Natural beech wood is a
beech
Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...
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 or wikt:duff#Noun 2, duff, is the part of a forest ecosystem that mediates between the living, aboveground portion of the forest and the mineral soil, principally composed of dead and decaying plant matter ...
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
Among 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 manag ...
in southeastern Wales
*
Marselisborg Forests
Marselisborg Forests (), 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 Forests, upping the total area ...
in Denmark
*
Serrahn Hills
The Serrahn Hills () 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 (Carpin), Serrahn, which gives the hills their name, is locate ...
in northeastern Germany
* The slopes of the
Harz
The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, 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'' der ...
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 ...
National Park in central Germany
*
Voděradské bučiny National Nature Reserve in the Czech Republic
*
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 t ...
in Slovakia, one of Europes last primeval beech forests
*
Carpathian Biosphere Reserve
Carpathian Biosphere Reserve () is a Nature reserve, biosphere reserve in Ukraine that was established in 1968 and became part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves of UNESCO in 1992. Since 2007 bigger portion of the reserve along with some ...
in southwestern Ukraine
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 change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
s 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 large, graceful deciduous tree in the beech family with smooth silvery-gray bark, large leaf area, and a short trunk with low branches.
Description
''Fagus sylvatica'' is a large ...
is usually more susceptible to climatic changes than soil-composition and the current
global climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...
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 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 Carbo ...
, the 'Charcoal Forest'.
*
*
Ancient woodland
In the United Kingdom, ancient woodland is that which has existed continuously since 1600 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). The practice of planting woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 1600 i ...
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
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Forests
Forest ecology
Forestry