Woodland Conservation and Management

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

   PDF

2. Origins, management and ecological characteristics of British woodlands

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. Original natural woodland

      • Herman Holtz

      Pages 3-10

   3. Ancient woodland and traditional management

      • Herman Holtz

      Pages 11-41

   4. Ecological characteristics of ancient woods

      • Herman Holtz

      Pages 42-65

   5. High forest management

      • Herman Holtz

      Pages 66-78

   6. Recent secondary woodland

      • Herman Holtz

      Pages 79-96

   7. Long-term changes in the woodland flora

      • Herman Holtz

      Pages 97-104

3. Types of semi-natural woodland in Britain

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 105-105

      PDF

   2. Woodland classification

      • Herman Holtz

      Pages 107-116

   3. Types of ancient semi-natural woodland

      • Herman Holtz

      Pages 117-174

   4. Management variants of stand types

      • Herman Holtz

      Pages 175-178

   5. Succession and stand types

      • Herman Holtz

      Pages 179-184

   6. British woodland types in a European context

      • Herman Holtz

      Pages 185-190

4. Woodland nature conservation

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 191-191

      PDF

   2. Objectives and priorities of nature conservation in British woodland

      • Herman Holtz

      Pages 193-204

   3. Observation and recording in woodlands

      • Herman Holtz

      Pages 205-230

   4. Assessment of woodlands for nature conservation

      • Herman Holtz

      Pages 231-249

5. Management for nature conservation

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 251-251

      PDF

   2. Planning for nature conservation within forestry

      • Herman Holtz

      Pages 253-260

Professor John Harper, in his recent Population Biology of Plants (1977), made a comment and asked a question which effectively states the theme of this book. Noting that 'one of the consequences of the development of the theory of vegetational climax has been to guide the observer's mind forwards', i. e. that 'vegetation is interpreted as a stage on the way to something' , he commented that 'it might be more healthy and scientifically more sound to look more often backwards and search for the explanation of the present in the past, to explain systems in relation to their history rather than their goal'. He went on to contrast the 'disaster theory' of plant succession, which holds that communities are a response to the effects of past disasters, with the 'climax theory', that they are stages in the approach to a climax state, and then asked 'do we account most completely for the characteristics of a population by a knowledge of its history or of its destiny?' Had this question been put to R. S. Adamson, E. J. Salisbury, A. G. Tansley or A. S. Watt, who are amongst the giants of the first forty years of woodland ecology in Britain, their answer would surely have been that understanding lies in a knowledge of destiny. Whilst not unaware of the historical facts of British woodlands, they were preoccupied with ideas of natural succession and climax, and tended to interpret their observations in these terms.

• Coppicing
• development
• ecology
• forest
• forestry
• nature conservation
• production
• regeneration
• soil
• wood

Policies and ethics