukal
Liu, P.M. Berry, T.P. Dawson and R.G. Pearson, Selecting thresholds of occurrence in the prediction of species distributions, Ecography 28 (2005) 385e393.
50 For example, Warde, Fear of wood shortage (note 5), 37e39.
51 For an overview, see L. Fialová, P. Horská, M. Ku cera, E. Maur, J. Musil and M. Stloukal, D ejiny obyvatelstva ceských zemí, Praha, 1998, 386e388. See also V. Srb, 1000 let
obyvatelstva ceských zemí, Praha, 2004.
This dictionary is from the second half of the seventeenth century and has recently been edited in an electronic form
- V J Rosa
fol. 43r) and V.J. Rosa, Thesaurus Linguae Bohemicae. This dictionary is from the second half of the seventeenth century and has recently been edited in an electronic form:
http://vokabular.ujc.cas.cz/nezapojene.aspx?idz¼eRosaThesN, accessed 11/12/2014. See also Vocabularium Latino-Bohemicum pro usu scholarum nunc denuo diligenter &
accurate editum. Praha, 1704, electronic edition: http://vokabular.ujc.cas.cz/nezapojene.aspx?idz¼Vocabularium, accessed 11/12/2014.
Král uv dv ur document quoted in J. No zi cka, P rehled vývoje na sich les u
- Zdo I
ZDO I (note 20), 72, no. 270; Král uv dv ur document quoted in J. No zi cka, P rehled vývoje na sich les u, Praha, 1957, 156.
Postup osídlení a demografický vývoj ceských zemí do 15. století
Z. Bohá c, Postup osídlení a demografický vývoj ceských zemí do 15. století, Historická demografie 12 (1987) 59e88.
Similar values were presented for American forests in connection with charcoal production: T.J. Straka, Historic charcoal production in the US and forest depletion: development of production parameters
- Fao Forest Europe
- State Of
FOREST EUROPE, UNECE and FAO, State of Europe's Forests 2011. Status and Trends in Sustainable Forest Management in Europe, Oslo, 2011. Similar values were presented for
American forests in connection with charcoal production: T.J. Straka, Historic charcoal production in the US and forest depletion: development of production parameters,
Advances in Historical Studies 3 (2014) 104e114.
Ancient Woodland (note 8), 140e142. 56 For an overview, see Warde, Fear of wood shortage
- Rackham
Rackham, Ancient Woodland (note 8), 140e142.
56 For an overview, see Warde, Fear of wood shortage (note 5), 37.
The rise and fall of traditional forest management
- Szabó Müllerová
Müllerová, Szabó and Hédl, The rise and fall of traditional forest management (note 15).
Stru cný p rehled nejstar sího období vltavské plavby
- I Honl
I. Honl, Stru cný p rehled nejstar sího období vltavské plavby, Historická geografie 11 (1973) 117e137;
Obchod s d rívím v Praze ve 14.-17. století, Pra zský sborník historický
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F. Holec, Obchod s d rívím v Praze ve 14.-17. století, Pra zský sborník
historický 6 (1971) 5e100.