Natural beech wood is a
beech
Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
wood, that is able to replenish and sustain itself on its own.
Beech is a valued timber, but most beech woods require human intervention to replace old trees, since the young trees are not able to survive at all, or at a rate that sustains the beech population over time. There can be various reasons for this condition. Heavy
forest floor
The forest floor, also called detritus, duff and the O horizon, is one of the most distinctive features of a forest ecosystem. It mainly consists of shed vegetative parts, such as leaves, branches, bark, and stems, existing in various stage ...
coverage of other plants in the spring, shadowing the young beech-shoots, is a common cause. Abundance of nutrient-rich soils will also be difficult to handle for beech woods in the long run.
A natural beech wood has beech trees of all ages, including fallen and dead trees. Other tree species might be mixed in, but not to a degree that threatens the dominant beech.
The term is also used for other tree species, such as 'natural oak wood', 'natural birch wood', etc..
Natural beech wood forests
Some examples of natural beech wood forests are:
*
Cwm Clydach National Nature Reserve
Cwm Clydach National Nature Reserve is a area of steeply sloping valley-side on Clydach Gorge, east of Brynmawr, southeast Wales. It is protected for its ancient semi-natural beech woods, designated by the Nature Conservancy Council (now manage ...
in southeast
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
.
*
Marselisborg Forests
Marselisborg Forests ( da, Marselisborgskovene), or simply Marselisborg Forest, is a forest to the south of Aarhus City in the Kingdom of Denmark. Many present day sources now includes the forest of Fløjstrup, as part of the Marselisborg Fores ...
in
Denmark
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.
*
Serrahn Hills
The Serrahn Hills (german: Serrahner Berge) are a forested ridge in the municipality of Carpin in the Mecklenburg Lake District in the east German state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The village of Serrahn, which gives the hills their name, is ...
in North-east
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
* The slopes of the
Harz
The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...
range in northern Germany.
*
Hainich
Hainich is a forested hill chain in the state of Thuringia in Germany, between the towns of Eisenach, Mühlhausen and Bad Langensalza. Hainich covers an area of around 160 km² (61,8 sq mi), of which, since 31 December 1997, half has b ...
National Park in central Germany.
*
Voděrady Beechwood in
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
.
*
Stužica
Stužica is a uniquely preserved and undisturbed primeval beech forest of the Outer Eastern Carpathians. It is located in Slovakia and borders with Poland and Ukraine. The forest has been protected since 1908 and in 1993 the area was upgraded to a ...
in
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
, one of Europes last primeval beech forests.
*
Carpathian Biosphere Reserve
Carpathian Biosphere Reserve ( uk, Карпатський біосферний заповідник) is a biosphere reserve that was established as a nature reserve in 1968 and became part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves of UNESCO in 1 ...
in southwestern
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
.
Threats
Agricultural practices can often change the original soil-compositions so much, that the specific natural woodland type once associated with the local area, will change too. This change is almost irreversible. This condition has now affected most of Europe.
Local or global climate changes can also have a profound effect on what kind of natural woodland can grow and survive in a specific area.
European beech
''Fagus sylvatica'', the European beech or common beech is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae.
Description
''Fagus sylvatica'' is a large tree, capable of reaching heights of up to tall and trunk diameter, though mor ...
is usually more susceptible to climatic changes than soil-composition and the current
global climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
are found to affect the geographical distribution of natural beech wood habitats.
Misunderstandings and confusions
The term "Natural" is often confusingly used as a synonym for "Primeval". While
primeval woodlands that still exist, are indeed natural. Natural woodlands do not have to be primeval per se.
Secondary
Secondary may refer to: Science and nature
* Secondary emission, of particles
** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products
* The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...
or re-established woodlands can also be natural; it is just a matter of whether a given forest type is able to sustain and replace itself on its own - i.e. if the climatic and geological conditions for a given forest type are present or not. These conditions can be objectively determined, and do not depend on the "test of time" exclusively.
The term "semi-natural" is sometimes used to describe any natural woodland, that is not strictly primeval in origin.
See also
*
Silva Carbonaria
Silva Carbonaria, the "charcoal forest", was the dense old-growth forest of beech and oak that formed a natural boundary during the Late Iron Age through Roman times into the Early Middle Ages across what is now western Wallonia. The Silva Carbon ...
, the 'Charcoal Forest'.
*
*
Ancient woodland
In the United Kingdom, an ancient woodland is a woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 16 ...
Sources
* Edward P. Mountford and Peter S. Savill
Natural regeneration of Beech forests in Europe - UK: Approaches, Problems, Recent advances and RecommendationsOxford Forestry Institute, March 2003, Nat-Man project (D22)
* Standovár & Kenderes
A review on natural stand dynamics in beechwoods of east central EuropeDepartment of Plant Taxonomy and Ecology, Eötvös Loránd University (May 2003).
Ancient semi-natural woodlandWoodland Trust
Policy Paper: Semi-natural WoodlandThe Society of Irish Foresters
Ancient & semi naturalRoyal Forestry Society
Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland (including PAWS and RNWAS) Habitat DefinitionDurham Biodiversity Action Plan
WoodlandJNCC
External links
{{commonscat
Forests
Forest ecology
Forestry