UID:
almahu_9948601277002882
Format:
XV, 328 p. 181 illus.
,
online resource.
Edition:
1st ed. 1981.
ISBN:
9781489928573
Content:
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 asa 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.
Note:
1: Origins, management and ecological characteristics of British woodlands -- 1. Original natural woodland -- 2. Ancient woodland and traditional management -- 3. Ecological characteristics of ancient woods -- 4. High forest management -- 5. Recent secondary woodland -- 6. Long-term changes in the woodland flora -- 2: Types of semi-natural woodland in Britain -- 7. Woodland classification -- 8. Types of ancient semi-natural woodland -- 9. Management variants of stand types -- 10. Succession and stand types -- 11. British woodland types in a European context -- 3: Woodland nature conservation -- 12. Objectives and priorities of nature conservation in British woodlands -- 13. Observation and recording in woodlands -- 14. Assessment of woodlands for nature conservation -- 4: Management for nature conservation -- 15. Planning for nature conservation within forestry -- 16. Pattern and redistribution of woodland -- 17. Nature conservation aspects of woodland management -- 18. Management of semi-natural woodland -- 19. Integration of nature conservation with other objectives of woodland management -- 20. British woodland management in a European context -- References -- Site index.
In:
Springer Nature eBook
Additional Edition:
Printed edition: ISBN 9780412128202
Additional Edition:
Printed edition: ISBN 9781489928580
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1007/978-1-4899-2857-3
URL:
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2857-3
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