Woodland degradation and regeneration in Central Europe during the last 1,000 years - a case study in NE Germany

Influence of different forest conversion strategies on ground vegetation and tree regeneration in pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stands: a case study in NE Germany

“…Generally, direct (e.g., liming and fertilising, however, not practised on the studied sites) and indirect (e.g., atmospheric depositions) nitrogen input into the forest ecosystems have to be taken into account. Zerbe and Brande (2003) point out, that natural regeneration processes in the organic layer and the forest stands, having previously been strongly influenced by forest uses such as glass and tar production, use of fuelwood, litter gathering, etc., have to be considered as reasons for enhanced nitrogen availability in anthropogenic forest ecosystems. This is in accordance with the results of Leuschner and Rode (1999), who investigated the role of plant resources (e.g., water and nutrient fluxes) in forest succession on former heathland in NW Germany under similar mineral soil conditions to the pine forests studied by us.…”

“…In Central Europe, particularly monocultures with conifer trees such as Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies Karst.) cover a large proportion of the woodland area (e.g., BMVEL 2001) as a consequence of historical land-use practices (Ellenberg 1996;Zerbe and Brande 2003). Currently, many of these monocultures are converted into more natural forests, which may serve various functions, such as timber production, recreation, resource protection, and species and habitat conservation.…”

Abundance, niche breadth, and niche occupation of Central European tree species in the centre and at the margin of their distribution range

“…First, the number of tree species in our sample is rather small for testing the hypothesis. Second, a careful consideration of human influence on tree species abundance in Central Europe is required, as human impact has influenced the natural forest vegetation since more than 7000 years (Lang, 1994), thereby reducing forest cover to about a third of the pristine conditions and altering tree species composition in the managed forest stands (Willis, 1993;Zerbe and Brande, 2003). This influence may be small or even negligible in the case of P. avium, S. torminalis and also A. pseudoplatanus, which were not in the focus of forestry and are species with only a small natural abundance in Central European forest communities (Ellenberg, 1996).…”

Driving factors for natural tree rejuvenation in anthropogenic pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forests of NE Germany

“…In Central Europe, particularly monocultures with conifer trees such as Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies Karst.) cover a large proportion of the woodland area (for Germany see BMELV, 2004) as a consequence of historical land-use practices (Ellenberg, 1996;Zerbe and Brande, 2003). In the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, around 50% of the woodland is dominated by pine, many stands there being planted already in the third generation (Röhe, 2001).…”