Our understanding of the historical ecology of European forests has been transformed in the last twenty years. Bringing together key findings from across the continent, Europe's Changing Woods and Forests: From Wildwood to Managed Landscapes provides a comprehensive account of recent research and the relevance of historical studies to our current conservation and management of forests. Combining theory with a series of regional case studies, this book shows how different aspects of forestry play out according to the landscape and historical context of the local area, with broad implications for woodland history, policy and management. Beginning with an overview of Europe's woods and forests, the book reviews a variety of management techniques (including wood-pastures, coppicing, close-to-nature forestry and the impact of hunting), describes how plants and animals respond to changes in woodland and forest cover, and includes case histories from around the continent. It concludes with a discussion of how lessons learned from the past can help in the future. This book is both a vital resource and an interesting read for foresters, conservationists, landscape historians, geographers and ecologists. ; This book provides a comprehensive account of the relevance of historical studies to current conservation and management of forests. It combines theory with a series of regional case studies to show how different aspects of forestry play out according to the landscape and historical context of the local area. ;

• I: Contributors
• II: Preface
• III: Acknowledgements
• PART 1: Introduction and Overview
• 1.0: Overview of Europe’s woods and forests
• 1.1: Introduction
• 1.2: The current state and composition of European woods and forests
• 1.2.1: European forests in a global context
• 1.2.2: Variation in forest cover across the continent
• 1.2.3: Variation in forest composition
• 1.3: Forestry policy and cooperation at a European level 0
• 1.3.1: Forestry policy
• 1.3.2: Conservation measures
• 1.3.3: Landscape and amenity conservation.
• 1.3.4: Certification as an approach to sustainable forestry management
• 1.3.5: Forest research cooperation across Europe
• 1.4: Conclusion
• 1.5: References
• 2.0: Methods and approaches in the study of woodland history
• 2.1: Introduction
• 2.2: Oral history
• 2.3: Photographs and drawings
• 2.4: Biological indicators
• 2.5: Historical records
• 2.6: Preserved wood and dendrochronology
• 2.7: Lidar and GIS
• 2.8: Applying archaeological insights to ecological issues
• 2.9: Pollen and charcoal analysis
• 2.10: Conclusion
• 2.11: References
• 3.0: The forest landscape before farming
• 3.1: Where to begin?
• 3.2: A cold open continent
• 3.3: Trees spread back after the ice
• 3.3.1: Forming a canopy 5
• 3.3.2: The wood beneath the trees
• 3.3.3: Molecular markers for re-colonisation routes.
• 3.4: A holey blanket of trees
• 3.5: The role of large herbivores, particularly bison, wild horse and aurochs
• 3.6: People in the landscape: the trees in retreat
• 3.7: References
• 4.0: Evolution of modern landscapes
• 4.1: Introduction
• 4.2: The emergence of woodland management
• 4.3: Changes in forest extent and distribution
• 4.3.1: Reductions in forest cover
• 4.3.2: Increases as well as decreases
• 4.3.3: Patterns of clearance and survival
• 4.3.4: The ecological consequences of a patchy landscape
• 4.4: Changes in structure and composition through management
• 4.5: Deliberate modification of the tree and shrub composition of forests
• 4.6: Other species gains and losses
• 4.7: Changes to the fire regime
• 4.8: Changes to the forest soil
• 4.9: Forests and atmospheric pollution
• 4.10: Climate change
• 4.11: Conclusion
• 4.12: References
• PART 2: The variety of management across European woods and forests
• 5.0: Wood-pastures in Europe
• 5.1: Introduction
• 5.2: Wood-pasture: a multi-purpose system
• 5.3: Historical development of wood-pastures in Europe
• 5.3.1: Forest grazing and pasturing in ancient times
• 5.3.2: Driving the livestock out of the forest (18th-19th centuries)
• 5.3.4: New recognition for wood-pastures?
• 5.4: National inventories of wood-pastures
• 5.5: Wood-pastures as multi-functional landscape elements: past and present
• 5.6: Threats to wood-pastures
• 5.6.1: Management changes
• 5.6.2: Policy mismatch
• 5.6.3: Decline of old, hollowing or dying trees
• 5.6.4: Lack of regeneration
• 5.7: Conclusions
• 5.8: Acknowledgements
• 5.9: References
• 6.0: Coppice silviculture: from the Mesolithic to the 21st century
• 6.1: Introduction
• 6.2: The physiological and evolutionary significance of coppice
• 6.3: Historic development of coppice silviculture
• 6.4: The rise and fall of coppice as an industrial resource
• 6.5: Surviving and neglected coppice in Europe: the extent of the forest estate
• 6.6: Coppice silviculture
• 6.6.1: Cutting methods
• 6.6.2: Time of cutting
• 6.7: Conversion to high forest
• 6.7.1: Coppice versus high forest yields
• 6.8: Reinstating coppice management
• 6.9: Future drivers of change
• 6.10: References
• 7.0: High forest management and the rise of even-aged stands
• 7.1: Introduction
• 7.2: Changing from coppice to high forest systems
• 7.3: The need for new administrative tools
• 7.4: Silvicultural systems
• 7.5: The rise of plantations
• 7.6: Increased use of conifers and introduced species
• 7.7: How forestry is changing
• 7.8: Future high forest and natural forest structures
• 7.9: References
• 8.0: Close-to-nature forestry
• 8.1: Introduction
• 8.2: Roots and pre-requisites
• 8.3: Developments in the 20th century
• 8.4: Ecological implications
• 8.5: Conclusion
• 8.6: References
• 9.0: The impact of hunting on European woodland from medieval to modern
• 9.1: Introduction
• 9.2: Early impacts of hunting
• 9.3: Meat or merit?
• 9.4: Medieval hunting reserves
• 9.5: Early modern hunting parks in Europe
• 9.6: Hunting and the wider landscape
• 9.7: Modern hunting
• 9.7.1: The influence of driven pheasant shoots on British woodland
• 9.7.2: The influence of modern hunting enclosures on Spanish woodland
• 9.8: Conclusion
• 9.9: References
• PART 3: How plants and animals have responded to the changing woodland and forest cover.
• 10.0: The flora and fauna of coppice woods: winners and losers of active management or neglect
• 10.1: Introduction
• 10.2: The diversity of coppice
• 10.2.1: Plants
• 10.2.2: Birds
• 10.2.3: Invertebrates
• 10.2.4: Deadwood and associated species
• 10.2.5: Mammals
• 10.3: Impacts of deer browsing on flora and fauna in coppice
• 10.4: Conservation strategies
• 10.5: Short Rotation Coppice
• 10.6: Conclusion
• 10.7: References
• 11.0: The importance of veteran trees for saproxylic insects
• 11.1: Introduction
• 11.2: What are saproxylic species
• 11.3: Veteran trees in past and present landscapes
• 11.4: Important structures and associated species in old trees
• 11.4.1: Microhabitat diversity
• 11.4.2: Tree cavities and their invertebrates
• 11.4.3: Other microhabitats
• 11.5: Effects of environmental factors on the invertebrate fauna
• 11.5.1: Effects of tree characteristics on species assemblages
• 11.5.2: Effects of surrounding landscape on species assemblages
• 11.5.3: Catering for the needs of the adult as well as the larvae
• 11.5.4: Survey methods
• 11.6: Current situation in Europe
• 11.7: How to preserve the specialized saproxylic species?
• 11.7.1: Management for increasing habitat amount and quality
• 11.7.2: Management for securing spatio-temporal continuity
• 11.8: Future prospects
• 11.9: References
• 12.0: The changing fortunes of woodland birds in temperate Europe
• 12.1: Introduction
• 12.2: The birds of the early Holocene
• 12.3: The birds of the wildwood: alternative models of forest dynamics
• 12.3.1: Largely closed forest – ‘closed canopy’ scenario
• 12.3.2: Open mosaic landscape – ‘wood pasture’ scenario
• 12.3.3: Forest-dominated, but more varied – ‘closed but varied’ scenario
• 12.4: Fragmentation of the wildwood
• 12.5: Effects of the historical emergence of management
• 12.6: The age of managed pasture woods and coppice
• 12.7: The shift towards high forest
• 12.8: Woodland birds today
• 12.8.1: Population trends
• 12.8.2: Influences of agriculture
• 12.8.3: Forestry intensification
• 12.8.4: Birds and afforestation
• 12.9: Recent trends
• 12.10: Conclusions
• 12.11: References
• 13.0: Evolution and changes in the understorey of deciduous forests: lagging behind drivers of change
• 13.1: Introduction
• 13.2: Background
• 13.3: What sorts of plants occur in forests?
• 13.4: Comparing ancient and recent forests
• 13.5: Colonization of new forests
• 13.6: Dispersal and recruitment limitation
• 13.7: Changing ancient forests
• 13.7.1: Management effects
• 13.7.2: Effects of environmental changes
• 13.7.3: Effects of grazing
• 13.7.4: Effects of invasive non-native species
• 13.8: Conserving and expanding forests: does it work?
• 13.9: References
• 14.0: Gains and losses in the European mammal fauna
• 14.1: Introduction
• 14.2: Aurochs
• 14.3: The carnivores
• 14.3.1: Wolf
• 14.3.2: Brown bear
• 14.3.3: Lynx
• 14.4: The Beaver
• 14.5: A species that has done too well
• 14.6: The decline and rise of wild boar and deer
• 14.6.1: Wild boar
• 14.6.2: Deer
• 14.7: Conclusion
• 14.8: References
• 15.0: The curious case of the even-aged plantation: wretched, funereal or misunderstood?
• 15.1: Introduction
• 15.2: What is an even-aged plantation?
• 15.3: A brief historical overview of Atlantic spruce forests
• 15.3.1: The dominance of Sitka spruce
• 15.3.2: Breaking up the conifer blanket
• 15.4: Species composition of spruce plantations
• 15.5: Ecological implications of stand dynamics
• 15.5.1: Precursors - the creation of woodland through afforestation (Stage 0)
• 15.5.2: Stand initiation (Stage 1)
• 15.5.3: The impact of stand development – canopy closure and mortality (Stages 2 and 3)
• 15.5.4: Prolonging the rotation and developing multiple storeys (Stage 4)
• 15.5.5: Resetting the woodland through disturbance
• 15.6: Forest design
• 15.7: The landscape setting
• 15.8: Where next?
• 15.9: Conclusions
• 15.10: References
• PART 4: A variety of woodland histories.
• 16.0: Historical ecology in modern conservation in Italy
• 16.1: Introduction
• 16.2: Background
• 16.3: The spread of an historical ecological approach in European conservation thinking
• 16.3.1: Forestry versus Woodmanship
• 16.3.2: Woodland or land-bearing-trees
• 16.3.3: The need for an inter-disciplinary approach
• 16.3.4: The role of historical ecology
• 16.4: Integrating Historical and Local Knowledge into Management Strategies
• 16.4.1: An introduction to the case studies
• 16.4.2: Trees and Woodlands Producing Leaf Fodder
• 16.4.3: Trees, woodland and soil fertility
• 16.4.4: The collection of litter
• 16.4.5: Trees invading bogs: an experiment in applied historical ecology
• 16.5: Conclusion
• 16.6: References
• 17.0: Bialowieza Primeval Forest: a 2000-year interplay of environmental and cultural forces in Europe’s best preserved temperate woodland
• 17.1: Introduction
• 17.2: Previous studies
• 17.3: A new palaeo-ecological record for Bialowieza Primeval Forest
• 17.3.1: Methods
• 17.3.2: Results
• 17.4: Archaeological evidence
• 17.5: Archival studies
• 17.5.1: Royal forest of Polish kings
• 17.5.2: Under Russian rule
• 17.5.3: World War I to the present
• 17.5.4: Changes in land use extent and character
• 17.6: Dendro-chronological analyses of fire dynamics
• 17.7: Interplay of natural and cultural forces
• 17.7.1: The Iron Age
• 17.7.2: The Migration Period, mediaeval and early modern times
• 17.7.3: The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
• 17.7.4: The nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries
• 17.7.5: The recent decades
• 17.8: The role of large herbivores in shaping BNP
• 17.9: Conclusions
• 17.10: Acknowledgements
• 17.11: References
• 18.0: Woodland history in the British Isles - an interaction of environmental and cultural forces.
• 18.1: Introduction
• 18.2: Outline of British woodland history
• 18.3: Historical stages and processes of change
• 18.4: Regions
• 18.4.1: Pre-Neolithic wildwood
• 18.4.2: Exploited wildwood
• 18.4.3: Traditional woodland management
• 18.4.4: Parks, Forests and wooded commons
• 18.4.5: Improved traditional management
• 18.4.6: Plantations
• 18.4.7: Revival and restoration of native woodland
• 18.5: Some consequences of differences in regional history
• 18.6: References
• 19.0: Forest management and species composition: an historical approach in Lorraine, France
• 19.1: Introduction
• 19.2: The study of forest history in France
• 19.3: Historical forest uses and their consequences on forest management
• 19.4: The making of the technical and legislative framework
• 19.5: The consequences of forestry policies on forest composition in woodlands of Lorraine
• 19.6: The modern forest - conclusion
• 19.7: References
• 20.0: Barriers and bridges for sustainable forest management: the role of landscape history in Swedish Bergslagen
• 20.1: Introduction
• 20.2: The European scale
• 20.3: The regional scale
• 20.4: Bergslagen – an introduction
• 20.5: Forests, forest ownership and land use dynamics
• 20.6: Barriers to sustainability
• 20.6.1: Ecological sustainability
• 20.6.2: Economic sustainability
• 20. 6.3: Social and cultural sustainability
• 20.7: Bridges towards sustainable forest management
• 20.8: Discussion
• 20.8.1: From forest history to history of forest landscapes
• 20.8.2: Landscapes with different histories: using space for time substitution
• 20.9: References
• PART 5: Lessons from the past for the future?
• 21.0: The development of forest conservation in Europe
• 21.1: Introduction
• 21.2: Why conserve forests?
• 21.2.1: As a spiritual place
• 21.2.2: As a place for the Chase
• 21.2.3: As a source of raw materials and a barrier against the elements
• 21.2.4: For a new form of communing with the forests
• 21.3: Type and extent of Protected Forest Areas
• 21.4: Selection of protected areas
• 21.5: Developing a European perspective
• 21.6: Forest protection and conservation as part of land-use practice.
• 21.7: Rewilding and forest conservation
• 21.8: From the past to the future
• 21.8.1: Conservation for people?
• 21.8.2: What sorts of woods and forests will be conserved in future?
• 21.9: References
• 22.0: The UK’s Ancient Woodland Inventory and its Use
• 22.1: Introduction
• 22.2: Developing the ancient woodland concept
• 22.3: The creation of the ancient woodland inventory
• 22.4: Developing and using the inventories
• 22.4.1: England: the ‘Red Queen’ dilemma
• 22.4.2: Wales
• 22.4.3: Scotland
• 22.4.4: Northern Ireland
• 22.5: Testing the limits of the English inventories
• 22.5.1: Uncertain evidence
• 22.5.2: What is a wood?
• 22.5.3: How small can an ancient wood be?
• 22.6: Conclusion
• 22.7: References
• 23.0: Tree and forest pests and diseases: learning from the past to prepare for the future
• 23.1: Introduction
• 23.2: Background
• 23.2.1: Dutch Elm Disease, Ramorum blight and Ash Dieback
• 23.3: The Dutch Elm Disease outbreak
• 23.4: ‘Sudden Oak Death’ (ramorum blight) in the UK
• 23.5: A landscape without ash?
• 23.6: The lessons from history
• 23.7: References
• 24.0: Reflections
• 24.1: Introduction
• 24.2: Ways of exploring and understanding woodland histories
• 24.3: Issues for the future historian
• 24.4: From cultural landscapes back to wildwood?
• 24.5: Europe’s woods and forests: the future?