Woodland Development: A Long-term Study of Lady Park Wood: A Long Term Study of Lady Park Wood

Lady Park Wood was set aside as a "natural" reserve for ecological research in 1944, and the trees, shrubs and ground vegetation have been recorded in detail ever since. These 70 years of observations now represent one of the largest and most detailed records in Europe of how a woodland develops under the influence of natural factors. This book is an invaluable read for researchers and professionals in nature conservation, ecological research, and forestry In 1944 Lady Park Wood (45 hectares of woodland in Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire, UK) was set aside indefinitely by the Forestry Commission so that ecologists could study how woodland develops naturally. Since then, in a unique long-term study, individual trees and shrubs have been recorded at intervals, accumulating a detailed record of more than 20,000 individual beech, sessile oak, ash, wych elm, small-leaved lime, large-leaved lime, birch, hazel, yew and other species. In the seven decades since the study started, the wood has changed; trees grew, died and regenerated, and drought, disease and other events shaped its destiny. Each tree and shrub species reacted in its own way to changes in the wood as a whole and to changes in the fortunes of its neighbours. Meanwhile, the wild fauna, flora and fungi also responded, leaving the wood richer in some groups but poorer in others. In this landmark book, beautifully illustrated throughout, George Peterken and Edward Mountford, summarise the ongoing results of the Lady Park Wood study, highlighting its unique place in nature conservation and its significance to ecology in general. It also builds on experience at Lady Park Wood and elsewhere to discuss in particular: the role and maintenance of long-term ecological studies; the concept and form of natural woodland; the role of minimum-intervention policies in woodland nature conservation; near-to-nature forestry; and the desirability and practicalities of re-wilding woodlands. Lady Park Wood was set aside as a 'natural' (i.e. unmanaged) reserve for ecological research in 1944 and the trees, shrubs and ground vegetation have been recorded in detail ever since. The 70 years of observations now represent one of the largest and most detailed records in Europe of how a woodland develops under the influence of natural factors. The observations have generated a series of papers since 1987 and have contributed to meta-analyses of long-term change across temperate Europe and North America, but there has never been a general account of the wood as a research reserve, save for articles in British Wildlife in 1995 and 2005. The main record comprises detailed measurements of 20,000 individual trees and shrubs, from which the performance of populations of oak, beech, ash, limes, etc. can be quantified in detail, and the development of a near-natural wood and the factors influencing it can be detailed. The book also makes reference to woods elsewhere in Britain and Europe. It mainly deals with populations of native tree species, individually and collectively. It also broadens out to consider the implications for nature conservation, re-wilding and remoteness, near-to-nature forestry, monitoring and long-term ecological research, the meaning of natural woodland, and even aspects of woodland history. -- Provided by publisher Content: Understanding woods -- Lady Park Wood and its history -- The ecological reserve -- Recording trees and expressing change -- The changing wood -- Ash : the tree in the spotlight -- Beech and oak, the major forest trees -- Limes and wych elm -- Birch and other short-lived canopy trees -- Field maple and hazel, the other coppice species -- Minor trees and shrubs -- Habitats -- Species -- Long-term ecological studies -- Natural woodland in theory and practice -- Near-to-nature forestry -- Re-wilding, remoteness and wilderness. Lady Park Wood in the Wye Valley, UK was set aside as a 'natural' reserve for ecological research in 1944 and the trees, shrubs and ground vegetation have been recorded in detail ever since. This beautifully illustrated book describes 70 years of observations presenting the most detailed records in Europe of how a woodland develops naturally.