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Knowledge of forest history is crucial for understanding the processes, structures, functions and current status of forest ecosystems. An enhanced understanding of the long history of disturbance factors affecting forest development and thereby the present state of the forest is particularly valuable when working with forest management, conservation and restoration. Integrating the legacies of past disturbances-natural as well as anthropogenic-into conservation and management strategies is likely to favour natural values and ecosystem services. A case-study in Gribskov, Denmark, using palaeoecological data and historical source materials explores the lessons learned from the past and leads to the suggestion of a conceptual model of how information from the past can increase understanding of long-term ecological processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest successional trajectories covering the last 2000 yr from a mixed deciduous forest in Denmark show a gradual shift in dominance fromTilia cordatatoFagus sylvaticaand a recent increase in total forest basal area since direct management ceased in 1948. The successions are reconstructed by combining a fifty-year record of direct tree observations with local pollen diagrams from Draved Forest, Denmark. Five of the seven successions record a heathland phase of Viking Age dating from 830 AD. The anthropogenic influence is considerable throughout the period of study even though Draved contains some of the most pristine forest stands in Denmark. Anthropogenic influence including felling masks the underlying natural dynamics, with the least disturbed sites showing the smallest compositional change. Some effects of former management, such as loss ofTilia cordatadominance, are irreversible. Artificial disturbance, particularly drainage, has accelerated and amplified the shift towardsFagusdominance that would have occurred on a smaller scale and at a slower rate in the absence of human intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on avian diversity in Danish forests. Investigation of managed temperate forests in Denmark for avian species richness and abundance and related to measures on different tree variables influenced directly by forestry management decisions; Assessment; Results; View that simple measures in Danish forestry practices can be taken to enhance the conservation of bird richness and abundance.