tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/woodlands-28074/articles
Woodlands – The Conversation
2024-03-08T14:01:57Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214010
2024-03-08T14:01:57Z
2024-03-08T14:01:57Z
How we’re breathing new life into French forests through green corridors
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573401/original/file-20240205-15-peliih.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C40%2C5439%2C3587&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A pine plantation and hedgerow as seen from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alexandre Changenet, 2023</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the summer of 2008, during a family holiday road trip, we passed by the Aquitaine region in southwestern France. As we drove through a sprawling woodland, a mesmerizing sight unfolded before my eyes: a meticulously ordered army of trees, standing tall and proud. It could have been an army regiment classified by age.</p>
<p>This uniformity – in stark contrast to the wild and varied Mediterranean forests I was accustomed to – left me utterly captivated. Beneath the leafy canopy, the undergrowth seemed sparse, with only the occasional glimpse of heather and its discreet flowers, repeating like an infinite copy-paste.</p>
<p>I immediately thought that if I were a wild animal, this forest might not be the most stimulating place to call home. There was little biomass to sustain life, and while the simplified food chain offered few competitors, there were no companions, either. The woods felt monotonous.</p>
<h2>A European plan to revive thousands of acres</h2>
<p>Fast forward to last April, I returned to the same location, this time accompanied by more than 100 experts from <a href="https://forest-restoration.eu/">SUPERB</a>, an ambitious 20 million euro project funded by the Horizon programme to restore thousands of hectares of forest landscape across Europe.</p>
<p>The initiative, which relies on 12 forests including the Aquitaine site, will go some way in making good on the EU’s Nature Restoration bill, which commits the bloc to restoring at least 30% of degraded habitats by 2030, 60% by 2040 and 90% by 2050. It will also provide policy-makers with critical insights into the continent’s wildlife, life support systems and carbon sequestration capacity.</p>
<p>Spanning <a href="https://nouvelle-aquitaine.cnpf.fr/sites/socle/files/cnpf-old/30_foret_landes_gascogne_1.pdf">1 million hectares of planted forests</a>, the Aquitaine site plays an important part in the local economy, with 90% of its plantations private. Historically, the landowners here had thrived on long-term thinking and patience. Trees took their time to grow, but the rewards were bountiful. In the harvest, the first trees to be cleared are typically used for the manufacture of pulp and paper. Small trees are for pallets and packaging, while bigger trees are exploited for structural wood, beams or panelling parquet.</p>
<p>For generations, locals had employed top-notch forest management techniques, yielding high returns. But the forest and its wood-based economy are now under threat. During my week there, I realised that what had once appeared orderly and disciplined had by then struck me as odd and unbalanced. With time, relentless production had depleted the soil and flora. The climate was also growing more arid by the day. Landowners complained of increasingly frequent natural calamities – wildfires, pest outbreaks, and destructive windstorms.</p>
<p>I was there with colleagues to check on the restoration progress and learn from local scientists’ restoration experience. In our conversations, one word echoed repeatedly: <em>resilience</em> – the ability to rebound after disturbances, regardless of their origin. Another word for it when it comes to forest management is <em>biodiversity</em>, the dry term we scientists use for thriving wildlife. Since December 2021, SUPERB has been on a mission to bring it back to the woods of Aquitaine.</p>
<h2>Life through green corridors</h2>
<p>To revive dull, homogeneous nature, one typically has to mess it up, or at least according to our human eyes. At several levels: that of the landscape, by ensuring that forests, pastures and agricultural land rotate and balance one another out; at the species level, so that a multitude of trees, shrubs, and herbs can provide shelter for wildlife; and at the population level, where even large numbers of trees of the same species can react differently to environmental challenges, thereby maximising their survival chances.</p>
<p>However, this poses economic and logistical challenges. Unevenly aged trees and different tree species can hardly be harvested simultaneously, and large machinery face access difficulties. This is where SUPERB’s hedgerows come in. Working across 20 000 hectares, our team has spent the past months planting 10 km-long hedgerows to connect pockets of existing broad-leaf species, such as oaks. The idea is to form a physical barrier to increase resilience to pests and diseases and potentially other threats that may increase with a warming planet such as winds, storms, wildfires and drought.</p>
<h2>Swaying resistant landlords</h2>
<p>While many landowners are already committed to planting mixed hedgerows around their pine plantations, others are more prudent, and will need strong evidence to adopt this practice that costs money and breaks with tradition.</p>
<p>Scientists from French partners, including INRAE and the European Institute of Planted Forests, did their best to reassure them. Throughout the week, they had three drones scan the landscape from above, revealing the contrast between homogeneous pine forests and diverse hedgerows. On the ground, our team encountered traps for insects, pitfall traps for snakes, microhabitats for lizards, tree caves for bats, and audio recording and camera traps for other organisms. Even the soil’s diversity was examined through DNA analysis of its hidden microorganisms.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580226/original/file-20240306-28-u8jo2s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580226/original/file-20240306-28-u8jo2s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580226/original/file-20240306-28-u8jo2s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580226/original/file-20240306-28-u8jo2s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580226/original/file-20240306-28-u8jo2s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580226/original/file-20240306-28-u8jo2s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580226/original/file-20240306-28-u8jo2s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580226/original/file-20240306-28-u8jo2s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Upper panel: A natural forest. Middle panel: a forest intensively managed for wood production (far from its natural state). Bottom panel: A forest managed with ‘closer to nature’ methods.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.36333/fs12">Larsen et al., 2022/European Forest Institute</a>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the pursuit of understanding ecosystem and bolstering resilience, much remains to be uncovered. While we await a complete understanding, the <a href="https://efi.int/publications-bank/closer-nature-forest-management">“closer to nature” management approach</a>, which seeks to “prioritize ecological integrity, biodiversity and sustainable practices over intensive human interventions” is gaining traction, emulating what nature does best. Yet translating this knowledge into actionable management plans for the forest managers is the other area that SUPERB is working on.</p>
<p>As the coordinator of the SUPERB project, I had the privilege of visiting all its demonstration sites, from woods in Castille in Leon to the alpine landscapes of the Vindelälven-Juhttatahkka biosphere in Sweden, down to the mountainous region of Vysočina and North Moravia in Czech Republic. Each forest brought its own set of challenges such as bark-beetle attacks, fragmented trees, wildfires, and abandoned lands. It became evident that customized approaches were necessary to address restoration, even when facing similar problems.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is the result of The Conversation’s collaboration with <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/horizon-magazine">Horizon</a>, the EU research and innovation magazine. In June, the author published <a href="https://projects.research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/en/horizon-magazine/europe-seeks-flourishing-forests-through-restoration">an article</a> with the magazine.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214010/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madga Bou Dagher a reçu des financements de Horizon Europe 2020 for SUPERB project. </span></em></p>
The SUPERB project, part of the EU’s Horizon programme, aims to restore thousands of hectares of forest landscape across Europe.
Madga Bou Dagher, Professor in Forest genetics, European Forest Institute
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/223224
2024-02-21T13:04:38Z
2024-02-21T13:04:38Z
Gut bacteria may explain why grey squirrels outcompete reds – new research
<p>Across large parts of the UK, the native red squirrel has been replaced by the grey squirrel, a North American species. As well as endangering reds, grey squirrels pose a threat to our woodlands because of the damage they cause to trees. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.001793">New research</a> from my colleagues and I compared the gut bacteria of red and grey squirrels. We found that differences between the two may explain their competition and red squirrel decline, as well as why grey squirrels are so destructive to woodland.</p>
<p>Grey squirrels were introduced to the UK between 1876 and 1929 and have displaced reds in most areas of the UK. Greys carry a virus called “squirrelpox”, which doesn’t affect them but leads to sickness and often death in red squirrels.</p>
<p>Grey squirrels are bigger than red squirrels and compete with them <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2023.1083008/full">for food and habitat</a>.
Acorns, a widespread food source, contain tannins, which are hard for red squirrels to digest. But greys can digest acorns easily, giving them an extra edge in competing for resources. </p>
<p>Grey squirrels frequently strip the bark from deciduous trees. In commercial plantations, the damage can lead to fungal infection and result in the tree producing low quality timber. The annual cost is an <a href="https://rfs.org.uk/insights-publications/rfs-reports/report-overview-the-cost-of-grey-squirrel-damage-to-woodland-in-england-and-wales/">estimated £37 million.</a> with sycamore, oak, birch and beech frequently targeted. </p>
<p>The grey squirrels select the strongest growing trees as these have bark containing the largest volume of sap. Intriguingly, grey squirrels do not select trees with the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230344319_Bark-stripping_by_Grey_squirrels_Sciurus_carolinensis">highest sugar content</a>. This observation has led scientists to posit that the squirrels consume bark to obtain <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112716300421?via%3Dihub">certain micro-nutrients</a>. </p>
<h2>Gut bacteria</h2>
<p>All mammals have microorganisms living in their intestines. For example, the typical human colon is host to at least <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5847071/">160 bacterial species</a>, while in birds, research has found thousands of different bacterial species in <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33868800/">chicken intestines.</a></p>
<p>The bacteria break down foods and help synthesise vitamins, complementing the enzymes secreted by the body. The diversity of these microorganisms, known as the “microbiota”, can reflect the level of health and also the diet of an individual. But we don’t know enough about the microbiota living in squirrel intestines. </p>
<p>The types of microbes present vary between species, yet the extent to which they differ between grey and red squirrels is unclear. We explored this and investigated the potential for any differences to affect competition between the two squirrel species. We also examined whether gut bacteria might be playing a role in bark stripping behaviour.</p>
<p>We sampled bacterial DNA from red and grey squirrel intestinal contents and performed gene sequencing to identify the range of bacteria present in the samples. The results were analysed to compare any important differences between the two.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A cute red squirrels with a large bushy tail stands on the branch of a tree." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576545/original/file-20240219-20-ivfdqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576545/original/file-20240219-20-ivfdqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576545/original/file-20240219-20-ivfdqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576545/original/file-20240219-20-ivfdqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576545/original/file-20240219-20-ivfdqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576545/original/file-20240219-20-ivfdqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576545/original/file-20240219-20-ivfdqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ynys Môn off the north Wales coast is one of the few places in the UK where greys have been eradicated in favour of red squirrels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/red-squirrel-views-around-north-wales-2232607907">Gail Johnson/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Calcium</h2>
<p>Calcium is an important nutrient in the body and is required for healthy bones, muscles and nerves. It is especially needed by lactating animals and ones that are young and growing.</p>
<p>We found that grey squirrels may have the capacity to obtain the calcium that exists in tree bark thanks to the presence of a bacteria called “oxalobacter” in their gut. The calcium in tree bark comes in an insoluble form and is hard for an animal to digest. But oxalobacter would be able to change this into a form that could be more digestible. </p>
<p>Calcium levels <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112716300421?via%3Dihub">increase in trees</a> as active growth resumes after winter dormancy. This happens immediately before the main squirrel bark-stripping season of May to July. Our research may therefore help to explain the destructive behaviour of grey squirrels and why red squirrels appear to strip bark much less frequently.</p>
<p>Our research also identified a significantly higher diversity of bacteria in the intestines of grey squirrels compared to red squirrels. This could hold the key to further understanding why grey squirrels outcompete red squirrels in the UK. </p>
<p>A more diverse range of bacteria being sustained in the gut means that grey squirrels potentially may be able to access a broader range of resources than red squirrels in addition to acorns.</p>
<h2>Adenovirus</h2>
<p>The grey squirrel harbours not just the squirrelpox virus, but also another potential threat – adenovirus. While this virus causes severe intestinal lesions in some red squirrels, curiously, grey squirrels never exhibit the same symptoms.</p>
<p>This discrepancy underscores the fascinating and complex potential role of gut microbiota. Research increasingly reveals their influence on everything from digestion to immune response, and even susceptibility to disease.</p>
<p>In the context of red squirrels, understanding how variations in their gut bacteria might predispose them to adenovirus becomes crucial. This is especially pertinent for captive breeding programs, where adenovirus infections pose a hurdle to successful reintroductions of red squirrels into the wild.</p>
<p>Given we only sampled red and grey squirrels from north Wales, we hope that future studies will map the gut microbiota of other European populations too. Such future research will continue to improve our knowledge of the competition between red and grey squirrels.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223224/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Shuttleworth does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
New research suggests the gut bacteria of red and grey squirrels differ significantly, potentially explaining the decline of the native red and the success of its grey counterpart.
Craig Shuttleworth, Honorary Visiting Research Fellow, Bangor University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/208698
2023-08-23T16:04:02Z
2023-08-23T16:04:02Z
Trees discovered at record-breaking altitudes highlight why we should restore Scotland’s mountain woodland
<p>The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Highlands-region-Scotland">Scottish Highlands</a> are celebrated for wide-open views of spectacular glens (valleys) and rugged peaks. After centuries of landscape change, particularly <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1r2c68">deforestation</a> caused by humans, it is easy to forget how well trees can thrive there. But <a href="https://doi.org/10.33928/bib.2023.05.167">new discoveries</a> of small trees atop Scottish summits are surpassing the expectations of plant scientists, and demonstrating opportunities for mountain woodland to make a comeback for the benefit of people, wildlife and fighting the climate crisis.</p>
<p>Forest clearance in Britain originally coincided with the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440312004761">introduction of agriculture</a>. Since at least 3,000 years ago, trees and shrubs have been harvested for building materials, firewood and charcoal. Wildfire and controlled burning have also <a href="https://www.reforestingscotland.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/160810-Montane-article-with-all-refs.pdf">reduced their extent</a>. However, the continuing decline of mountain woodland is mainly <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03746600308685058?journalCode=tped19">linked to overgrazing</a> by domestic hill sheep (introduced in the 18th century) and increased numbers of red deer for sport shooting.</p>
<p>Woody plants, especially willows, are particularly appetising for these animals in the uplands where nutritious food can be harder to find. Overgrazing has caused an almost complete loss of the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1466-822X.2005.00168.x">natural altitudinal treeline</a> – the transition zone from the timberline, where trees grow upright and tall, to the upper boundary where they can establish in the harsh mountain climate.</p>
<h2>A perilous decline</h2>
<p><a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2752-664X/ac9682/pdf">Some fragments</a> have managed to cling on to inaccessible cliff ledges. The iconic <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/scots-pine/">Scots pine</a> is a feature of remnant treelines, particularly in the <a href="https://cairngorms.co.uk/">Cairngorms</a>. These refuges also include <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/downy-birch/">birch</a>, <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/rowan/">rowan</a> and <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/juniper/">juniper</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.msag.org.uk/uploads/4/0/7/3/40732079/bpg1_introduction.pdf">arctic-alpine willows</a> which are <a href="https://plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9h.p4m">rare</a> and <a href="https://plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9h.fyy">endangered</a> or <a href="https://plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9h.w0b">vulnerable</a> to extinction. Their habitat, <a href="https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20210501110957mp_/https:/www.nature.scot/sites/default/files/2017-06/Publication%25202002%2520-%2520Montane%2520Scrub.pdf">montane willow scrub</a>, typically forms at 600-900m above sea level, but has been reduced to a total area of approximately <a href="https://www.environment.gov.scot/media/1859/land-woodlands-and-forests.pdf">10 hectares</a> (15 football pitches) across the entire country.</p>
<p>The Scottish situation can be <a href="https://www.msag.org.uk/uploads/4/0/7/3/40732079/scrubbers_bulletin_12b_-_email.pdf">contrasted to southwest Norway</a>, which is now more wooded because there has been less grazing and burning since the 19th century.</p>
<h2>Reaching new heights</h2>
<p>Nevertheless, citizen science has recently led us to <a href="https://www.stir.ac.uk/news/2023/june-2023-news/britains-highest-trees-discovered-atop-scotlands-munros-by-university-of-stirling-researcher/">11 new altitudinal records</a> for tree species in Britain, including a rowan at 1,150m in <a href="https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/munros/sgurr-nan-ceathreamhnan">West Affric</a> in Inverness-shire, and a birch at 1,026m on <a href="https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/munros/ben-nevis">Ben Nevis</a> – Britain’s highest mountain – near Fort William. Some observations were at least 200m above previous known altitudes. Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.33928/bib.2023.05.167">discoveries</a> are attributed primarily to increased <a href="https://bsbi.org/record-a-plant">biological recording</a>, which is valuable for expanding knowledge of the environmental tolerances of plants.</p>
<p>These record-breakers are pioneers, stunted from growing at the extreme limits of their ability to cope with low temperatures and high wind speeds. The trees are outliers existing far beyond where the treeline is expected to develop. They may only be knee- or even ankle-high, but their survival on our highest ground indicates huge potential for woodland and scrub to return across the slopes below.</p>
<h2>Benefits for a whole ecosystem</h2>
<p>Groundbreaking action in Scotland shows this aspiration is possible through <a href="https://www.msag.org.uk/uploads/4/0/7/3/40732079/bpg3_site_and_species.pdf">tree planting</a>, <a href="https://www.msag.org.uk/uploads/4/0/7/3/40732079/mwp-bpg2finalnew.pdf">propagating rare species</a> and <a href="https://www.msag.org.uk/uploads/4/0/7/3/40732079/bpg4_protection.pdf">protection from overgrazing</a>. Once a large enough seed source exists, the trees will also emerge on their own via <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/plant-trees/natural-regeneration/">natural regeneration</a>. Montane willow scrub now flourishes on the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03746600308685059">Ben Lawers range</a> in the southern Highlands, while Caledonian pinewoods are reappearing on <a href="https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/scotlands-missing-habitat-restoring-montane-woodlands-at-mar-lodge-estate">higher ground in the Cairngorms</a>.</p>
<p>And it’s not just the trees that are to gain. Mountain woodland restoration supports <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/avsc.12438">vibrant flowers</a> and a unique community of rare bumblebees, <a href="https://www.msag.org.uk/uploads/4/0/7/3/40732079/scrubbers_bulletin_15.pdf">flies, butterflies and moths</a>, as well as birds that are <a href="https://www.msag.org.uk/uploads/4/0/7/3/40732079/scrubbers_bulletin_9.pdf">scarce or declining</a> elsewhere in Britain, including <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/ring-ouzel/">ring ouzel</a>, <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/common-redpoll/#">redpoll</a> and grouse. Mammals such as hares, voles, deer and livestock also take advantage of the <a href="https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20210501110957mp_/https:/www.nature.scot/sites/default/files/2017-06/Publication%25202002%2520-%2520Montane%2520Scrub.pdf">enhanced shelter and foliage</a>.</p>
<p>Besides offering shade and a haven for wildlife, woodland and scrub stabilise steep slopes and give protection from the natural hazards of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112709000863">avalanches</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112705007747">rockfalls and landslides</a>. Trees and shrubs also slow the flow of water over and within upland soils, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ldr.3762">holding moisture</a> and facilitating a decrease in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/hyp.14453">flooding downstream</a>.</p>
<p>These benefits are called “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rec.13701">nature-based solutions</a>” because they are considered vitally important for reducing threats from escalating climate change, including warming temperatures, extreme weather and soil erosion.</p>
<h2>Nature recovery at scale</h2>
<p>For the rewards to be delivered nationally, we now need to be bold and ambitious, like the trees that broke the altitudinal records. Land managers, policymakers and funding bodies must move forward from focusing on small areas of mountain woodland held behind fences. Through <a href="https://cairngormsconnect.org.uk/">wider collaboration</a> we can aim to reinstate a much more connected treeline throughout our uplands.</p>
<p>Landscape-scale deer management for lower density populations is required to remove the pressure of overgrazing and enable a balance between sustainable numbers of animals and tree growth. Enhancing rural employment and retaining invaluable skills in deer stalking will be essential for meeting this goal. Those estates already taking <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350946667_Upland_tree_regeneration_monitoring_at_Corrour_Estate">such an approach</a> are showing significant capacity for <a href="https://www.conservationevidence.com/reference/pdf/6153">regeneration and nature recovery</a>.</p>
<p>And the panoramic views for which Scotland is renowned? They will not be obscured by the return of our trees. Mountain woodland usually creates a patchwork mosaic together with open areas of grassland and moorland. Some soils are too wet and instead support peatlands and blanket bog.</p>
<p>Improving the health of all these habitats will allow our environment to nurture a high diversity of life and many associated benefits to people amidst the nature and climate emergency.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 20,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208698/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Helen Watts receives funding from the University of Stirling, Woodland Trust, Corrour Estate, Forest Research, The Scottish Forestry Trust, The National Trust for Scotland, Future Woodlands Scotland and the Macaulay Development Trust. She is affiliated with The Mountain Woodland Action Group and is on the Committee for Scotland for the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland.</span></em></p>
Native trees have been found at new heights in the Scottish Highlands, demonstrating how mountain woodland could recover from deforestation – benefiting humans, wildlife and climate issues.
Sarah Watts, PhD Researcher in Plant Ecology and Conservation, University of Stirling
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/203332
2023-04-25T20:01:20Z
2023-04-25T20:01:20Z
Dozens of woodland bird species are threatened, and we still don’t know what works best to bring them back
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522471/original/file-20230424-26-vj5jul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1157%2C0%2C4397%2C2914&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A male superb parrot</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s woodland birds include colourful parrots, flitting honeyeaters, bright blue fairywrens and the unassuming “little brown birds”. Some, such as willie wagtails, laughing kookaburras and rosellas are found in urban gardens. Others, such as swift parrots and regent honeyeaters, are exceptional rarities for which bird enthusiasts spend days or weeks searching. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521761/original/file-20230419-22-2knkky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521761/original/file-20230419-22-2knkky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521761/original/file-20230419-22-2knkky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521761/original/file-20230419-22-2knkky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521761/original/file-20230419-22-2knkky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521761/original/file-20230419-22-2knkky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521761/original/file-20230419-22-2knkky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521761/original/file-20230419-22-2knkky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Critically endangered swift parrot, Bruny Island, Tasmania.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Barry Baker</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are other woodland birds you might never have noticed, such as pardalotes, thornbills, treecreepers, gerygones and nightjars. Forty woodland bird species are <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicthreatenedlist.pl?wanted=fauna">listed as threatened</a> and several others are declining. </p>
<p>And just this month another six woodland birds were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/apr/11/the-listing-of-more-australian-bird-species-as-threatened-is-alarming-but-also-cause-for-hope">added to the national threatened list</a>. </p>
<p>Efforts to help these species recover <a href="https://birdlife.org.au/programs/woodland-birds/#:%7E:text=Taking%20action%3A%20our%20Conservation%20Action,temperate%20woodlands%20and%20threatened%20birds.">are being made</a>. Common actions include replanting trees and installing nest boxes. But it is important we know which efforts are making the biggest difference. We can then ensure we are doing enough to recover these birds and directing resources to actions that work best. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110030">systematic review</a> collated all the published research we could find that tested the effectiveness of 26 conservation actions for woodland bird communities. And yet we found little evidence about exactly how effective most of these actions are.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-rely-on-expert-predictions-to-guide-conservation-but-even-experts-have-biases-and-blind-spots-202733">We rely on expert predictions to guide conservation. But even experts have biases and blind spots</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Sunset in a woodland ecosystem with grass in foreground, trees in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521756/original/file-20230419-26-3c1yy5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=250%2C0%2C4754%2C3179&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521756/original/file-20230419-26-3c1yy5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521756/original/file-20230419-26-3c1yy5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521756/original/file-20230419-26-3c1yy5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521756/original/file-20230419-26-3c1yy5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521756/original/file-20230419-26-3c1yy5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521756/original/file-20230419-26-3c1yy5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Grassy woodlands like this are home to many threatened bird species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: Jessica Walsh</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why don’t we know more about what works?</h2>
<p>Australian woodland birds are a well-studied group of species. However, the research on management effectiveness for this ecological community is sparse. This limits our ability to develop general, evidence-based recommendations. </p>
<p>Some actions are certainly beneficial. For example, we know replanting trees and shrubs helps <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-planting-trees-and-shrubs-brings-woodland-birds-back-to-farms-from-superb-fairy-wrens-to-spotted-pardalotes-180494">recover woodland birds</a>. Leaving large pieces of dead wood on the ground helps too – birds like robins and treecreepers appreciate it.</p>
<p>However, many of the studies we reviewed didn’t compare sites where a conservation action was done with “control” sites – otherwise similar areas where that action hadn’t occurred. That made it difficult to compare the effectiveness of different actions. Because of this, we simply can’t be sure which actions work best in different contexts, and how large their effect is. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-planting-trees-and-shrubs-brings-woodland-birds-back-to-farms-from-superb-fairy-wrens-to-spotted-pardalotes-180494">New research shows planting trees and shrubs brings woodland birds back to farms, from superb fairy wrens to spotted pardalotes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Fenced young trees, alongside a paddock" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521759/original/file-20230419-24-2knkky.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521759/original/file-20230419-24-2knkky.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521759/original/file-20230419-24-2knkky.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521759/original/file-20230419-24-2knkky.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521759/original/file-20230419-24-2knkky.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521759/original/file-20230419-24-2knkky.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521759/original/file-20230419-24-2knkky.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A replanting site compared with a paddock.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: Jessica Walsh</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found surprisingly few actions had been the subject of studies that used control sites, where birds were studied in similar sites where no action had been taken. This was true even for common actions, like control of weeds, feral herbivores (goats, pigs, deer) and predators (cats and foxes), or nest box installation.</p>
<p>All these actions probably have at least some benefits. Without more studies and appropriate controls, though, we can’t say how large the benefits are, or which action makes the biggest difference.</p>
<h2>Where the evidence exists, results are mixed</h2>
<p>Interestingly, four actions for which we could collate some clear evidence had mixed results. These actions were grazing management, prescribed burning, <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-cull-noisy-miners-after-decades-of-research-these-aggressive-honeyeaters-are-still-outsmarting-us-169524">noisy miner control</a> and habitat protection. The evidence shows their effects on birds depend on the site and management context. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Sign reading 'Protected habitat', with trees in background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521760/original/file-20230419-20-4cypca.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521760/original/file-20230419-20-4cypca.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521760/original/file-20230419-20-4cypca.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521760/original/file-20230419-20-4cypca.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521760/original/file-20230419-20-4cypca.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521760/original/file-20230419-20-4cypca.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521760/original/file-20230419-20-4cypca.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Several habitat management actions showed mixed effects for woodland birds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: Jessica Walsh</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-cull-noisy-miners-after-decades-of-research-these-aggressive-honeyeaters-are-still-outsmarting-us-169524">Should we cull noisy miners? After decades of research, these aggressive honeyeaters are still outsmarting us</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Reducing livestock grazing had mixed results for woodland birds. Sometimes the effects were positive, sometimes negative, and sometimes it had no effect. </p>
<p>Prescribed burning was unlikely to boost woodland bird numbers, with some studies showing no effect, and others negative effects. </p>
<p>These contradictory results could be due to differences in the bird communities, the severity of threats, or differences in the habitat or climatic conditions of the site, as well as in the landscapes surrounding the study sites.</p>
<p>They could also be explained by differences in how the management actions were implemented (such as intensity, frequency, method) and monitored (for example, time since the action took place). But because there was only a handful of studies, we couldn’t tease apart these reasons.</p>
<p>Despite declines of Australian woodland birds and ongoing investment in their conservation, we were unable to make generalised conclusions about the overall effectiveness of 26 conservation actions for these species. We still don’t know which management actions are most effective for this well-loved bird community. This knowledge gap is likely to be worse for less-studied taxonomic groups. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Male scarlet robin perches on a branch" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521796/original/file-20230419-19-m7kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521796/original/file-20230419-19-m7kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521796/original/file-20230419-19-m7kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521796/original/file-20230419-19-m7kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521796/original/file-20230419-19-m7kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521796/original/file-20230419-19-m7kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521796/original/file-20230419-19-m7kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A male scarlet robin, one of the many much-loved woodland bird species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Martine Maron</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>So what can we do to fill in the gaps?</h2>
<p>To give us concrete answers, there are two key messages for conservation practitioners and researchers. </p>
<p>First, we need to do more research designed to test the effectiveness of management actions, and understand the context in which different results occur. These studies need rigorous study designs, appropriate controls and careful statistical reporting. </p>
<p>Second, we encourage practitioners to tap into the <a href="https://doi.org/10.48610/28ea8b7">online database</a> of existing studies that we did collate and the accompanying <a href="https://biocollect.ala.org.au/bibliographies/project/index/186dce6f-fe12-4473-9da0-11761e44cfd0">annotated bibliography</a>. These provide a wealth of detailed practical information about each management action. These resources are a comprehensive collation of the best available evidence to help support management decisions for woodland birds.</p>
<p>We also encourage collaborations among practitioners and researchers to build the evidence base by evaluating management actions that are being implemented or soon to be trialled. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, these conclusions of “we need more research” and “it depends on the context” are not novel. However, we now have a clear understanding of the knowledge gaps. </p>
<p>In the meantime, avoiding damage and <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-native-bird-species-are-losing-their-homes-even-the-ones-you-see-every-day-123007">loss of habitat</a> in the first place is the most important thing we can do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203332/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Jessica Walsh has received funding from the Australian Government National Environmental Science Programme Threatened Species Recovery Hub and BirdLife Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martine Maron has received funding from various sources including the Australian Research Council, the Queensland Department of Environment and Science, Bush Heritage Australia, and the Australian Government's National Environmental Science Program. She is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, President of BirdLife Australia, a Councillor with the Biodiversity Council, a member of the board of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy and a Governor of WWF-Australia</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:michelle.gibson@unimelb.edu.au">michelle.gibson@unimelb.edu.au</a> has received funding from the Australian Government National Environmental Science Programme Threatened Species Recovery Hub and BirdLife Australia.</span></em></p>
Despite declines of Australia woodland birds and ongoing conservation investment, we don’t have many studies that show exactly how effective different management actions are for these species.
Jessica Walsh, Lecturer in Conservation Science, Monash University
Martine Maron, Professor of Environmental Management, The University of Queensland
Michelle Gibson, Research Fellow, Bird Ecology and Fire Science, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/201979
2023-03-23T17:33:33Z
2023-03-23T17:33:33Z
Britain’s wild woods are under threat and we’re running out of time to save them
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516669/original/file-20230321-28-na545a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C3549%2C2245&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Passing By / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK has a strange relationship with its woodlands. Trees and woods form part of the national identity, yet with only about 13% tree cover, it is one of the <a href="https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/forestry-statistics/forestry-statistics-2018/international-forestry-3/forest-cover-international-comparisons/">least wooded countries</a> in Europe. </p>
<p>Ancient woodland – defined as those areas that have been continuously wooded since the year 1600 in England and Wales and 1750 in Scotland – is the UK’s most biodiverse woodland habitat type, and the best at <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2022/dec/uk-woodlands-could-store-almost-twice-much-carbon-previously-estimated">storing carbon</a>, yet <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/habitats/ancient-woodland/">only covers 2.5% of the UK’s land area</a>. The trees might be old, but it is the undisturbed soil that gives the designation “ancient” and which allows <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/habitats/ancient-woodland/">rare plants and animals to flourish</a>. </p>
<p>However, these remnant ancient woodlands are under constant threat. The Woodland Trust has recorded <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/habitats/ancient-woodland/">almost 1,000 ancient woods</a> damaged or permanently lost since it began tracking them in 1999.
Only 7% of the UK’s woodlands are <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/state-of-uk-woods-and-trees/">in a state of ecological health</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516662/original/file-20230321-14-3snn6s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of Britain showing tree cover in green" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516662/original/file-20230321-14-3snn6s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516662/original/file-20230321-14-3snn6s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516662/original/file-20230321-14-3snn6s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516662/original/file-20230321-14-3snn6s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516662/original/file-20230321-14-3snn6s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1143&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516662/original/file-20230321-14-3snn6s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1143&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516662/original/file-20230321-14-3snn6s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1143&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More white than green: woodland cover in Great Britain 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/bulletins/woodlandnaturalcapitalaccountsuk/2020">ONS</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This woeful picture seems at odds with the fact that native deciduous species, such as oak, run through the UK’s sense of nationhood. <em>Quercus robur</em> is boldly given the common name “English Oak”, for instance, despite the tree being native to most of Europe. And fabled “wildwoods”, the woodlands which spread after the retreat of the ice sheets at the <a href="https://www.weidenfeldandnicolson.co.uk/titles/oliver-rackham/the-history-of-the-countryside/9781474614030/">end of the last ice age</a>, are fixed in the imagination as “natural” woodscape. </p>
<p>This odd relationship, of simultaneously adoring and denuding woodlands perhaps comes from a millennia-long history of managing and using woods for their timber.</p>
<h2>The woods that built Britain</h2>
<p>It is extremely unlikely that there is a single patch of woodland left in the UK that has not, at some point in its history, been managed by humans for resources. When we look through the gnarled trunks of an area of ancient woodland now, we are looking back in time, through vital hunting grounds, to periods when the trees were managed to supply the English navy with ship building materials.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516666/original/file-20230321-16-sx7lja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large oak tree" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516666/original/file-20230321-16-sx7lja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516666/original/file-20230321-16-sx7lja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516666/original/file-20230321-16-sx7lja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516666/original/file-20230321-16-sx7lja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516666/original/file-20230321-16-sx7lja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516666/original/file-20230321-16-sx7lja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516666/original/file-20230321-16-sx7lja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The plus 800-year-old Major Oak may have harboured Robin Hood. Its numerous thick branches are more useful for wildlife than shipbuilding.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kelvin Stewart / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In early medieval times, these woodlands were highly prized, and largely under crown ownership. They would have been managed by pollarding and coppicing. <a href="http://www.ancienttreeforum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Pollard-Veteran-Tree-Management-1991.pdf">Pollarding</a> involves regularly felling the top of the tree so that new shoots grow, producing small timber, fuel and feed for animals. </p>
<p>The regular cutting promotes branch rejuvenation such that pollarded oaks reach a great age – if you see an old tree with <a href="https://danieljamesgreenwood.com/tag/oak-pollarding/">multiple large trunks</a>, it was probably pollarded. Coppicing is a similar process but the cuts are made back to the ground level. </p>
<p>But big naval powers relied on wooden ships, and ships were becoming bigger. In 1510 it took around 600 oaks to build the Mary Rose, the pride of Henry VIII’s fleet, but 150 years later it took 5,500 oaks to build <a href="https://newforestguide.uk/history/new-forest-shipbuilding/">HMS Victory</a>. This meant the Royal Navy began to demand more wood, including oak trees with longer and straighter trunks, and oak forests came to be primarily managed for this sort of timber.</p>
<p>In 1698, an act of parliament made it illegal to pollard trees in royal forests. Naval surveyors would visit woodlands and leave the “<a href="https://newforestguide.uk/history/new-forest-shipbuilding/">kings mark</a>”, an arrow etched into the trunk of any suitable tree. </p>
<p>It is precisely this managed history that makes remaining fragments of ancient woodland so important today. The UK is thought to be home to <a href="https://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/ancientoaksofengland#:%7E:text=England%2520has%2520more%2520ancient%2520oaks,in%2520the%2520rest%2520of%2520Europe.">more very old oaks</a> than the whole of the rest of Europe, and these trees, which are likely to have been pollarded or coppiced in the past, contain <a href="http://www.ancienttreeforum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Pollard-Veteran-Tree-Management-1991.pdf">rot holes and decaying wood</a> along with living tissue and so provide a variety of habitats. </p>
<p>Ancient oaks support more than <a href="https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/documents/22b3d41e-7c35-4c51-9e55-0f47bb845202">2,000 associated species</a> including 600 which depend heavily on oak alone. This is why ancient woodland is defined in government planning guidance as an <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ancient-woodland-ancient-trees-and-veteran-trees-advice-for-making-planning-decisions">irreplaceable habitat</a>.</p>
<h2>Future forests</h2>
<p>The government is targeting 16.5% woodland cover in England by 2050 (it’s currently 12.8%). But that target is <a href="https://www.wcl.org.uk/docs/The%20Environmental%20Targets%20(Woodland%20%20Trees)%20(England)%20Regulations%20-%20Link%20and%20Greener%20UK%20briefing%2020.01.23.pdf">already below</a> what’s needed to meet climate goals, and does not <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/protecting-trees-and-woods/campaign-with-us/tree-target/">prioritise natural woodland</a> over monoculture plantations of non-native trees. </p>
<p>It’s not easy to achieve a woodland cover target while also restoring nature, hitting climate targets, and supporting the needs of the timber industry. Getting woodland planting right <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/planting-trees-in-england/">requires</a> the right policy and legislation, nursery stocks of appropriate tree species, and many more foresters (the government has launched <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/07/shortage-of-uk-foresters-prompts-government-to-offer-free-courses">free forestry courses</a> to address a skills shortage).</p>
<p>The UK is currently planting around 14,000 hectares (140 square kilometres) of woodland per year. This is less than half the planting target, and only about half is natural, broadleaf planting. Some campaigners worry that recommendations to maximise broadleaf woodland are <a href="https://www.wcl.org.uk/docs/The%20Environmental%20Targets%20(Woodland%20%20Trees)%20(England)%20Regulations%20-%20Link%20and%20Greener%20UK%20briefing%2020.01.23.pdf">being ignored</a> in woodland cover targets that treat non-native conifer plantations equally.</p>
<p>If given space to regenerate, the UK’s woodlands can help address the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14693062.2023.2175637">triple challenge</a> of averting dangerous climate change, while restoring nature and securing the wellbeing and prosperity of a growing population. </p>
<p>Yet the biggest risk comes from a rush to plant new trees without first protecting those woodlands that remain, and without considering what types of woodland will offer nature the best chance to thrive.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was updated in June 2023 to make it clear that the UK is planting 14,000 hectares of woodland each year but that much of this is non-native conifers.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201979/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Gagen works for Swansea University and is on secondment to WW UK. </span></em></p>
Just 2.5% of the country has been continuously wooded for centuries.
Mary Gagen, Professor of Physical Geography, Swansea University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/199806
2023-02-13T16:06:34Z
2023-02-13T16:06:34Z
Do trees really stay in touch via a ‘wood-wide web’? Here’s what the evidence says
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509766/original/file-20230213-22-ajz7li.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1920%2C1279&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/photos/mushroom-mushrooms-forest-nature-2087997/">Anders Floor/Pixabay </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Trees in a forest might look solitary but they are connected underground by a complex network of thread-like strands of fungi, some of which may only be visible to us as mushrooms on the surface. Through these connections in the soil, trees are widely believed to share <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.aad6188?casa_token=lZFqF7BuB5EAAAAA:TNX0hpsJGxjxKm9XgxgRCBlZa_mzmDCI4tU-FQOeHYrGJkOHCibUsBntOS1gxZQW4oWoYlT4vvtPa2g">food</a>, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-008-1136-5">water</a> and even information, such as warnings of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ele.12115?casa_token=NbTImmZal1EAAAAA:MYAvQZTMw75bLCnfkgWgEtiuN8FRT2gFo7fPY7r3KeLOUicnw7W3w6kg8AaW6TzU5INfikNimitwXwQo">enemy attack</a>. The concept of an interconnected forest has evoked comparisons with the internet, hence the moniker “the wood-wide web”.</p>
<p>The idea that trees share resources and potentially communicate with each other through fungal interlocutors seemed fantastical and was a startling revelation upon its first discovery in the mid-1990s. Nearly three decades on, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-01986-1">researchers</a> have examined the evidence and found that while soil fungi are important, some of the popular claims made about the wood-wide web lack proof.</p>
<p>Nearly all plants form partnerships with fungi living in their roots, together known as mycorrhizas. Some of these fungi sprout mushrooms at the soil surface, but a mushroom is really just the tiny bit we see. Most mycorrhizal fungi live entirely underground, existing only as near-invisible thread-like strands called hyphae that grow out from the roots of plants to explore the soil. </p>
<p>By allowing these fungi to live in their roots, plants receive essential nutrients from the soil. The fungi meanwhile receive the fruits of photosynthesis (sugars and fats) from their plant hosts. These fungal threads form vast webs in the soil known as common mycorrhizal networks which can connect plants together.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="White threads forming webs in a clump of soil." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509767/original/file-20230213-15-yqohhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509767/original/file-20230213-15-yqohhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509767/original/file-20230213-15-yqohhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509767/original/file-20230213-15-yqohhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509767/original/file-20230213-15-yqohhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509767/original/file-20230213-15-yqohhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509767/original/file-20230213-15-yqohhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mycorrhizal fungi form the fibre optic cables in the wood-wibe web analogy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/fungal-mycelium-mycorrhizae-that-provide-symbiotic-1596740923">KYTan/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A disconnect in the wood-wide web</h2>
<p>In 1997, scientists <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/41557">demonstrated</a> that carbon, a primary energy source for all life, could be transmitted between trees across a mycorrhizal network. This finding prompted speculation that mycorrhizal fungi were helping trees communicate and share resources. Cooperation, rather than competition, was more significant in nature it seemed – a notion that challenged prevailing evolutionary dogma. The authors of this new study have some doubts.</p>
<p>Despite the widespread belief that plants share food using mycorrhizal networks, the evidence remains inconclusive. In lab and field experiments, the amount of carbon and other resources transferred between plants is typically small and stays mostly in the mycorrhizal roots. This means that while fungi are receiving carbon from one plant, much of it probably stays with the fungus rather than being transferred to another plant. This raises the question of how important these transfers might actually be to trees in a forest. </p>
<p>And is it the plants or the fungi who are in charge of transferring these sugars, fats and nutrients? What fungi are doing and why they do it is rarely considered in these studies. It is just as likely that the transfer of food between plants is driven by fungal appetite as it is fungal altruism. These considerations underline the need for more research to understand the role of mycorrhizal networks in transmitting resources and information through communities of plants.</p>
<p>The way experiments are reported also affects scientific and public perceptions. Positive citation bias, where positive results are cited more often in the scientific literature than neutral or negative findings, means studies showing evidence for resource transfer between trees via fungal networks have tended to be more readily cited than those that don’t, perpetuating misconceptions among the public and scientists. </p>
<p>The authors of the new paper showed how exaggerated claims of experimental results can become subject to even more misinterpretation over time. This leads to scientific studies being cited for documenting effects that were not claimed by the original authors. For example, many papers attribute their observed effects to <em>potential</em> common mycorrhizal networks, but are then quoted as offering hard proof of their existence and function. And while the use of anthropomorphic language, such as “talk”, “share”, and “trade”, can help to simplify and communicate findings, it can also distort the complexity and prevent a full understanding of a natural phenomenon.</p>
<h2>Why the concept is still useful</h2>
<p>Despite these considerations, there is some supporting evidence for the communication and sharing of resources between plants via mycorrhizal fungi.</p>
<p>Fungi have been shown to act as conduits for communicating defensive signals, at least between some types of plants. This has been <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ele.12115?casa_token=T7fHzCQ1wf8AAAAA:4BrV1EJR-kT-Dqv752nO27VpHG_uXLbrEcrQdfqLp1cN2L_JJoDIYPIITL71lql1AVB3mGzjhuIYRH-V">shown to help</a> bean plants prepare for future attacks by aphids in experiments where fungal connections between plants were either severed or left intact. Although, what these signals are and how they are transmitted remains unknown.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Several small, green bugs gnawing holes in a leaf." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509770/original/file-20230213-18-xjxa9o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509770/original/file-20230213-18-xjxa9o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509770/original/file-20230213-18-xjxa9o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509770/original/file-20230213-18-xjxa9o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509770/original/file-20230213-18-xjxa9o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509770/original/file-20230213-18-xjxa9o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509770/original/file-20230213-18-xjxa9o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When insects graze a plant it releases stress signals which warn those nearby.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aphid-close-on-green-leaf-crop-1395581459">Vera Larina/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other experiments have shown carbon and water moving between <a href="https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1469-8137.2001.00010.x">Japanese red pine</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02182684">Scots pine</a> tree seedlings in controlled laboratory conditions, although these may not reflect the conditions found in nature. A field experiment showed a dye moving between <a href="https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2008.02377.x">ponderosa pine</a> seedlings via mycorrhizal fungi. However, there is still no definitive proof that a common mycorrhizal network was involved. There are equally plausible alternative explanations, including other soil microbes, diffusion of the dye through water in the soil and direct contact between plant roots.</p>
<p>Considering the evidence, it is clear that the function of common mycorrhizal networks between trees in forests has been overstated. But the wood-wide web concept can still help scientists highlight and communicate the significance of mycorrhizal fungi in natural and managed ecosystems.</p>
<p>The world beneath our feet is easy to overlook and, as a result, soil ecology has often been neglected in scientific research, public policy and resource management, despite its importance to the health and stability of ecosystems. The concept of a wood-wide web can alert a broad audience to the role soil fungi play, and with appropriate constraints on the idea, scientists can highlight how important a better understanding of soil ecology is. This may increase investment in research and policy aimed at preserving and protecting organisms that underpin nearly all of Earth’s terrestrial ecosystems.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199806/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Field receives funding from the ERC, NERC, BBSRC and the Leverhulme Trust. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily Magkourilou does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A new study looked at the many claims made about soil fungi and found some misconceptions.
Katie Field, Professor in Plant-Soil Processes, University of Sheffield
Emily Magkourilou, PhD Candidate in Soil Ecology, University of Sheffield
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/176934
2023-01-25T22:08:36Z
2023-01-25T22:08:36Z
Finding Britain’s ‘shadow woods’ offers the fastest way to reforest the countryside
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506356/original/file-20230125-26-loni7s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4608%2C3456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Rotherham</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When William the Conqueror surveyed his new kingdom in <a href="http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/">1086</a>, from lowland to upland, Britain was covered with trees. In low-lying Yorkshire, the East Anglian Fens and the Somerset Levels, <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/habitats/wet-woodland/">wet woods</a> of tall white willows and alders lined great rivers. On windswept highlands in the Pennines, north Yorkshire and Cumbria, goat willows shed fuzzy catkins in downy blankets and dead leaves of wintertime moor-grass formed dense carpets.</p>
<p>Along the western coast of Britain were extensive <a href="https://lostrainforestsofbritain.org/2022/10/17/the-lost-rainforests-of-britain-book-book-tour/">Atlantic rainforests</a>: ancient, twisting trees enmeshed with boulders, all richly clothed in mosses, lichens and ferns. Now largely forgotten, these enigmatic forests once clad the lower slopes of hills and clifftops. </p>
<p>Where Britain’s rainforests remain, they provide rich sanctuaries for woodland wildlife absent from the wider landscape, including <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/beard-lichen">old man’s beard</a>, a lichen which hangs from branches in tangles.</p>
<p>Along with thickly wooded pastures where peasants grazed pigs among wild deer and boar, Britain’s rainforests persisted unenclosed into medieval times. Today’s ancient woods were enclosed from these same landscapes around 1,000 years ago. </p>
<p>On moors and heaths, trees were progressively removed by centuries of burning, grazing, and draining to support an abundance of sheep and grouse. Farming, timber extraction and livestock grazing erased most of the country’s natural wealth, with much of this loss happening surprisingly recently. Half of England’s ancient woods remaining in the 1940s were destroyed during the second half <a href="http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/2013/01/31/pb13871-forestry-policy-statement">of the 20th century.
</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tangle of tree branches coated in moss." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506357/original/file-20230125-24-lj8ceb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506357/original/file-20230125-24-lj8ceb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506357/original/file-20230125-24-lj8ceb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506357/original/file-20230125-24-lj8ceb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506357/original/file-20230125-24-lj8ceb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506357/original/file-20230125-24-lj8ceb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506357/original/file-20230125-24-lj8ceb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Atlantic rainforests are dense, damp and mossy habitats.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/gree-hell-mossy-roots-trunks-deep-580037845">Drepicter/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet survivors from these earlier landscapes are found across the countryside in shrunken patches of oak-bluebell woodland which cling tenaciously to cliffs and outcrops or meadows with rare flowers and unique fungi. Often overlooked, these relics persist anywhere axes, ploughs or sheep have failed to reach. Wizened rowan trees and gnarled hawthorns, shrunken and bent by chill winds, may designate thousand year-old landscapes. Finding these patches could unlock future woodlands rich in currently rare species.</p>
<h2>What to look out for</h2>
<p>Scouring the countryside reveals clues of ancient woods in plants, old maps, and soils. Ecologists call these remnants <a href="https://www.ukeconet.org/store/p646/Shadow_Woods%3A_A_Search_for_Lost_Landscapes.html">shadow woods</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A knotted tree surrounded by bluebells." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505421/original/file-20230119-26-qo44s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505421/original/file-20230119-26-qo44s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505421/original/file-20230119-26-qo44s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505421/original/file-20230119-26-qo44s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505421/original/file-20230119-26-qo44s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505421/original/file-20230119-26-qo44s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505421/original/file-20230119-26-qo44s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An ancient hawthorn and bluebells mark a shadow wood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Rotherham</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Plants like bluebell, yellow archangel, dog’s mercury and wood sorrel may survive underneath stands of bracken (a tall fern) and yellow-flowered gorse (a prickly shrub described as woodland in waiting) for centuries after a woodland has been cleared. These plants mark the spot where a woodland once grew, and where it can easily be encouraged to <a href="https://www.ukeconet.org/store/p91/Ancient_Woodland_-_History%2C_Industry%2C_Crafts.html;%20https://www.ukeconet.org/store/p458/Assessment_of_Ancient_Woodlands.html">grow back</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A vast and thick tangle of shrubs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505432/original/file-20230119-20-gmvkt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505432/original/file-20230119-20-gmvkt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505432/original/file-20230119-20-gmvkt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505432/original/file-20230119-20-gmvkt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505432/original/file-20230119-20-gmvkt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505432/original/file-20230119-20-gmvkt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505432/original/file-20230119-20-gmvkt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A bracken bed suggests a former wooded common.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Rotherham</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Maps and road signs offer hints too. Gardom’s Coppice in the Peak District is shrouded by recently-grown birch, but it holds a thousand veteran trees which were cultivated for wood over centuries and may be up to 800 years old.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A wizened tree on a hillside." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505434/original/file-20230119-16-a71mji.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505434/original/file-20230119-16-a71mji.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505434/original/file-20230119-16-a71mji.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505434/original/file-20230119-16-a71mji.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505434/original/file-20230119-16-a71mji.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505434/original/file-20230119-16-a71mji.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505434/original/file-20230119-16-a71mji.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">So-called veteran trees may be several centuries old.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Rotherham</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Former woodlands also leave distinctive bands in the soil: patterns which reflect the movement of water through earth undisturbed by ploughing over long periods. I am studying how fungi and bacteria living in such soils might tell us even more about the woodland that once grew there.</p>
<h2>How to bring them back</h2>
<p>Having discovered suitable sites, the first thing to do is remove sheep and cattle which gobble up seedlings. This will allow trees to produce saplings, unlocking nature’s own powers of recovery. Soon, willow and birch seeds will arrive on the wind, berry-bearing holly, hawthorn and rowan will emerge from bird droppings and oaks may be planted by jays caching acorns. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A crow-sized bird with dun plumage and blue and black wing details holding an acorn in its beak." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506367/original/file-20230125-18-azij0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506367/original/file-20230125-18-azij0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506367/original/file-20230125-18-azij0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506367/original/file-20230125-18-azij0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506367/original/file-20230125-18-azij0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506367/original/file-20230125-18-azij0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506367/original/file-20230125-18-azij0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Where jays go, oak trees follow.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/jay-beak-holds-acorn-colorful-eurasian-1542152756">S.Borisovich/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Natural regeneration can freely rewild vast areas. The resulting habitats, which spring back quickly <a href="https://theconversation.com/rewilding-rare-birds-return-when-livestock-grazing-has-stopped-137948">once grazing is restricted</a>, are richer in plants, animals and fungi than plantations and cost nothing to create or manage. Sometimes the answer is to reduce grazing for a short time and bring herbivores back once trees are established. Either way, the complexity of the ecosystem recovers over time.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/monks-wood-wilderness-60-years-ago-scientists-let-a-farm-field-rewild-heres-what-happened-163406">Monks Wood Wilderness: 60 years ago, scientists let a farm field rewild – here's what happened</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Shadow woods indicate the extent of a former woodland and where reforestation is most likely to succeed, with high levels of resulting biodiversity. That’s because components of the former woodland are ready and waiting to aid the regeneration. That includes soil fungi which form partnerships with young trees and waiting flowers like bluebell and stitchwort which spread out under developing canopies to become the understorey. This reminds us that, ecologically, a woodland is much more than just the trees, but the whole functioning system.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 10,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176934/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian D. Rotherham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Atlantic rainforests once lined the island’s west coast – and could one day return.
Ian D. Rotherham, Professor of Environmental Geography and Reader in Tourism and Environmental Change, Sheffield Hallam University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/183274
2022-06-06T15:06:49Z
2022-06-06T15:06:49Z
Fruit bats: the winged ‘conservationists’ reforesting parts of Africa
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464223/original/file-20220519-12-gbhj28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A fruit bat.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Subphoto.com/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.worldlandtrust.org/species/mammals/straw-coloured-fruit-bat/">Straw-coloured fruit bats</a> exist throughout most of the African continent. This large fruit bat is one of, if not the most numerous fruit-eating animal (called frugivores) in Africa. They live in colonies of thousands to millions of individuals.</p>
<p>Fruit bats sleep during the day, hanging upside down in the crowns of old trees, and become active at sunset when they set off in search of food – specifically nectar and fruit.</p>
<p>With their wingspan of up to 80cm, they are able to cover vast distances. When the colonies are very large and competition for food is stiff, they can fly up to 95km to suitable food trees and only return to their roosts the following morning. They defecate the seeds of the fruit they eat over an unusually long time period, even during flight. They can thus disperse seeds across huge areas as they go. </p>
<p>The seeds transported in this way can end up far from the parent plant, and in areas that are good for germination and establishment. The fact that these gigantic colonies seasonally migrate across Africa, following the rain and upcoming fruit, help disperse seeds of seasonal fruit and in places with only a few local frugivores.</p>
<p>The fruit bats therefore contribute to the <a href="https://www.mpg.de/biodiversity">species and genetic diversity of forests</a>. </p>
<p>In 2019 we <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(19)30203-9?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982219302039%3Fshowall%3Dtrue">investigated</a> the potential of these fruit bat colonies to reforest areas where trees had been lost in parts of Africa.</p>
<p>We tracked the movements of fruit bats in Ghana, Burkina Faso and Zambia by deploying them with small GPS loggers, which allowed us to follow their nightly movements to food trees. We also looked into how long they held food in their gut. We then applied our findings to entire colonies to see what services they provided in large numbers. </p>
<p>We found that, in a conservative estimate, a colony of 150,000 animals could disseminate more than 300,000 small seeds in a single night, and that a single colony of fruit bats could kickstart the regrowth of 800 hectares of forest.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466238/original/file-20220531-16-at1viv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map with blue and yellow. Lines showing animal dispersal habits" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466238/original/file-20220531-16-at1viv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466238/original/file-20220531-16-at1viv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466238/original/file-20220531-16-at1viv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466238/original/file-20220531-16-at1viv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466238/original/file-20220531-16-at1viv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466238/original/file-20220531-16-at1viv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466238/original/file-20220531-16-at1viv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Routes of bats and animal seed couriers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author supplied © MPG</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They’ve likely often done so – a <a href="https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.358809">study</a> using seed traps deforested areas in Cote d'Ivoire found that 96% of dropped seeds were carried in by fruit bats. </p>
<p>Worryingly, fruit bats have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982219302039">started to disappear</a> from forests everywhere. They are primarily <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.641411/full">at risk from</a> <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/bats-as-bushmeat-a-global-review/747260E678F188D0A89E8A6966DEFBA5">hunting</a> and persecution out of superstition, fear or simple annoyance due to the <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/miiz/actac/2014/00000016/00000001/art00008">noise</a> they make when they roost. </p>
<p>This would not only lead to a loss in biodiversity but have huge economic consequences as fruit bats disperse the seeds of, and likely pollinate as well, many economically valuable plants such as timber species and food producing plants. </p>
<h2>Spreading seeds</h2>
<p>For our study, we used GPS transmitters to track the flight paths of the bats. We also measured the time it took them to excrete the seeds after eating them. For this we took bats into captivity, fed them their natural food dyed with fluorescent dye and then filmed when which food item was excreted. These showed that the animals only excrete some of the seeds after a relatively long time, thereby facilitating their dispersal over vast distances. </p>
<p>We were able to calculate the potential of an entire colony to disseminate seeds over long distances and to transport them to deforested areas. </p>
<iframe width="100%" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eq2iesVsIgE" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p>Among other things, the straw-coloured fruit bat disperses fast-growing trees that are the first to colonise open ground, so-called pioneer trees, and which are able to grow in bright sunlight, creating the right environment for rainforest tree species to establish and grow. </p>
<p>The profit that the regrowth of this much forest generates for the population, for example through edible fruits, increased soil fertility and timber, has been estimated using the results from a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.08.012">study</a> on the cost of deforestation in Ghana under the assumption that all areas supplied with seeds by bats were allowed to reforest. Our estimate was in excess of 700,000 Euro (about US$750,000). Because the straw-coloured fruit bats migrate throughout Africa, many communities profit from their services.</p>
<h2>In decline</h2>
<p>Sadly, the population of straw-coloured fruits bats is in continuous decline. For example a colony we monitor in Accra, Ghana, has gone down from one million individuals over a decade ago to less than 20,000 bats in the spring of 2022. </p>
<p>Given that each female gives birth to a single pup each year, this is going to lead to a population collapse. Logging the large trees in which the animals live is also threatening their populations. Often we will return to a place where a thriving colony was previously observed only to find their roost trees and thus the bats, gone.</p>
<p>The straw-coloured fruit bats contribute to the conservation of African forests, so there is an urgent need to explain their importance to the human population. With the recent COVID-outbreak and other diseases such as Ebola, bats have moved into the focus of the press and thus local communities. While it is important to inform people about how to safely co-exist with the bats, there is currently no scientific evidence to support the rumour that straw-coloured fruit bats or any bat may have been involved in these outbreaks. The best way to ensure the health and safety of both bats and people is to simply stay away from them.</p>
<p>During our research, we met a local king in Kibi, a town in southern Ghana, who is leading by example. He’s placed the straw-coloured fruit bat colony that has taken up residence in his garden under his own personal protection and calls them their babies. </p>
<p>An NGO we collaborate with closely – the <a href="https://www.rwandawildlife.org/">Rwanda Wildlife Corporation</a> – does exemplary work to help mitigate the negative trend of fruit bat populations. They visit local communities, inform them about the benefits and threats the bats offer, and recruit local volunteers to contribute to counts and observations. Many of these volunteers are children, which are our best ambassadors for a future where humans and bats can live side by side.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183274/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Fruit bats have the potential to reforest areas where trees had been lost in parts of Africa.
Dina Dechmann, Researcher, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
Mariëlle van Toor, Researcher, Linnaeus University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/175008
2022-02-07T12:38:46Z
2022-02-07T12:38:46Z
Fungi: the missing link in tree planting schemes
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443429/original/file-20220131-17-baobhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cut-tree-growing-mushrooms-moss-top-1269931600">Tom Van Dyck/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>To slow climate change and restore dwindling wildlife populations, the UK government aims to plant enough trees to expand the country’s woodland cover from 13% to <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987432/england-trees-action-plan.pdf">20% by 2050</a>. Creating healthy woodlands on this scale is an enormous challenge, but forestry experts have developed guidance which, if followed, ought to give these new habitats the greatest chance of success.</p>
<p>It is really important that the <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2020/07/tackling-climate-change-right-trees-right-place/">right trees</a> are planted in the right places. Choosing trees that are well suited to the habitat means they will grow better, be less prone to disease, and provide plentiful food and habitats for other organisms, such as lichens and insects. </p>
<p>It’s equally important to avoid planting trees in <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-tree-planting-actually-damages-ecosystems-120786">the wrong places</a>. Preventing tree planting on grasslands and wetlands protects the unique species in them, and helps them hold onto the <a href="https://www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/IUCN%20UK%20PP%20Peatlands%20and%20trees%20position%20statement%202020_0.pdf">huge stores of carbon</a> in their soils.</p>
<p>Despite containing detailed plans for the creation of healthy woodlands for plants and animals, there is a glaring omission in much of the new tree planting policy. For example, in the UK government’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/england-trees-action-plan-2021-to-2024">Tree Action Plan</a> – arguably the most important document relating to the country’s new reforestation agenda – there is no mention of fungi at all.</p>
<p>Fungi belong to an entirely separate kingdom of life from plants and animals and are found in every habitat on Earth. Beneficial <a href="https://www.ukfungusday.co.uk/blog/mycorrhizal-fungi-weird-and-wonderful-world-fungal-symbiosis">mycorrhizal</a> fungi form close relationships with trees, growing around or within their roots. These fungi harvest nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus from the soil and deliver them to the tree in exchange for carbon-rich sugars generated via photosynthesis. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A clump of soil with white, feathery veins." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443428/original/file-20220131-116247-jr82sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443428/original/file-20220131-116247-jr82sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443428/original/file-20220131-116247-jr82sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443428/original/file-20220131-116247-jr82sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443428/original/file-20220131-116247-jr82sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443428/original/file-20220131-116247-jr82sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443428/original/file-20220131-116247-jr82sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fungal mycelium extend the reach of plant roots into the soil.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/fungal-mycelium-mycorrhizae-that-provide-symbiotic-1596740920">KYTan/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The trees use their nutrients to make essential compounds such as chlorophyll, and the fungi convert their sugars into long-term stores in the soil which can hold up to <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1890/05-0755">20% of the carbon</a> taken up by trees. Fungi also control most decomposition in forests, breaking down compounds in leaves and dead wood that no other organisms can digest. Without fungi, forest systems simply would not function.</p>
<h2>The fungus among us</h2>
<p>Fungal friends in forests should not be ignored. To help guide people involved in creating new woodland, our <a href="http://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.371">new paper</a> offers a number of ways that fungi can be considered to make these forests, and the people in them, as healthy as possible. </p>
<p>We need to maximise the benefits of beneficial fungi by protecting fungal diversity. <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/habitats/ancient-woodland/">Ancient woodlands</a> and <a href="https://ati.woodlandtrust.org.uk/what-we-record-and-why/what-we-record/veteran-trees/">veteran trees</a> are important habitats for lots of vital and rare fungi. Their rich fungal communities can disperse and populate new woodlands, helping to develop friendly mycorrhizal and decomposer networks in new forests. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large, whitish mass which is tufty and beard-like in texture at the foot of a tree." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443420/original/file-20220131-13-142mr7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443420/original/file-20220131-13-142mr7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443420/original/file-20220131-13-142mr7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443420/original/file-20220131-13-142mr7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443420/original/file-20220131-13-142mr7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443420/original/file-20220131-13-142mr7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443420/original/file-20220131-13-142mr7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The bearded tooth fungus is a legally protected species in the UK.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/rare-edible-lions-mane-mushroom-hericium-742473607">Fotografiecor.nl/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Researchers don’t know enough about what happens to fungi in the soil when we plant trees. We don’t know which species are present before trees are planted and whether they change afterwards. This means we don’t yet know how to maximise the benefits of fungi for tree health. </p>
<p>To build up our understanding, we suggest assessing the fungal populations in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1754504812000840">proposed and existing forest sites</a>. As well as helping to keep trees healthy and storing carbon, this will also develop the list of fungi threatened with extinction and allow their legal protection. </p>
<p>This is important, as the study of fungi is hampered by the lack of legal protections for species. Without policy to require surveys and studies of fungi, we never find out which species could help us store more carbon in forests, which can cause tree diseases, and whether these fungi are likely to become extinct soon. Only four fungal species are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1754504809000932">legally protected</a> in the UK, but the country has lots of other important species, including <a href="https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/habitats/grassland/waxcaps-fungi">globally rare grassland fungi</a>. Similar to other groups of organisms, we think a Red List of fungal species at risk of extinction should be produced and made into law.</p>
<p>As well as the beneficial fungi, there are also fungi which can cause problems. <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/tree-pests-and-diseases/key-tree-pests-and-diseases/">Fungal diseases</a> like <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/tree-pests-and-diseases/key-tree-pests-and-diseases/ash-dieback/">ash dieback</a> affect not only the tree populations themselves but the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320714001700">hundreds of other organisms</a> which rely on trees to survive. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A thin, pale tree trunk with a brown patch." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443424/original/file-20220131-118102-1sx1nbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443424/original/file-20220131-118102-1sx1nbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443424/original/file-20220131-118102-1sx1nbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443424/original/file-20220131-118102-1sx1nbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443424/original/file-20220131-118102-1sx1nbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443424/original/file-20220131-118102-1sx1nbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443424/original/file-20220131-118102-1sx1nbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ash dieback is expected to kill around 80% of the UK’s ash trees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/ash-fraxinus-excelsior-close-diseased-trunk-695947759">PJ Photography/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To minimise the risks of tree diseases, it’s important to <a href="https://www.observatree.org.uk/">monitor</a> their emergence and spread in existing woodlands, as well as in tree seeds and saplings. To minimise the risks of woodland fungal spores to humans, which can exacerbate respiratory ailments, adding fungal spores to weather and pollen forecasts can help vulnerable people living near new woodlands prepare.</p>
<p>Remembering fungi in this new era of woodland creation will enable our forests, and the people in them, to be as healthy and resilient as possible.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 10,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175008/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aileen Baird receives studentship funding from Natural Environment Research Council via the DREAM CDT (NE/M009009/1).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francis Pope is affiliated with the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR), which is supported by the JABBS Foundation and the University of Birmingham.</span></em></p>
Plant the right trees in the right places – with the right fungal companions.
Aileen Baird, PhD Candidate in Fungal Ecology, University of Birmingham
Francis Pope, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Birmingham
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/166366
2021-10-22T16:36:02Z
2021-10-22T16:36:02Z
Environment Bill: UK government offers five principles for protecting nature – here’s why they won’t work
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427770/original/file-20211021-15766-qjcu46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3888%2C2590&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/euroasian-red-squirrel-44142709">Seawhisper/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Abandoned and then resurrected in 2020, <a href="https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2593">the Environment Bill</a> is now entering the final stages of its passage through Parliament. This is the UK government’s post-Brexit policy framework for issues like air quality, pollution, climate change and biodiversity.</p>
<p>Leaving the EU gave the UK Parliament the power to set its own environmental policy, a responsibility it has grappled with since July 2018, when a draft version of the Environment Bill was first announced. Campaigners have decried the government’s decision to reject changes to the bill which would enshrine <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58968871">greater protection for forests</a> and oblige water companies to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/20/mps-set-to-reject-move-to-make-water-firms-cut-sewage-discharges">reduce raw sewage discharges</a> in rivers. But there’s a more fundamental issue with the bill which could make it a failure even on its own terms. </p>
<p>At its heart is a list of five <a href="https://consult.defra.gov.uk/environmental-principles/draft-policy-statement/supporting_documents/draftenvironmentalprinciplespolicystatement.pdf">environmental principles</a> by which government ministers would be bound upon the bill’s entry into law.</p>
<p>First there’s the “integration principle”, which compels ministers to embed environmental protection in all of their policies. Then there’s the “prevention principle”, which would require government policy to aim to prevent, reduce or mitigate environmental harm. The “rectification at source principle” states that if damage to the environment cannot be prevented, it should be tackled at its origin, while the “polluter pays principle” requires those responsible for causing damage to the environment be responsible for compensating for it. The “precautionary principle” means that a lack of scientific certainty shouldn’t postpone measures to prevent environmental damage when there is a serious threat.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A river in summer with milky water pollution." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427773/original/file-20211021-27-1x1keue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427773/original/file-20211021-27-1x1keue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427773/original/file-20211021-27-1x1keue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427773/original/file-20211021-27-1x1keue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427773/original/file-20211021-27-1x1keue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427773/original/file-20211021-27-1x1keue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427773/original/file-20211021-27-1x1keue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Will the Environment Bill tackle sewage damage to rivers?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/foam-pollution-on-summer-river-bad-1762938881">MikhailBerkut/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The bill has been <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmenvfru/1893/1893.pdf">criticised</a> for not requiring public authorities like local councils to follow its principles, and for giving ministers <a href="https://theconversation.com/environment-bill-a-laudable-but-disappointing-attempt-to-rewrite-the-law-after-brexit-110858">too much freedom</a> to determine how to interpret them.</p>
<p>Many critics are worried that while the principles point UK environmental policy in the right direction, they don’t force the government to travel there. But for me, the bigger problem is that the principles don’t actually point us in <a href="https://theconversation.com/environmental-policy-isnt-value-neutral-where-do-the-ethics-hide-31679">any direction at all</a>.</p>
<h2>The five principles in practise</h2>
<p>Principles three, four, and five refer to averting environmental “damage”, while the second principle refers to “environmental harm”. These expressions seem to make sense. </p>
<p>But something can only be damaged or harmed in comparison to a baseline of good functioning, which remains undefined. And while the first principle encourages “environmental protection”, protecting something just means preventing harm or damage to it, which brings us back to where we started. So where should this baseline be set?</p>
<p>One might think that it’s easy enough to assess the good functioning of the environment. At a bare minimum, the environment isn’t functioning well if it cannot support life. However, there’s no realistic scenario under which the Earth’s environment becomes hostile to all life. </p>
<p>As the biologist Stephen Jay Gould <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429496653-11/golden-rule-proper-scale-environmental-crisis-stephen-jay-gould">reminds us</a>, the combined power of the world’s nuclear weapons is dwarfed by the power of the asteroid strike thought to have killed the dinosaurs, and yet that strike not only failed to wipe out all life on Earth but paved the way for the rise of the mammals.</p>
<p>Just as the environmental change created by the asteroid had its winners (the mammals) and losers (the dinosaurs), even changes like causing the <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/evolution/is-extinction-ever-good-thing.htm">extinction</a> of a species can provide benefit to others and so aren’t purely harmful. </p>
<p>Consider the recent furore over <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/31/geronimo-alpaca-killed-four-year-battle-save-him-fails">Geronimo the alpaca</a> in the UK, which was killed by government officials after twice testing positive for bovine tuberculosis. The decision to kill Geronimo was, obviously, bad for Geronimo. But it was arguably good for other animals who might have contracted tuberculosis from him. So was the government, by approving the killing of Geronimo, averting environmental “damage” and “harm” – or causing it?</p>
<p>This question has no answer. There is no such thing as an environment being good or bad, better or worse. The Earth’s environment simply serves the interests of some at the expense of others, as do our interventions in it. This makes environmental policy an ethical matter. </p>
<h2>Environmental ethics</h2>
<p>In the case of Geronimo, for example, do politicians have ethical obligations to domesticated animals? I think they do, which I argue in my forthcoming <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Contractarianism-Role-Obligations-and-Political-Morality/Sachs/p/book/9781032120188">book</a> Contractarianism, Role Obligations, and Political Morality. And if that’s the case then the government’s killing of Geronimo was unjustified even if it served the greater good.</p>
<p>Part of the ethical duty of democratic institutions is to make judgements around contentious questions like these. The UK Parliament, for instance, must clarify either that it counts as environmental damage if an animal is harmed or killed or that environmental damage concerns only what is good or bad for humans.</p>
<p>By declining to address these questions, Parliament is abdicating its duty to set clear guidelines for environmental protection. Nor does Parliament solve the problem by adopting the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)‘s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs">policy statement</a> on how the five principles should be interpreted, as that statement doesn’t address these questions either.</p>
<p>Consider, for instance, whether new forests should be planted for the sake of removing carbon from the atmosphere, but at the cost of using land that otherwise might support a more <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/23/row-over-uk-tree-planting-drive-we-want-the-right-trees-in-the-right-place">biodiverse ecosystem</a>. It is up to people working for the Forestry Commission and Defra to take that difficult decision, but they are unelected and not easily held accountable for their actions. </p>
<p>It’s hard to think of a question on which it’s more important to reach a democratic decision than the question of what we want our environment to look like. As tempting as it may be for MPs to hand that decision over to someone else, the time for delaying these debates is fast running out.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166366/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Sachs-Cobbe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The bill promises to prevent environmental damage and harm where possible, but what will this entail?
Benjamin Sachs-Cobbe, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of St Andrews
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/163406
2021-07-22T11:59:10Z
2021-07-22T11:59:10Z
Monks Wood Wilderness: 60 years ago, scientists let a farm field rewild – here’s what happened
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412640/original/file-20210722-15-wsb1hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1909%2C1011&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the <a href="https://www.ceh.ac.uk/">archive</a> of the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology there is a typed note from the 1960s that planted the seed of an idea. </p>
<p>Written by Kenneth Mellanby, director of the Monks Wood Experimental Station, a former research centre in Cambridgeshire, UK, the note describes a four-hectare arable field that lies next to the station and the ancient woodland of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cambridgeshires-national-nature-reserves/cambridgeshires-national-nature-reserves">Monks Wood National Nature Reserve</a>. After harvesting a final barley crop, the field was ploughed and then <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2401566">abandoned in 1961</a>.</p>
<p>The note reads:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It might be interesting to watch what happens to this area if man does not interfere. Will it become a wood again, how long will it take, which species will be in it?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So began the Monks Wood Wilderness experiment, which is now 60 years old. A rewilding study before the term existed, it shows how allowing land to naturally regenerate can expand native woodland and help tackle climate change and biodiversity loss.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410881/original/file-20210712-27-17lmjco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black-and-white aerial photograph of the field station with an empty farm field highlighted." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410881/original/file-20210712-27-17lmjco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410881/original/file-20210712-27-17lmjco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410881/original/file-20210712-27-17lmjco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410881/original/file-20210712-27-17lmjco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410881/original/file-20210712-27-17lmjco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410881/original/file-20210712-27-17lmjco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410881/original/file-20210712-27-17lmjco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Monks Wood Wilderness field (outlined in red) shortly after abandonment in the early 1960s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How new woodland generates itself</h2>
<p>A shrubland of thorn thickets emerged after the first ten to 15 years. Dominated by bramble and hawthorn, its seeds were dropped by thrushes and other berry-eating birds. This thicket protected seedlings of wind-blown common ash and field maple, but especially English oak, whose acorns were <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/beh/70/1-2/article-p1_1.xml">planted by Eurasian jays</a> (and maybe grey squirrels too) as forgotten food caches. It’s thought that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/16/half-the-trees-in-two-new-english-woodlands-planted-by-jays-study-finds">jays were particularly busy</a> in the Monks Wood Wilderness, as 52% of the trees are oaks.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Eurasian jay on the woodland floor." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410889/original/file-20210712-15-15iu7cf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410889/original/file-20210712-15-15iu7cf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410889/original/file-20210712-15-15iu7cf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410889/original/file-20210712-15-15iu7cf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410889/original/file-20210712-15-15iu7cf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410889/original/file-20210712-15-15iu7cf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410889/original/file-20210712-15-15iu7cf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jays habitually collect and cache acorns in autumn. Forgotten caches germinate into oak seedlings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The intermediate shrubland stage was a suntrap of blossom and wildflowers. Rabbits, brown hares, muntjac deer and roe deer were all common, but the protective thicket meant there was no need for fencing to prevent them eating the emerging trees. Those trees eventually rose up and closed their canopy above the thicket, which became the woodland understorey.</p>
<p>The result is a structurally complex woodland with multiple layers of tree and shrub vegetation, and accumulating deadwood as the habitat ages. This complexity offers niches for a wide variety of woodland wildlife, from fungi and invertebrates in the dead logs and branches, to song thrushes, garden warblers and nuthatches which nest in the ground layer, understorey and tree canopy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woodland scene with trees and green understorey." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412636/original/file-20210722-27-l9m3tf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412636/original/file-20210722-27-l9m3tf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412636/original/file-20210722-27-l9m3tf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412636/original/file-20210722-27-l9m3tf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412636/original/file-20210722-27-l9m3tf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412636/original/file-20210722-27-l9m3tf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412636/original/file-20210722-27-l9m3tf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Monks Wood Wilderness in 2021, after 60 years of natural regeneration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Monks Wood experiment benefited from the field lying close to an ancient woodland, which meant an ample supply of seeds and agents for their dispersal – jays, rodents, and the wind. Such rapid colonisation of the land would be unlikely in more remote places, or where deer are superabundant. </p>
<p>But there are many woods in the UK that could expand by allowing adjacent fields to return to nature. This would eventually add up to a significant increase in total woodland cover.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410899/original/file-20210712-27-sb09tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An aerial view of the field station with a square patch of woodland highlighted." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410899/original/file-20210712-27-sb09tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410899/original/file-20210712-27-sb09tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410899/original/file-20210712-27-sb09tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410899/original/file-20210712-27-sb09tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410899/original/file-20210712-27-sb09tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410899/original/file-20210712-27-sb09tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410899/original/file-20210712-27-sb09tn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Monks Wood Wilderness (outlined in red) in 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tree planting or natural regeneration?</h2>
<p>The UK is one of the least forested places in Europe, with just 13% forest cover compared to an average of <a href="https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/forestry-statistics/forestry-statistics-2018/international-forestry/forest-cover-international-comparisons/">38% across the EU</a>. Only half of the UK’s forest is native woodland, which sustains <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-008-9380-x">a wide variety</a> of indigenous species. The rest is dominated by non-native conifer plantations grown for timber.</p>
<p>This situation is gradually changing. The UK government aims to create 30,000 hectares of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/budget-speech-2020">new woodland each year</a> until 2025, providing new habitat for <a href="https://www.bto.org/our-science/publications/state-uks-birds/state-uks-birds-2020">wildlife</a> and helping reach net zero emissions, as woodland <a href="http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/5419124441481216">stores more carbon</a> than any other habitat except peatlands.</p>
<p>With the climate and biodiversity crises getting worse each day, there’s an urgent need to expand woodland fast. But how? Tree planting is the usual approach, <a href="https://www.cla.org.uk/news/thinking-planting-woodland/">but it’s costly</a>. Saplings also have to be grown, transported, planted and protected with fencing and plastic tubes – that’s a lot of carbon emissions and potential <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969721033106">plastic pollution</a>, as tubes break down into the soil.</p>
<p>What about <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6438/eaav5570">doing virtually nothing</a> instead? <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/plant-trees/natural-regeneration/">Natural regeneration</a> involves creating woodlands by allowing trees and shrubs to plant themselves under natural processes. It’s free and involves no plastic or nursery-grown saplings, which <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389934116301435">can introduce diseases</a>. The result is woodland that’s well adapted to local conditions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An oak seedling poking through a grass field." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411912/original/file-20210719-19-1hoiv7p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3988%2C2239&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411912/original/file-20210719-19-1hoiv7p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411912/original/file-20210719-19-1hoiv7p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411912/original/file-20210719-19-1hoiv7p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411912/original/file-20210719-19-1hoiv7p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411912/original/file-20210719-19-1hoiv7p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411912/original/file-20210719-19-1hoiv7p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Oak seedlings were early pioneers in the regeneration of the woodland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Allowing the land to naturally regenerate sounds exciting, but planners and ecologists need to know where this approach is likely to work best. How abandoned land turns into woodland is rarely documented, as it usually happens where people have walked away. </p>
<p>The Monks Wood Wilderness fills in this gap in our knowledge as an example of planned natural regeneration that has been monitored over decades, with a second two-hectare field (named the New Wilderness) added in 1996 to expand the experiment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412637/original/file-20210722-15-2n3epy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3403%2C1879&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An aerial view of new woodland." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412637/original/file-20210722-15-2n3epy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3403%2C1879&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412637/original/file-20210722-15-2n3epy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412637/original/file-20210722-15-2n3epy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412637/original/file-20210722-15-2n3epy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412637/original/file-20210722-15-2n3epy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412637/original/file-20210722-15-2n3epy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412637/original/file-20210722-15-2n3epy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shrubland in the New Wilderness field after 25 years, with hawthorns blossoming.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since the 1990s, the two Wildernesses have been regularly surveyed by scientists counting and measuring trees on foot and tracking tree cover from planes and drones. These surveys documented the development of woodland over 60 years <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0252466">in our recently published study</a>, revealing the patterns of habitat regeneration.</p>
<p>We can now finally answer Mellanby’s 60-year old questions. Within 40 to 50 years, the ploughed field became a closed canopy woodland with almost 400 trees per hectare. And as the canopy grows taller, more plant and animal species are arriving, such as marsh tits and purple hairstreak butterflies – mature woodland specialists that have made a home here as the habitat gradually converges with the ancient woodland nearby. </p>
<p>The Wilderness experiment shows what’s possible when nature is allowed to create rich, native woodland for free. I think Mellanby would be pleased with how it all turned out.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163406/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard K Broughton receives funding from Natural England, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). </span></em></p>
“Will it become a wood again, how long will it take, which species will be in it?”
Richard K Broughton, Ecologist and Ornithologist at UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and Senior Research Associate in Zoology, University of Oxford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/161568
2021-05-26T13:51:46Z
2021-05-26T13:51:46Z
Garden bird feeders are boosting blue tit numbers – but leaving other species hungry
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402865/original/file-20210526-21-bfjfxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C168%2C2400%2C1627&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/small-blue-tit-sitting-on-bird-221372749">JGade/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I’ve filled feeders with seeds and nuts since I was a child and I’ve always loved seeing which birds arrive. <a href="https://www.nhbs.com/the-birds-at-my-table-book">I’m not alone</a> – around half of all UK households <a href="https://bioone.org/journals/Acta-Ornithologica/volume-50/issue-1/00016454AO2015.50.1.006/Wild-Bird-Feeding-in-an-Urban-Area--Intensity-Economics/10.3161/00016454AO2015.50.1.006.full">do the same nowadays</a>, spending <a href="https://www.bto.org/press-releases/boom-time-britains-bird-feeders">£250 million</a> on 150,000 tonnes of bird food each year. That’s enough to feed three times the breeding populations of the ten commonest garden species if they ate nothing else all year, with one feeder for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000632070800476X?via%253Dihub">every nine birds</a> that use them.</p>
<p>Have you ever wondered how all of that additional food might be affecting wild birds? How much has our generosity changed their natural diet, and what of the bird species we don’t see visiting garden feeders?</p>
<p>If you live in the UK, one garden visitor you’re probably used to seeing is the blue tit. <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/blue-tit/">Blue tits</a> are small, fast and often feed high in trees on tiny insects. Seeing exactly what they eat is tough. But with <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05403.x">new molecular technology</a>, we were able to test blue tit poo from <a href="https://phenoweb.org/">39 woodlands</a> across Scotland – some close to houses, some on remote mountainsides and some by the sea – and gain a fascinating insight into their average diet. </p>
<p>What myself and fellow researchers found surprised us. <a href="https://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/argyresthia-goedartella">A small moth caterpillar</a> that lives on birch trees was their most common natural prey item, present in a third of the poos we sampled. But among hundreds of species of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mec.15394">insect prey</a>, we also found garden bird food – <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rspb.2021.0480">and lots of it</a>. </p>
<p>Peanuts were present in half of all the poos – the most common food item for Scottish blue tits – and sunflower seeds in a fifth. And the birds weren’t just popping next door to find these garden treats. Some were travelling as much as 1.4km from remote areas to nibble on their favourite garden snacks. Clearly this has become part of their staple diet. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A blue tit clinging to a hanging string of peanuts." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402864/original/file-20210526-19-16z6lfs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402864/original/file-20210526-19-16z6lfs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402864/original/file-20210526-19-16z6lfs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402864/original/file-20210526-19-16z6lfs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402864/original/file-20210526-19-16z6lfs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402864/original/file-20210526-19-16z6lfs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402864/original/file-20210526-19-16z6lfs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Blue tits love the peanuts people leave for them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eurasian_blue_tit_-_2018.JPG">Ambrogio1997/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A blue tit bonanza</h2>
<p>Eating the food we provide gives blue tits <a href="https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/articles/blue-tit-diary">more energy</a> to lay eggs – five days earlier than blue tits that don’t. These earlier breeders are likely to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/5360?seq=1%23metadata_info_tab_contents">raise more healthy chicks</a>. Eating bird food was also linked to a <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rspb.2021.0480">nearly four-fold increase</a> in the proportion of adults available to breed in a given area. Where there used to be one pair of blue tits nesting, garden bird feeders nearby meant there was now likely to be almost four pairs sharing the same space.</p>
<p>Other woodland species such as <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/great-tit/">great tits</a>, <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/nuthatch/">nuthatches</a> and <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/great-spotted-woodpecker/">great spotted woodpeckers</a> that enjoy garden bird food are doing very well too. Their UK populations have increased on average over the last 25 years that bird feeding has <a href="https://www.nhbs.com/the-birds-at-my-table-book">really taken off</a>.</p>
<p>All this feeding might be giving these species an unfair advantage. These species have natural competitors in the woods that aren’t using bird feeders as much or at all, either because they’re shy or because they’re bullied by more dominant species, or because they don’t like the food people provide. These species include the <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/marsh-tit/">marsh tit</a>, <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/willow-tit/">willow tit</a>, <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/pied-flycatcher/">pied flycatcher</a>, <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/wood-warbler/">wood warbler</a> and <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/lesser-spotted-woodpecker/">lesser spotted woodpecker</a>. What’s happening to them is, sadly, not such good news.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white woodpecker with red marking on head clinging to tree bark." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402866/original/file-20210526-19-doqjn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402866/original/file-20210526-19-doqjn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402866/original/file-20210526-19-doqjn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402866/original/file-20210526-19-doqjn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402866/original/file-20210526-19-doqjn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402866/original/file-20210526-19-doqjn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402866/original/file-20210526-19-doqjn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lesser spotted woodpecker populations are declining in the UK.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/lesser-spotted-woodpecker-1056564980">Risto Puranen/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How to help all woodland birds</h2>
<p>On average, woodland birds that don’t use garden bird feeders have declined over the past 25 years, some to the point where they have almost <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/about-the-rspb/about-us/media-centre/press-releases/new-report-reveals-declines-in-uks-woodland-birds/%23:%7E:text=The%2520woodland%2520bird%2520indicator%2520shows,decline%2520of%2520any%2520UK%2520bird">disappeared from the UK countryside</a>. Nobody knows exactly why, and while this may be partly due to their habitat fragmenting and the climate warming, garden bird-feeding may have also played a role. </p>
<p>Due to people feeding them, there are now more dominant blue and great tits in the woods <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10111-5">than 25 years ago</a>, eating more of the limited natural food and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03078698.2018.1631610">evicting other species</a> from their nests. There are also more great spotted woodpeckers and squirrels, which eat the chicks of some birds. Perhaps an extra 700,000 pairs of very healthy and dominant great tits in woodlands is too much for the UK’s remaining 2,000 pairs of shy and subordinate willow tits.</p>
<p>While our results suggest there’s a link between how much woodland birds visit feeders and their population trends, they don’t show a direct cause, so we shouldn’t panic yet. While scientists study this problem, responsible bird lovers can help. </p>
<p>Consider contributing to the garden bird surveys organised by the <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/">RSPB</a> and the <a href="https://www.bto.org/">British Trust for Ornithology</a> to help scientists keep track of where birds are, in what numbers and what they’re doing. If you’re lucky enough to live where rare woodland bird species can still be found, consider providing less bird food to common species and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-you-may-need-to-encourage-social-distancing-around-your-bird-feeder-137134">cleaning your feeders regularly</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-you-may-need-to-encourage-social-distancing-around-your-bird-feeder-137134">Why you may need to encourage social distancing around your bird feeder</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Meanwhile, there are more natural ways to encourage wild birds into your garden. Planting native shrubs and trees like <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/rowan/">rowan</a>, <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/hawthorn/">hawthorn</a>, <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/silver-birch/">silver birch</a>, <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/spindle/">spindle</a> and <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/guelder-rose/">guelder rose</a> is one option. They are all beautiful year-round, fairly small and provide excellent habitats for wild birds. Other ideas include mowing lawns less often and <a href="https://theconversation.com/want-to-help-rare-birds-dig-a-pond-137136">digging ponds</a>. </p>
<p>As some rare species nest close to the ground, please keep dogs on leads while walking in woodlands during the spring too. But most importantly, keep enjoying the UK’s beautiful birds – in all their miraculous diversity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161568/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack Shutt receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council and Manchester Metropolitan University.</span></em></p>
Eating bird food was also linked to a nearly four-fold increase in their breeding densities.
Jack Shutt, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Conservation Ecology, Manchester Metropolitan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/158574
2021-05-05T18:06:48Z
2021-05-05T18:06:48Z
Early humans used fire to permanently change the landscape tens of thousands of years ago in Stone Age Africa
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398430/original/file-20210503-13-nd6j8k.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C179%2C4608%2C3269&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Today the shoreline of Lake Malawi is open, not forested the way it was before ancient humans started modifying the landscape.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jessica Thompson</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fields of rust-colored soil, spindly cassava, small farms and villages dot the landscape. Dust and smoke blur the mountains visible beyond massive Lake Malawi. Here in tropical Africa, you can’t escape the signs of human presence.</p>
<p>How far back in time would you need to go in this place to discover an entirely natural environment?</p>
<p>Our work has shown that it would be a very long time indeed – <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/19/eabf9776">at least 85,000 years</a>, eight times earlier than the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax1192">world’s first land transformations via agriculture</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MQkcYDYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">We</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=kNBySP0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">are</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZGB_9bQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">part</a> of an interdisciplinary collaboration between archaeologists who study past human behavior, geochronologists who study the timing of landscape change and paleoenvironmental scientists who study ancient environments. By combining evidence from these research specialities, we have identified an instance in the very distant past of early humans bending environments to suit their needs. In doing so, they transformed the landscape around them in ways still visible today.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395547/original/file-20210417-17-gv4vry.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="people excavate stone tools below the ground's surface" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395547/original/file-20210417-17-gv4vry.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395547/original/file-20210417-17-gv4vry.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395547/original/file-20210417-17-gv4vry.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395547/original/file-20210417-17-gv4vry.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395547/original/file-20210417-17-gv4vry.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395547/original/file-20210417-17-gv4vry.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395547/original/file-20210417-17-gv4vry.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Crew members excavate artifacts at a site in Karonga, Malawi, where stone tools are buried more than 3 feet (1 meter) below the modern ground surface.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jessica Thompson</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Digging for behavioral and environmental clues</h2>
<p>The dry season is the best time to do archaeological fieldwork here, and finding sites is easy. Most places we dig in these red soils, we find stone artifacts. They are evidence that someone sat and skillfully broke stones to create edges so sharp they can still draw blood. Many of these stone tools can be fit back together, reconstructing a single action by a single person, from tens of thousands of years ago.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395548/original/file-20210417-13-4zrut7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="stone tools paired together" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395548/original/file-20210417-13-4zrut7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395548/original/file-20210417-13-4zrut7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395548/original/file-20210417-13-4zrut7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395548/original/file-20210417-13-4zrut7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395548/original/file-20210417-13-4zrut7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395548/original/file-20210417-13-4zrut7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395548/original/file-20210417-13-4zrut7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Middle Stone Age artifacts, some of which can be fit back together.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abf4098">Sheila Nightingale</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So far we’ve recovered more than 45,000 stone artifacts here, buried many feet (1 to 7 meters) below the surface of the ground. The sites we are excavating date to a time ranging from about 315,000 to 30,000 years ago known as the Middle Stone Age. This was also a period in Africa when innovations in human behavior and creativity pop up frequently – and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03419-0">earlier than anywhere else in the world</a>. </p>
<p>How did these artifacts get buried? Why are there so many of them? And what were these ancient hunter-gatherers doing as they made them? To answer these questions, we needed to figure out more about what was happening in this place during their time.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395549/original/file-20210417-13-90z5s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="barge with drill floats in the distance on lake water" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395549/original/file-20210417-13-90z5s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395549/original/file-20210417-13-90z5s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395549/original/file-20210417-13-90z5s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395549/original/file-20210417-13-90z5s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395549/original/file-20210417-13-90z5s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395549/original/file-20210417-13-90z5s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395549/original/file-20210417-13-90z5s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Viphya drill barge on Lake Malawi, where researchers braved waterspouts and lake fly swarms to obtain a long record of past environments.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andy Cohen</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For a clearer picture of the environments where these early humans lived, we turned to the fossil record preserved in layers of mud at the bottom of Lake Malawi. Over millennia, pollen blown into the water and tiny lake-dwelling organisms became trapped in <a href="http://lrc.geo.umn.edu/laccore/">layers of muck on the lake’s floor</a>. Members of our collaborative team extracted a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.10.030">1,250-foot (380-meter) drill core</a> of mud from a modified barge, then painstakingly tallied the microscopic fossils it contained, layer by layer. They then used them to reconstruct ancient environments across the entire basin.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395893/original/file-20210420-21-1rylzf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Malawi landscape with patches of forest high in the hills" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395893/original/file-20210420-21-1rylzf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395893/original/file-20210420-21-1rylzf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395893/original/file-20210420-21-1rylzf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395893/original/file-20210420-21-1rylzf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395893/original/file-20210420-21-1rylzf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395893/original/file-20210420-21-1rylzf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395893/original/file-20210420-21-1rylzf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Today, the high plateaus of northern Malawi harbor most of the remaining forests that once extended all the way to the Lake Malawi shoreline.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jessica Thompson</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, this region is characterized by bushy, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actao.2020.103599">fire-tolerant open woodlands</a> that do not develop a thick and enclosed canopy. Forests that do develop these canopies harbor the richest diversity in vegetation; this ecosystem is now restricted to patches that occur at higher elevations. But these forests once stretched all the way to the lakeshore.</p>
<p>Based on the fossil plant evidence present at various times in the drill cores, we could see that the area around Lake Malawi repeatedly alternated between wet times of forest expansion and dry periods of forest contraction. </p>
<p>As the area underwent cycles of aridity, driven by natural climate change, the lake shrank at times to only 5% of its present volume. When lake levels eventually rose each time, forests <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14150">encroached on the shoreline</a>. This happened time and time again over the last 636,000 years.</p>
<h2>Harnessing fire to manage resources</h2>
<p>The mud in the core also contains a record of fire history, in the form of tiny fragments of charcoal. Those little flecks told us that around 85,000 years ago, something strange happened around Lake Malawi. Charcoal production spiked, erosion increased and, for the first time in more than half a million years, rainfall did not bring forest recovery.</p>
<p>At the same time this charcoal burst appears in the drill core record, our sites began to show up in the archaeological record – eventually becoming so numerous that they formed one continuous landscape littered with stone tools. Another drill core immediately offshore showed that as site numbers increased, more and more charcoal was washing into the lake. Early humans had begun to make their first permanent mark on the landscape.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395891/original/file-20210420-23-1ucsfyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="people silhouetted against bonfire at night" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395891/original/file-20210420-23-1ucsfyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395891/original/file-20210420-23-1ucsfyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395891/original/file-20210420-23-1ucsfyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395891/original/file-20210420-23-1ucsfyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395891/original/file-20210420-23-1ucsfyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395891/original/file-20210420-23-1ucsfyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395891/original/file-20210420-23-1ucsfyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many people around the world still rely on fire for warmth, cooking, ritual and socializing – including the research crew when doing fieldwork.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jessica Thompson</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fire use is a technology that stretches back <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0164">at least a million years</a>. Using it in such a transformative way is human innovation at its most powerful. Modern hunter-gatherers use fire to warm themselves, cook food and socialize, but many also deploy it as an engineering tool. Based on the wide-scale and permanent transformation of vegetation into more fire-tolerant woodlands, we infer that this was what these ancient hunter-gatherers were doing.</p>
<p>By converting the natural seasonal rhythm of wildfire into something more controlled, people can encourage specific areas of vegetation to grow at different stages. This so-called “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21482">pyrodiversity</a>” establishes miniature habitat patches and diversifies opportunities for foraging, kind of like increasing product selection at a supermarket.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395552/original/file-20210417-15-5xlhfa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="people digging in red earth at an outdoor archaeological site" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395552/original/file-20210417-15-5xlhfa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395552/original/file-20210417-15-5xlhfa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395552/original/file-20210417-15-5xlhfa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395552/original/file-20210417-15-5xlhfa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395552/original/file-20210417-15-5xlhfa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395552/original/file-20210417-15-5xlhfa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395552/original/file-20210417-15-5xlhfa.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The research team exposes ancient stone tools near Karonga, Malawi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jessica Thompson</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Just like today, changing any part of an ecosystem has consequences everywhere else. With the loss of closed forests in ancient Malawi, the vegetation became dominated by more open woodlands that are resilient to fire – but these did not contain the same species diversity. This combination of rainfall and reduced tree cover also increased opportunities for erosion, which spread sediments into a thick blanket known as an alluvial fan. It sealed away archaeological sites and created the landscape you can see here today.</p>
<h2>Human impacts can be sustainable</h2>
<p>Although the spread of farmers through Africa within the last few thousand years brought about more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1802172115">landscape and vegetation transformations</a>, we have found that the legacy of human impacts was already in place tens of thousands of years before. This offers a chance to understand how such impacts can be sustained over very long timescales.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395894/original/file-20210420-21-1ysfwud.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="aerial view of an excavation site in Malawi" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395894/original/file-20210420-21-1ysfwud.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395894/original/file-20210420-21-1ysfwud.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395894/original/file-20210420-21-1ysfwud.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395894/original/file-20210420-21-1ysfwud.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395894/original/file-20210420-21-1ysfwud.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395894/original/file-20210420-21-1ysfwud.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395894/original/file-20210420-21-1ysfwud.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Open woodlands have grown over alluvial fans that formed during the Middle Stone Age. Trenches such as this one at an excavation site show multiple layers of discarded artifacts over a period of tens of thousands of years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jessica Thompson</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most people associate human impacts with a time after the Industrial Revolution, but paleo-scientists have a deeper perspective. With it, researchers like us can see that wherever and whenever humans lived, we must abandon the idea of “<a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/17/e2023483118">pristine nature</a>,” untouched by any human imprint. However, we can also see how humans shaped their environments in sustainable ways over very long periods, causing ecosystem transformation without collapse.</p>
<p>Seeing the long arc of human influence therefore gives us much to consider about not only our past, but also our future. By establishing long-term ecological patterns, conservation efforts related to fire control, species protection and human food security can be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01361-4">more targeted and effective</a>. People living in the tropics, such as Malawi today, are especially vulnerable to the economic and social impacts of food insecurity brought about by <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2019/gaef3516.doc.htm">climate change</a>. By studying the deep past, we can establish connections between long-term human presence and the biodiversity that sustains it.</p>
<p>With this knowledge, people can be better equipped to do what humans had already innovated nearly 100,000 years ago in Africa: manage the world around us.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HaO9UPvirQk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Paleoanthropologist Jessica Thompson explains the research.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s newsletter explains what’s going on with the coronavirus pandemic. <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=coronavirus-going-on">Subscribe now</a>.</em>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158574/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Thompson has received funding for this research from the Australian Research Council, Wenner-Gren Foundation, and National Geographic Society-Waitt Foundation. She is affiliated with Yale University and the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Arizona State University, the Paleoanthropology Society, the Society of Africanist Archaeologists, and the Society for American Archaeology. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David K. Wright has received funding from the Wenner-Gren Foundation, National Geographic Foundation, Nordforsk (Nordic Council of Ministers) fund and the National Research Foundation of Korea. He is affiliated with the University of Oslo and the State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and is a member of the Society for American Archaeology and the Society of Africanist Archaeologists.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Ivory receives funding from the US National Science Foundation and the Belmont Forum. </span></em></p>
Combining evidence from archaeology, geochronology and paleoenvironmental science, researchers identified how ancient humans by Lake Malawi were the first to substantially modify their environment.
Jessica Thompson, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Yale University
David K. Wright, Professor of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo
Sarah Ivory, Assistant Professor of Geosciences, Penn State
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/147481
2020-10-30T16:09:12Z
2020-10-30T16:09:12Z
Underwater forests draw down carbon too – why do we ignore coastal habitats?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364762/original/file-20201021-21-1rfdekr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/european-otter-lutra-mother-cub-sleeping-1670937574">Chrispo/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The climate crisis means that countries around the world are not only looking to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions – but also to increase natural carbon sequestration.</p>
<p>The UK government, for example, is committed to a massive increase in woodland cover – some <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/press-centre/2020/06/government-planting-figures/">30,000 hectares</a> (300km²) per year – to meet its legally binding 2050 net zero greenhouse gas emissions <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-becomes-first-major-economy-to-pass-net-zero-emissions-law">target</a>. Together with re-wetting half the country’s degraded peatlands, this will help offset residual emissions in other sectors. </p>
<p>Yet as an island nation with the <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/fields/282.html">12th longest coastline</a> in the world, perhaps the UK is missing something. Marine and coastal habitats are rich in carbon, but they are entirely overlooked in the greenhouse gas (GHG) <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions-statistics-user-guidance">inventory</a>.</p>
<p>GHG inventories are national accounts of emissions that cause global warming, from transport, construction, agriculture and so on, and underpin any country’s national and international reporting requirements for greenhouse gases. They include a category for land-based carbon sinks, such as woodlands and peat bogs. Coastal habitats, however, such as saltmarshes, seagrass meadows and kelp forests, aren’t currently included in the UK’s inventory.</p>
<p>Large areas of these habitats have been lost or damaged by agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries practice, so their exclusion potentially hides a national loss of carbon. Indeed, globally it is estimated that the CO₂ lost from degraded or vanished <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0043542">coastal wetlands</a> is equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of the UK.</p>
<h2>The trouble with woodland</h2>
<p>The government’s much publicised but largely unrealised tree-planting ambitions currently meet around a third of the required 30,000 hectares <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/in-depth-qa-how-will-tree-planting-help-the-uk-meet-its-climate-goals">per year</a>. There are many reasons why woodland expansion is desirable, but it’s also a tough ask. Land is a valuable commodity and woodland creation always comes with an opportunity cost: the goods or income that the land might otherwise achieve.</p>
<p>This is particularly true where that land is in private hands. The costs of tree planting are mostly upfront and it can be many years before a woodland breaks even financially. Yet even in the 1980s, with government subsidies that perversely incentivised the creation of plantations in the <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p223441/html/ch09.html?referer=146&page=16">least appropriate</a> areas, the highest planting rates never topped what we now need to see on a sustained basis for the next three decades.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Rows of protected seedlings." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364766/original/file-20201021-13-523x8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364766/original/file-20201021-13-523x8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364766/original/file-20201021-13-523x8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364766/original/file-20201021-13-523x8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364766/original/file-20201021-13-523x8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364766/original/file-20201021-13-523x8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364766/original/file-20201021-13-523x8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Woodland planting in the uplands of Cumbria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Atkinson</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Trees also take a long time to grow. Some have argued that by the time the carbon is locked into the trees and the soils beneath them it will be too late to stop <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6463/eaay8060">runaway temperature rise</a>. Others point to the multiple benefits that <a href="https://www.wcl.org.uk/docs/Link_woodland_expansion_principles_Feb2020.pdf">woodlands provide</a>, such as timber, recreation and natural flood protection, as reasons canopy extent should be expanded no matter the difficulties.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-crisis-how-to-make-space-for-2-billion-trees-on-a-crowded-island-like-the-uk-128098">Climate crisis: how to make space for 2 billion trees on a crowded island like the UK</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Carbon coastline</h2>
<p>Given these issues, it’s worth noting that the UK is surrounded by some of the <a href="https://www.millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.288.aspx.pdf">most productive</a> actively sequestering habitats on the planet. Often referred to as “blue carbon” habitats, saltmarshes and seagrass meadows lock carbon down by trapping organic material into sediment, which can build at rates similar to temperate <a href="https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/using-nature-to-find-solutions-to-human-problems/">woodland plantations</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, kelp forests grow on rocky surfaces and so don’t sequester carbon locally, but produce and release <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.14303">large amounts</a> of carbon via erosion. Some of this carbon then makes its way to be <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo2790">sequestered</a> in sea lochs, offshore sediments and the deep sea.</p>
<p>It’s perhaps surprising that these extensive sources and sinks of carbon are ignored in the UK government’s greenhouse gas accounting, especially when nations such as Belize and another <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjV0PWPjY_sAhVTuXEKHbGkCKUQFjAEegQIARAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.org%2Fcontent%2Fdam%2Ftnc%2Fnature%2Fen%2Fdocuments%2FBC_NDCs_FINAL.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2eCzacDePJuC9_v4XbnRTe">27 countries</a> around the world are including coastal wetlands in their national response to climate change.</p>
<h2>What lies beneath</h2>
<p>The exclusion is primarily due to some significant knowledge gaps. To date, estimates of the UK’s coastal and marine carbon stocks and flows come from a <a href="https://www.nature.scot/sites/default/files/Publication%202014%20-%20SNH%20Commissioned%20Report%20761%20-%20Assessment%20of%20carbon%20budgets%20and%20potential%20blue%20carbon%20stores%20in%20Scotland%27s%20coastal%20and%20marine%20environment.pdf">single study</a> in Scotland, which suggested nearly 8 million tonnes of marine-derived carbon is sequestered around the Scottish coast each year.</p>
<p>When scaled across the whole of the UK these quantities will be much higher, but the full extent of many of the country’s coastal carbon stores is unknown. Mapping underwater habitats is a challenging and costly process, requiring a combination of direct and remotely-sensed observations, and computer modelling. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A dog sits on top of a pile of kelp on a beach." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364768/original/file-20201021-19-1do9eht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364768/original/file-20201021-19-1do9eht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364768/original/file-20201021-19-1do9eht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364768/original/file-20201021-19-1do9eht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364768/original/file-20201021-19-1do9eht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364768/original/file-20201021-19-1do9eht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364768/original/file-20201021-19-1do9eht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Blue carbon habitats produce vast amounts of detritus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pippa Moore</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another unknown is precisely how carbon is sequestered, partitioned and stored over space and time. Kelp forests are more extensive around the UK than seagrass meadows and saltmarsh, and we need to identify the sinks where the kelp’s carbon ends up.</p>
<p>But these knowledge gaps shouldn’t be a hindrance. Importantly, including these habitats in the greenhouse gas inventory would also benefit conservation efforts. Protecting and restoring seagrass meadows, saltmarshes and kelp forests would supply a host of additional ecosystem services. Together they provide nurseries for many commercially important species such as cod, crab and lobster. They also reduce coastal flooding and erosion and play a major role in maintaining water quality.</p>
<p>As on land, marine habitats depend on connectivity to function. Many species move between <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/12/10/366">different habitats</a>, so a holistic conservation approach is required.</p>
<p>A focus on blue carbon would also fit well with the shifting business attention on the “<a href="https://uni-bge.hu/szervezetiegysegek/KANCELLARIA/PALYAZATIIRODA/dokumentumok/ISSUE/TBL-elkington-chapter.pdf">triple bottom line</a>”, which makes environmental and social governance as important as financial profits. Supermarket supply chains, for example, could become more sustainable if action was also being taken to protect the environments from which products are being harvested.</p>
<p>With the UK chairing next year’s <a href="https://www.ukcop26.org">COP 26</a> UN climate conference, there is a real opportunity to demonstrate global leadership. Let’s hope this isn’t missed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147481/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pippa Moore received funding from a Marie Curie Career Integration Grant (PCIG10-GA-2011-303685). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Atkinson consults on nature based solutions, natural capital and carbon markets. </span></em></p>
Is the UK government missing the wood for the trees?
Pippa Moore, Professor of Marine Science, Newcastle University
Nick Atkinson, Associate Fellow, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/146922
2020-10-01T20:06:02Z
2020-10-01T20:06:02Z
Every year in Australia, nature grows 8 new trees for you — but that alone won’t fix climate change
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360976/original/file-20201001-24-rvwa7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>From Tasmania’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/photos-from-the-field-capturing-the-grandeur-and-heartbreak-of-tasmanias-giant-trees-144743">majestic forest giants</a> to the eucalypt on your <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-land-abounds-in-nature-strips-surely-we-can-do-more-than-mow-a-third-of-urban-green-space-124781">nature strip</a>, trees in Australia are many, varied and sometimes huge. But how many are there exactly? And how does their number change over time? </p>
<p>To answer such questions, we mapped changes in Australia’s tree cover in detail, using 30 years of satellite images. We published the results in a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0303243420304189">recent paper</a> and made the data available for everyone in our new <a href="http://anuwald.science/tree">TreeChange web interactive</a>. </p>
<p>Perhaps surprisingly, it turns out that since 1990 we’ve been gaining trees faster than we are losing them. On average, we’ve been gaining eight “standard trees” per year for every Australian. </p>
<p>In total, we found there is currently the equivalent of 1,000 standard trees for every Australian. But this doesn’t mean all our forests are doing well. </p>
<h2>There are 24 billion standard trees in Australia</h2>
<p>Counting trees is difficult, as there are always more small trees than big ones. So we defined a “standard”: imagine a gum tree with a trunk 30 centimetres in diameter, standing about 15 metres tall. </p>
<p>It’s the sort of good-sized tree you might find in your street or backyard — not huge, but not small either. It might have been planted 15 or 20 years ago. Cut it down and let it dry out, and it will weigh about half a ton. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/photos-from-the-field-capturing-the-grandeur-and-heartbreak-of-tasmanias-giant-trees-144743">Photos from the field: capturing the grandeur and heartbreak of Tasmania's giant trees</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>To count the number of trees in Australia, we first estimated the total mass of trees by combining satellite and field measurements. Then we compared this result to the weight of a standard tree. </p>
<p>We found the total forest biomass across Australia holds the equivalent of about 24 billion standard trees. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360113/original/file-20200926-20-1j3v50v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360113/original/file-20200926-20-1j3v50v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360113/original/file-20200926-20-1j3v50v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360113/original/file-20200926-20-1j3v50v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360113/original/file-20200926-20-1j3v50v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360113/original/file-20200926-20-1j3v50v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360113/original/file-20200926-20-1j3v50v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360113/original/file-20200926-20-1j3v50v.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If you want to know how forests and woodlands are faring in your state, council or on any property, you can use our TreeChange interactive.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What this means for forests and carbon emissions</h2>
<p>If the total mass and number of trees has increased in Australia, does this mean the area of forests has expanded, too? To determine that, you need to decide how many trees make a forest. </p>
<p>Typically, to be called a forest in Australia, <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/forestsaustralia/australias-forests">a canopy of trees over two meters tall needs to shade 20% of the ground</a>. If only 10-20% of the ground is shaded, we call it a woodland instead.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/across-the-world-trees-are-growing-faster-dying-younger-and-will-soon-store-less-carbon-145785">Across the world, trees are growing faster, dying younger – and will soon store less carbon</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>By this definition, we gained a staggering 28 million hectares of forest over the last 30 years, plus another 24 million hectares of woodland. </p>
<p>So where did they come from, and why wasn’t it reported in the news? Probably because most of the trees were already there. They just grew larger and denser, and crossed the threshold of our definition of a forest, so were counted in. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360115/original/file-20200926-22-ujfsrr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360115/original/file-20200926-22-ujfsrr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360115/original/file-20200926-22-ujfsrr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360115/original/file-20200926-22-ujfsrr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360115/original/file-20200926-22-ujfsrr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360115/original/file-20200926-22-ujfsrr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360115/original/file-20200926-22-ujfsrr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Examples of standard trees, pictured outside my office.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And are eight new trees each year, per person, enough to soak up our greenhouse gas emissions? No. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-answer-the-argument-that-australias-emissions-are-too-small-to-make-a-difference-118825">By international standards our emissions are massive</a>, equivalent to the carbon stored in 24 standard trees per person per year. Even so, those eight new trees do us a big favour. </p>
<p>And additional carbon is stored on the forest floor in, for example, logs and branches, as well as under the surface as organic matter. This is worth, perhaps, several more trees of carbon. But it is not clear how safe those carbon deposits are from fire and drought. </p>
<p>Still, if you wanted to set yourself a new year’s resolution, planting those additional 16 trees would be a great start. </p>
<h2>Gains and losses</h2>
<p>The increasing trend in forest extent has not been smooth — there have been big swings corresponding to wet and dry periods. </p>
<p>For example, the climate of northern Australia <a href="https://theconversation.com/state-of-the-climate-2018-bureau-of-meteorology-and-csiro-109001">has become wetter</a> over the last 30 years, which has helped tree growth. Changes in fire regime and the fertilising effect of our carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere may also have played a role.</p>
<p>And just like increased rainfall can help increase the area of forests, drought and bushfire can cause them to disappear. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360978/original/file-20201001-22-1y3b47b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360978/original/file-20201001-22-1y3b47b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360978/original/file-20201001-22-1y3b47b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360978/original/file-20201001-22-1y3b47b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360978/original/file-20201001-22-1y3b47b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360978/original/file-20201001-22-1y3b47b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360978/original/file-20201001-22-1y3b47b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360978/original/file-20201001-22-1y3b47b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bushfires can thin vegetation so it falls short of the definition of a forest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bushfires may not remove or even kill most trees, but they can cause enough <a href="https://theconversation.com/death-of-a-landscape-why-have-thousands-of-trees-dropped-dead-in-new-south-wales-48657">dieback</a>, scorching or thinning for the vegetation to fall short of the definition of a forest or woodland. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/many-of-our-plants-and-animals-have-adapted-to-fires-but-now-the-fires-are-changing-129754">Many of our plants and animals have adapted to fires, but now the fires are changing</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>Logging can also cause a patchwork of gains and losses when it goes through cycles of harvesting, regrowth and replanting. And land clearing of native forests still occurs in Australia, such as in the old growth forests of Tasmania, which are vital for native wildlife. </p>
<h2>It’s not all good news</h2>
<p>While we found the total area and biomass of forests and woodlands has been rising, quality can be more important than quantity when it comes to our ecosystems.</p>
<p>Many things are required to make up a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378112706005123">high quality forest</a>, such as a rich understory of perennial species, including grasses and shrubs, and even logs and branches on the ground. These features provide important habitats for many native animals.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/comic-explainer-forest-giants-house-thousands-of-animals-so-why-do-we-keep-cutting-them-down-106708">Comic explainer: forest giants house thousands of animals (so why do we keep cutting them down?)</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Large old trees are also important. Some trees take hundreds of years to reach their greatest size, towering <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-05/search-for-australias-giants-where-is-our-biggest-tree/8766292">up to 100 meters tall</a>. </p>
<p>These forest giants are an ecosystem in themselves, with birds and tree-dwelling mammals, such as sugargliders, relying on their nooks and crannies. Old growth forests also hold far more carbon than a new forest. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360979/original/file-20201001-18-1sc2r6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360979/original/file-20201001-18-1sc2r6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360979/original/file-20201001-18-1sc2r6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360979/original/file-20201001-18-1sc2r6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360979/original/file-20201001-18-1sc2r6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360979/original/file-20201001-18-1sc2r6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360979/original/file-20201001-18-1sc2r6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360979/original/file-20201001-18-1sc2r6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many native birds rely on the nooks and crannies of old growth trees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In some cases, a few remaining forests and woodlands are all that’s left of an endangered ecosystem, such as once-abundant <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-drought-breaking-rains-transformed-these-critically-endangered-woodlands-into-a-flower-filled-vista-140638">box gum grassy woodlands</a>. </p>
<p>Such old or rare forests are difficult or impossible to replace once lost. So creating new forests should never be seen as an alternative for protecting our existing ones.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/where-the-old-things-are-australias-most-ancient-trees-65893">Where the old things are: Australia's most ancient trees</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146922/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Albert Van Dijk receives or has previously received funding from several government-funded agencies, grant schemes and programmes.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cris Brack has received funding from the Australian Research Council. He is a Member of the Institute of Foresters of Australia and the ACT Climate Change Council as well as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pablo Rozas Larraondo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
We counted the number of standard trees in Australia. It turns out that since 1990, we’ve actually been gaining trees faster than losing them.
Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University
Cris Brack, Associate Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University
Pablo Rozas Larraondo, Research fellow, Australian National University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/140968
2020-06-18T18:03:28Z
2020-06-18T18:03:28Z
How forest loss has changed biodiversity around the globe over the last 150 years
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342712/original/file-20200618-41217-7jvkjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2250%2C1495&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Forests around the world are changing, affecting unique biodiversity.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Malkolm Boothroyd</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Earth’s forests have been changing ever since the first tree took root. For 360 million years, trees have grown and been felled through a dynamic mix of hurricanes, fires and natural regeneration. But with the dawn of the 17th century, humans began <a href="https://earthenginepartners.appspot.com/science-2013-global-forest">replacing large swathes of forest</a> with farms and cities. </p>
<p>The global pace of deforestation has <a href="https://ipbes.net/news/global-assessment-summary-policymakers-final-version-now-available">slowed in the 21st century</a>, but forests are still disappearing – albeit at different rates in different parts of the world. <a href="https://theconversation.com/increasing-wildfires-threaten-to-turn-northern-hemispheres-boreal-forests-from-vital-carbon-stores-into-climate-heaters-122069">Boreal forests</a>, which grow in the far north of the world and across vast areas of Canada and Russia, are expanding further north as the climate warms, turning tundra into new woodland. Many temperate forests, like those in Europe, saw their greatest destruction centuries ago. But in the tropics, forest loss is accelerating in previously pristine wilderness. </p>
<p>As forest cover has fluctuated over time, the biodiversity within forests has changed too. Forests support around <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/biodiversity/">80% of all species living on land</a>, but the species we see on our woodland walks today are likely to be different from those people saw in the past. Many species, such as the <a href="https://eol.org/pages/126522">Alpine longhorn beetle</a>, survive in <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160422163146.htm">intact old-growth forests</a>, while species like the red fox have managed to thrive in areas with higher human impact.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/animals-are-disappearing-from-forests-with-grave-consequences-for-the-fight-against-climate-breakdown-new-research-124746">Animals are disappearing from forests, with grave consequences for the fight against climate breakdown – new research</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We wanted to know how changes in biodiversity worldwide are linked to changes in the world’s forests, but this was always difficult, as the effects of forest loss vary from one place to the next. How biodiversity shifts over time following forest loss hadn’t been explored around the globe – until now.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342674/original/file-20200618-41204-kh0jpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342674/original/file-20200618-41204-kh0jpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342674/original/file-20200618-41204-kh0jpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342674/original/file-20200618-41204-kh0jpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342674/original/file-20200618-41204-kh0jpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342674/original/file-20200618-41204-kh0jpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342674/original/file-20200618-41204-kh0jpt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Alpine longhorn beetle persists in old-growth forests across continental Europe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gergana Daskalova</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Diverse responses</h2>
<p><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6497/1341">In our new paper</a>, we matched estimates of forest loss throughout history with records of the <a href="https://livingplanetindex.org/home/index">numbers</a> and <a href="http://biotime.st-andrews.ac.uk">types of plants and animals</a> monitored each year by scientists around the world.</p>
<p>Harnessing over five million records across 150 years at over 6,000 locations, we were surprised to find that forest loss didn’t always lead to declines in biodiversity. Instead, when forest cover declined, <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.aba1289">changes in biodiversity intensified</a>, with increases in the abundance of some species and decreases in others. The composition of forest life – the different types of species present – was altered too. The rate at which these changes happened in each location accelerated as forest cover shrank.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342670/original/file-20200618-41213-puncj1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5184%2C3453&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342670/original/file-20200618-41213-puncj1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342670/original/file-20200618-41213-puncj1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342670/original/file-20200618-41213-puncj1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342670/original/file-20200618-41213-puncj1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342670/original/file-20200618-41213-puncj1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342670/original/file-20200618-41213-puncj1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researchers concluded that deforestation doesn’t cause uniform declines in biodiversity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gergana Daskalova</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The effects of forest loss were not uniform in all places. The loss of the same sized patch of forest led to biodiversity declines in one area and increases in another. Knowing the history of a particular place was important for understanding this variation. Whether or not forest loss of that magnitude had occurred at that location in the past usually determined what happened in the present. Once pristine forests saw biodiversity declines and historically disturbed forests often experienced no change or even saw increases in biodiversity.</p>
<p>When forests were lost in previously pristine wilderness, we found declines in the abundance of animals like <a href="https://theconversation.com/swift-parrots-need-protection-from-sugar-gliders-but-thats-not-enough-85906">swift parrots in Australia</a>, tigers in Russia and capercaillies (a type of grouse) in Spain. These species only tend to thrive in ancient and lightly disturbed forest habitats.</p>
<p>The species that we discovered increasing in abundance after forest loss included white storks, Eurasian skylarks, red deer and red foxes – species which have evolved alongside disturbance and are more adaptable.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/430310639" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Delayed effects</h2>
<p>Changes in biodiversity didn’t always immediately follow forest loss. We discovered that the pace at which forest loss altered biodiversity differed among short-lived species, such as light-loving plants like <a href="https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/9021/hypericum-perforatum/details">St John’s wort</a>, and longer-lived species like <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/r/red-tailed-hawk/">red-tailed hawk</a>. The longer the lifespan of a species, the longer it took for the effects of forest loss to register.</p>
<p>Sometimes the effects carried across generations. Red-tailed hawks may manage to raise their young alongside deforestation, but these offspring may struggle to prosper in the shrinking habitat, and ultimately fail to produce young of their own. If resources are scarce, species with longer lifetimes could persist but not reproduce for decades. That’s how the impact of forest loss on such species might only appear decades after the first wave of deforestation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342678/original/file-20200618-41200-1o1xv3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342678/original/file-20200618-41200-1o1xv3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342678/original/file-20200618-41200-1o1xv3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342678/original/file-20200618-41200-1o1xv3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342678/original/file-20200618-41200-1o1xv3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342678/original/file-20200618-41200-1o1xv3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342678/original/file-20200618-41200-1o1xv3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The pace at which biodiversity responds to forest loss can vary from a couple of years to several decades.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gergana Daskalova</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These delayed effects highlight how important it is to monitor plants and animals over decades. A single snapshot in time cannot detect the full extent of human impacts on biodiversity. With a longer perspective, we are better equipped to conserve Earth’s biodiversity not just now, but <a href="https://www.cbd.int/conferences/post2020">for decades to come</a>.</p>
<p>By combining datasets from around the world, we can understand the state of the world’s forests and of the millions of plants and animals they support. Changes in the biodiversity matter because they directly affect the benefits that forests provide for people, such as clean air and a brake on climate change. With a better understanding of how forest loss influences biodiversity, we can improve future conservation and restoration efforts around the planet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140968/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maria Dornelas receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust, NERC and the Australian Museum. She is affiliated with the Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gergana Daskalova receives funding from The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, the NERC E3 DTP and the National Geographic Society. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isla Myers-Smith receives or has received funding and/or support from the UK Natural Environment Research Council, EU Horizon 2020, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, National Geographic Society, the Royal Geographical Society and other international research funding and government organisations. </span></em></p>
New findings show how changes in land use have complex effects on animal and plant species.
Maria Dornelas, Reader in Biology, University of St Andrews
Gergana Daskalova, PhD Candidate in Global Change Ecology, The University of Edinburgh
Isla Myers-Smith, Chancellor's Fellow in Global Change Ecology, The University of Edinburgh
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/128098
2020-01-28T16:54:46Z
2020-01-28T16:54:46Z
Climate crisis: how to make space for 2 billion trees on a crowded island like the UK
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311981/original/file-20200127-81341-12yee10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=241%2C0%2C5315%2C3704&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/newly-planted-trees-row-332124959">Matt Kay/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK’s official climate advisor, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), recently published a report outlining how to reduce the 12% of greenhouse gas emissions that come from land use by two thirds by 2050. Alongside recommending <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-51210622">cutting meat and dairy consumption by 20%</a>, the report calls for <a href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/01/23/uk-must-cut-land-use-emissions-two-thirds-meet-2050-goal-advisers-warn/">the annual creation</a> of up to 50,000 hectares of broadleaf and conifer woodland for the next three decades. This would increase forest cover from 13% to at least 17% – a level not seen in Britain <a href="https://theconversation.com/rewilding-is-essential-to-the-uks-commitment-to-zero-carbon-emissions-107541">since before the Norman invasion</a>.</p>
<p>Reforestation at that rate would mean creating roughly the area of the city of Leeds every year for the next three decades. At typical stocking densities of 1,500 stems per hectare, the ambition is to establish some 2.25 billion additional trees. Given that the UK, as with most of Europe, is in the grip of <a href="https://theconversation.com/ash-dieback-one-of-the-worst-tree-disease-epidemics-could-kill-95-of-uks-ash-trees-116567">ash dieback</a>, a disease likely to prove fatal for many millions of native ash trees, the scale of the challenge is massive.</p>
<p>On a crowded and intensively farmed island like Britain, unlocking a million and a half hectares of land will be no mean feat. But it’s not impossible – and is an unprecedented opportunity not only to tackle the climate crisis but also the biodiversity crisis that is <a href="https://ipbes.net/global-assessment-report-biodiversity-ecosystem-services">every bit as detrimental to our wellbeing</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311983/original/file-20200127-81395-wyvbcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311983/original/file-20200127-81395-wyvbcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311983/original/file-20200127-81395-wyvbcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311983/original/file-20200127-81395-wyvbcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311983/original/file-20200127-81395-wyvbcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311983/original/file-20200127-81395-wyvbcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311983/original/file-20200127-81395-wyvbcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311983/original/file-20200127-81395-wyvbcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Restoring woodlands could reduce net carbon emissions from the UK and offer refuge for wildlife.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/panoramic-view-bluebell-carpets-fishgarth-wood-419801785">Daniel_Kay/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Trees and farms</h2>
<p>One million and a half hectares is just 6% of the mainland UK’s land area. To give some sense of perspective on this, 696,000 hectares of “temporary grassland” <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/structure-of-the-agricultural-industry-in-england-and-the-uk-at-june">were registered in 2019</a>. So if land supply is not the problem, what is? Often it’s cultural inertia. Farmers are firmly rooted to the land and perhaps understandably reluctant to stop producing food and instead become foresters. But the choice need not be so binary.</p>
<p>The intensification of agriculture has caused <a href="https://theconversation.com/top-five-threats-to-uks-wildlife-and-what-to-do-about-them-new-report-124670">catastrophic declines in many species</a> throughout the UK by reducing vast wooded areas and thousands of miles of hedgerows to small pockets of vegetation, isolating populations and making them <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/2/e1500052">more vulnerable to extinction</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rewild-25-of-the-uk-for-less-climate-change-more-wildlife-and-a-life-lived-closer-to-nature-123836">Rewild 25% of the UK for less climate change, more wildlife and a life lived closer to nature</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Integrating trees with the farmed landscape delivers multiple benefits for farms and the environment. Reforestation doesn’t have to mean a return to the ecologically and culturally inappropriate single-species blocks of non-native conifers, which were planted en masse in the 1970s and 1980s. Incentivised under tax breaks to secure a domestic timber supply, many of the resulting plantations were located in places difficult or in some cases impossible to actually harvest.</p>
<p>Productive farmland needn’t be converted to woodland. Instead, that 6% of land could be found by scattering trees more widely. After all, more trees on farmland is good for business. They prevent <a href="https://theconversation.com/soil-is-our-best-ally-in-the-fight-against-climate-change-but-were-fast-running-out-of-it-128166">soil erosion</a> and the run-off of pollutants, provide shade and shelter for livestock, a useful source of renewable fuel and year-round forage for pollinating insects.</p>
<p>The first tranche of tree planting could involve new hedgerows full of large trees, preferably with wide headlands of permanently untilled soils, providing further wildlife refuge.</p>
<h2>Natural regeneration</h2>
<p>Where appropriate, new woody habitats can be created simply by stopping how the land is currently used, such as by removing livestock. This process can be helped by scattering seeds in areas where seed sources are low. But patience is a virtue. If people can learn to tolerate less <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-hyper-manicured-public-spaces-hurt-urban-wildlife-109449">clipped and manicured landscapes</a>, nature can run its own course.</p>
<p>A focus on deliberate tree planting also raises uncomfortable truths. Most trees are planted with an accompanying stake to keep them upright and a plastic shelter that protects the sapling from grazing damage. All too often, these <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/environment-plastic-tree-guards-a-plague-on-new-woodland-2jspvhrlv">shelters aren’t retrieved</a>. Left to the elements, they break down into ever smaller pieces, and can be swept into rivers and eventually the ocean, where they <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2018.00238/full">threaten marine wildlife</a>. Two billion tree shelters is a lot of plastic.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311982/original/file-20200127-81411-19pra9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311982/original/file-20200127-81411-19pra9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311982/original/file-20200127-81411-19pra9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311982/original/file-20200127-81411-19pra9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311982/original/file-20200127-81411-19pra9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311982/original/file-20200127-81411-19pra9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311982/original/file-20200127-81411-19pra9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Plastic tree guards are supposed to prevent herbivores eating tree saplings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/trees-planted-plastic-protective-collars-designed-627771959">Thinglass/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The main reason for using tree shelters at all is because the deer population in the UK is so high that in many places, it is all but impossible to establish new trees. This also has serious implications for existing woodland, which is prevented from naturally regenerating. In time, these trees will age and die, threatening the loss of the woodland itself. Climate change, pests and pathogens and the lack of a coordinated, centrally supported approach to deer management means the outlook for the UK’s existing treescape is uncertain at best.</p>
<p>An ecologically joined-up solution would be to reintroduce the natural predators of deer, such as lynx, wolves, and bears. Whether rewilding should get that far in the UK is still the subject of debate. Before that, perhaps the focus should be on providing the necessary habitat, rich in native trees.</p>
<p>A positive response would be to implement the balanced recommendations, <a href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130402170324/http:/archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/biodiversity/documents/201009space-for-nature.pdf">made almost a decade ago in a government review</a>, of creating more new habitat, improving what’s already there, and finding ways to link it together. More habitats that are bigger, better, and more connected.</p>
<p>But the UK is losing trees at increasing rates and not just through diseases. The <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/sheffield-tree-massacre-parks-green-city-spaces-felling-street-council-yorkshire-a8286581.html">recent removal of Victorian-era street trees</a> in Sheffield and many other towns and cities is another issue to contend with. As the climate warms, increasing urban temperatures will mean citis need shade from street trees <a href="https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/files/54524206/FULL_TEXT.PDF">more than ever</a>.</p>
<p>Trees aren’t the environmental panacea that the politicians might have people believe – even if they do make for great photo opportunities – but we do need more of them. Efforts to expand tree cover are underway across the world and the UK will benefit from contributing its share. Hitting the right balance – some commercial forestry, lots of new native woodland and millions of scattered trees – will be key to maximising the benefits they bring.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Imagineheader1128098">Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128098/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Atkinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The UK’s official climate advisor recommends up to 50,000 hectares of new woodland each year by 2050.
Nick Atkinson, Senior Lecturer in Ecology & Conservation, Nottingham Trent University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/123836
2019-10-01T14:42:19Z
2019-10-01T14:42:19Z
Rewild 25% of the UK for less climate change, more wildlife and a life lived closer to nature
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294836/original/file-20190930-194819-171rlak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5472%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/absXfGwBax4">Eduard Militaru/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK’s Labour Party has pledged to offer voters a <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-labours-green-new-deal-123982">Green New Deal</a> at the next election. This is a radical programme for decarbonising society and the economy by 2030, through phasing out fossil fuels, investing in renewable energy and creating a public works programme to build the zero-carbon infrastructure of the future.</p>
<p>In my recent report, <a href="https://common-wealth.co.uk/gnd-for-nature.html">A Green New Deal for Nature</a>, I argued that giving land back to nature could be another part of this vision. Restoring forests and other natural habitats to 25% of the UK’s land surface could sequester 14% of the UK’s annual greenhouse gas emissions each year. As emissions are scaled down and these ecosystems expand, they could continue to remove much greater quantities of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in future.</p>
<p>Often called “<a href="https://theconversation.com/george-monbiot-q-a-how-rejuvenating-nature-could-help-fight-climate-change-115313">natural climate solutions</a>”, restoring forests and wetlands draws carbon down from the atmosphere and stores it in the tissue of new vegetation and soil. On a large scale, and alongside leaving fossil fuels in the ground, this could help to <a href="https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/assets/uploads/Rewilding%20and%20Climate%20Breakdown%20-%20a%20report%20by%20Rewilding%20Britain.pdf">limit global heating to well below 2°C</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294820/original/file-20190930-194829-i0klpp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294820/original/file-20190930-194829-i0klpp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294820/original/file-20190930-194829-i0klpp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294820/original/file-20190930-194829-i0klpp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294820/original/file-20190930-194829-i0klpp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294820/original/file-20190930-194829-i0klpp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294820/original/file-20190930-194829-i0klpp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Domesday Book of 1086 indicated forest cover of 15%, ‘but significant loss of woodland started over 4,000 years ago in prehistory’. By the beginning of the 20th century, this had dropped to 5%.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestry_in_the_United_Kingdom#/media/File:Woodland_as_a_percentage_of_land_area_in_England.png">Defra</a></span>
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<p>These habitats can be restored through rewilding, which means giving natural processes a helping hand by stopping the draining of peatland for example, or letting a woodland regrow. Reintroducing species that were once extinct in a region can also help ecosystems regenerate. While letting nature take care of itself isn’t appropriate in all cases, rewilding is one of the most powerful and cost-effective ways to resist climate breakdown and wildlife loss at the same time.</p>
<p>But what might that look like in practice?</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/you-can-rewild-your-garden-into-a-miniature-rainforest-imagine-newsletter-4-119150">You can rewild your garden into a miniature rainforest – Imagine newsletter #4</a>
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<h2>The “green” in the Green New Deal</h2>
<p>For wildlife, it’s important that restored habitats are connected. Linked habitats allow plants and animals to move more easily as temperatures rise and rainfall patterns change. If species can migrate through green corridors to cooler areas, they could avoid local extinctions. This could mean a network of expanded hedgerows and woodland that criss-crosses the land, connecting wild habitats and ensuring species can migrate safely between them. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1176738223172796416"}"></div></p>
<p>Other changes include reintroducing European beavers to flood plains to help manage flood risks. In remote places like the Scottish Highlands, wolves could return to keep herbivores in check and help woodlands rebound, increasing their long-term potential to store carbon. Rewilding instead of burning or draining carbon-rich peatlands would allow their vegetation and carbon stocks to recover. Wildlife, from insects to birds and large mammals, would have space to flourish. The UK would switch from being one of the world’s <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/documents/conservation-projects/state-of-nature/state-of-nature-uk-report-2016.pdf">most nature-depleted countries</a> to a green and vibrant land.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294796/original/file-20190930-194819-1fanpm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294796/original/file-20190930-194819-1fanpm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294796/original/file-20190930-194819-1fanpm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294796/original/file-20190930-194819-1fanpm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294796/original/file-20190930-194819-1fanpm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294796/original/file-20190930-194819-1fanpm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294796/original/file-20190930-194819-1fanpm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Beavers have returned to the UK’s rivers after an absence of 500 years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beaver-river-summer-time-close-1137219260?src=jYyZ-HQPC89ZnhwNyuzPTg-1-1">Abi Warner/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>This may sound utopian, but it’s not. The UK is a densely populated country, and with <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/747210/structure-jun2018prov-UK-11oct18.pdf">72% of the land area used for agriculture</a>, it might seem that there’s little room for anything else. But less than 20% of the UK is <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/articles/uknaturalcapitallandcoverintheuk/2015-03-17">occupied by crops</a> or <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/bulletins/uknaturalcapital/ecosystemaccountsforurbanareas">dense urban communities</a>, so 80% of it could be better managed for nature and storing carbon. </p>
<p>Some 45% of the UK’s land surface is given to <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/articles/uknaturalcapitallandcoverintheuk/2015-03-17">grazing livestock</a>. The poorest land for agricultural productivity is only farmed because of taxpayer subsidies. Meanwhile, about 13% of the UK is allocated to grouse-shooting and deer-stalking, often on degraded peatlands that are managed at huge environmental cost for the benefit of a tiny number of hunters. This land is currently of little value for food production, but it could store plenty of carbon if rewilded.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rewilding-is-essential-to-the-uks-commitment-to-zero-carbon-emissions-107541">Rewilding is essential to the UK’s commitment to zero carbon emissions</a>
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<p>The exact locations should be the subject of local knowledge and consultation, but reducing grazing land from 45% of the UK to 33% and returning that 12% to wild habitat could provide half of the carbon storage needed. Restoring half of the UK’s peatlands could add 6% more land, alongside protecting the 7% of the UK that is already broadleaf woodlands and wildflower meadows. Together, this would make 25% of the UK’s land a refuge for wildlife and a vast reservoir of CO₂.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294814/original/file-20190930-194873-kc019k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294814/original/file-20190930-194873-kc019k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294814/original/file-20190930-194873-kc019k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294814/original/file-20190930-194873-kc019k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294814/original/file-20190930-194873-kc019k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294814/original/file-20190930-194873-kc019k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294814/original/file-20190930-194873-kc019k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Lady Fen wetland in Norfolk was recently restored to 300 acres.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/newly-rewilded-lady-fen-welney-wetland-1375754642?src=6i_O4WrUyB4vPkdI5TzrtQ-1-0">Tony Mills/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>How can it be done?</h2>
<p>Farm subsidies currently give £3 billion to UK farmers ever year. By some estimates, subsidies are <a href="https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/common-agricultural-policy">half the income of many farmers</a>. After Brexit, this money could be given to farmers to reward them for storing carbon and rewilding, making this more financially viable than grazing on agriculturally poor land.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/america-can-afford-a-green-new-deal-heres-how-111681?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Imagine%201&utm_content=Imagine%201+CID_6d9285c2afe852f6a71b5a38843fa62a&utm_source=campaign_monitor_uk&utm_term=America%20can%20afford%20a%20Green%20New%20Deal">Economy-wide carbon taxes</a> could also pay for rewilding schemes, while the government could also issue green bonds to raise funds to lend to landowners, helping cover the early costs of restoring land to wild habitat.</p>
<p>Reducing the demand for farm produce from land will also be key to making space for nature. This means cutting down on the most inefficient use of land – farming for meat and dairy, which uses between <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/meat-production">four and 100 times the land area</a> to produce a single gram of protein compared to beans, nuts and other plant sources. Policies which make it easier for everyone to eat food that’s healthy and sustainable – including less meat and dairy – are the final pieces of the puzzle. </p>
<p>Less climate change, more wildlife, and a longer life lived closer to nature. That’s a lot to gain from modest investments in how land is used in the UK.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Imagineheader1123836">Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123836/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Lewis has received funding from Natural Environment Research Council, the Royal Society, the European Union, the Leverhulme Trust, the Centre for International Forestry, National Parks Agency of Gabon, Microsoft Research, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. </span></em></p>
Restoring Britain’s woodlands and peatlands isn’t just a utopian dream.
Simon Lewis, Professor of Global Change Science at University of Leeds and, UCL
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/119786
2019-07-10T15:17:56Z
2019-07-10T15:17:56Z
Climate change: having the right combination of tree ‘personalities’ could make forests more resilient
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283509/original/file-20190710-44457-nc2rgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3368&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-trees-planted-together-roots-interwoven-1055910128?src=OWrLefbZP4Bti-ljhj4fhg-1-26&studio=1">Thitima khudkam/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every tree in a forest has a neighbour. In many forest neighbourhoods, the same species are often found living together, especially when the growing conditions are similar. Sometimes these neighbours are close and sometimes far apart, but collectively they form part of a community, with some species naturally being more dominant than others, especially in terms of biomass production. But what happens when the going gets tough? A drought is coming and there’ll be winners and losers. </p>
<p>Droughts can be a big challenge for many trees, and one that is only going to get worse as the world shifts to a <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/climate-change-has-influenced-global-drought-risk-for-more-than-a-century">hotter, drier climate</a>. Different species have different strategies for dealing with this kind of stress, but how they deal with losing water is particularly important.</p>
<p>Trees have tiny pores in their leaves that they can open and close called stomata. Trees lose water through their stomata in a process called transpiration, and absorb carbon dioxide for use in photosynthesis – how plants make their food. Some trees are more conservative, closing their stomata early on in a drought to prevent water loss, but this also limits how much carbon dioxide they can take in and so how much energy they can generate. </p>
<p>Some trees use a riskier strategy and leave these pores open for longer to continue absorbing carbon dioxide, but this also increases the risk of a process called cavitation, which stops them being able to transport water. Clearly, each strategy has its advantages and disadvantages, and all trees sit somewhere between really conservative and really risky.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283490/original/file-20190710-44479-td0ech.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283490/original/file-20190710-44479-td0ech.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283490/original/file-20190710-44479-td0ech.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283490/original/file-20190710-44479-td0ech.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283490/original/file-20190710-44479-td0ech.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283490/original/file-20190710-44479-td0ech.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283490/original/file-20190710-44479-td0ech.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283490/original/file-20190710-44479-td0ech.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stomata allow trees to inhale carbon dioxide (CO₂) and exhale oxygen (O₂) and water (H₂O).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/magnified-leaf-stomata-schematic-opened-closed-1266203932?src=pJRx9tJTlFHuQdcackMzqw-1-0&studio=1">NoPainNoGain/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Diversity like this in trees is fortunate, because if every species relied on the exact same strategy it would be a bit like putting all of their eggs in one basket. Having only a single strategy to deal with all that life can throw at them would leave forests pretty vulnerable. A diverse range of strategies for coping with stress is what gives forests some of their essential stability and resilience. </p>
<p>Which species has the best strategy to survive will depend in part on how long a stressful event lasts, how intense it is, how frequently it occurs - and what its neighbours are doing. How all of these different strategies work in a stressful environment like a drought will determine how the whole forest fares. A bit like personalities in humans, sometimes they work well together and everyone benefits, but sometimes they clash.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-scandal-of-calling-plantations-forest-restoration-is-putting-climate-targets-at-risk-114858">The scandal of calling plantations 'forest restoration' is putting climate targets at risk</a>
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<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10021-017-0214-0">Recent research</a> has started to tease apart who wins and who loses when certain species are planted together, and how this changes under stressful conditions. Somewhat amazingly, much of this information can be extracted from tree rings, which contain a physical record of how well each individual tree grew when something like a drought came along.</p>
<p>Tree rings allow scientists to see how different trees respond to the same stressful event - and how the identity of the species in their immediate neighbourhood influences this response. Crucially, this research is also shedding light on some of the complicated reasons why species respond so differently depending on who they grow next to.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282285/original/file-20190702-126396-vfbrjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282285/original/file-20190702-126396-vfbrjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282285/original/file-20190702-126396-vfbrjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282285/original/file-20190702-126396-vfbrjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282285/original/file-20190702-126396-vfbrjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282285/original/file-20190702-126396-vfbrjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282285/original/file-20190702-126396-vfbrjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Each pale and dark ring together denote a year’s growth. The wider the ring, the more growth occurred during that year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tom Ovenden</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Love thy neighbour</h2>
<p>Why some trees do better next to certain neighbours and not others is extremely complicated and not yet fully understood. But at a basic level, we can imagine that each tree species has a whole range of traits, characteristics and functions that make up its personality.</p>
<p>How a tree responds to stress might have something to do with the level of direct competition between its neighbours. For example, some trees have deep roots and some trees have shallow roots – two trees with shallow roots will directly compete for water, but a deep rooted species can access water lower down in the soil and avoid some of this competition. This is called “niche differentiation” – by using the environment differently, two different species can occupy the same place. </p>
<p>Being able to predict which tree species will make good and bad neighbours is really important. For instance, placing two trees together that are more risky when it comes to deciding when to close their stomata could mean they use up the limited water quicker than a conservative and a risky tree growing together.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/reforesting-an-area-the-size-of-the-us-needed-to-help-avert-climate-breakdown-say-researchers-are-they-right-119842">Reforesting an area the size of the US needed to help avert climate breakdown, say researchers – are they right?</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>Reforesting large parts of the Earth has been suggested as a method for slowing climate change. Technologies are being developed to suck carbon from the air and store it too, but trees have benefited from a <a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-where-did-trees-come-from-92518">350m year research and development programme</a> that makes them perfect for the task. </p>
<p>Understanding what tree species work well together – and crucially why – can help <a href="https://theconversation.com/reforesting-an-area-the-size-of-the-us-needed-to-help-avert-climate-breakdown-say-researchers-are-they-right-119842">guide how reforestation is implemented</a> in the decades to come. With a greater variety of tree “personalities”, forests are likely to be more resilient to droughts, pests and diseases than those made up of a single species. Diversity comes in many forms – making sure the forests planted today are resilient in the future will partly depend on choosing tree neighbours wisely.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Imagineheader1119786">Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119786/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Ovenden receives funding from Forest Research, Stirling University and the Scottish Forestry Trust. Tom is an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Foresters.</span></em></p>
The species which surround a tree in a forest make up the character of its neighbourhood. Good neighbours can make forests resilient to climate change.
Tom Ovenden, PhD candidate - Forest Ecology and Resilience, University of Stirling
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/119842
2019-07-04T20:42:07Z
2019-07-04T20:42:07Z
Reforesting an area the size of the US needed to help avert climate breakdown, say researchers – are they right?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282679/original/file-20190704-51312-1x73xxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3992%2C2241&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/autumn-forest-aerial-drone-view-1025286829?src=fGgFPgXpYmAUyjeID-qKVA-1-36&studio=1">Inga Linder/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Restoring the world’s forests on an unprecedented scale is “the best climate change solution available”, <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6448/76">according to a new study</a>. The researchers claim that covering 900m hectares of land – roughly the size of the continental US – with trees could store up to 205 billion tonnes of carbon, about two thirds of the carbon that humans have already put into the atmosphere.</p>
<p>While the best solution to climate change remains leaving fossil fuels in the ground, we will still need to suck carbon dioxide (CO₂) out of the atmosphere this century if we are to keep global warming below 1.5˚C. So the idea of reforesting much of the world isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. </p>
<p>Since the dawn of agriculture, humans have cut down <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14967">three trillion trees</a> – about half the trees on Earth. Already 43 countries have pledged to <a href="http://www.bonnchallenge.org/">restore 292m hectares</a> of degraded land to forest worldwide. That’s an area ten times the size of the UK. But what the new study advocates is reforesting something like ten times that amount.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282647/original/file-20190704-51273-1nshfiu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282647/original/file-20190704-51273-1nshfiu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282647/original/file-20190704-51273-1nshfiu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282647/original/file-20190704-51273-1nshfiu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282647/original/file-20190704-51273-1nshfiu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282647/original/file-20190704-51273-1nshfiu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282647/original/file-20190704-51273-1nshfiu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282647/original/file-20190704-51273-1nshfiu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trees absorb CO₂ from the air and store the carbon as bark and other tissue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Maslin</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rewilding habitats and reforesting may be easier in the future as the world is already becoming a wilder place in many areas. This may seem a strange prediction, given that the global population will grow from 7.7 billion to 10 billion by 2050, but by then <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html">nearly 70%</a> of us will live in cities and have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tLfhRqCtQA&feature=youtu.be">abandoned rural areas</a>, making them ripe for <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44389413">restoration</a>. In Europe already, <a href="http://www.fao.org/forest-resources-assessment/past-assessments/fra-2015/en/">2.2m hectares of forest</a> regrew per year between 2000-2015, and forest cover in Spain has increased from 8% of the country’s territory in 1900 to 25% today.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rewilding-as-farmland-and-villages-are-abandoned-forests-wolves-and-bears-are-returning-to-europe-119316">Rewilding: as farmland and villages are abandoned, forests, wolves and bears are returning to Europe</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Massive reforestation isn’t a pipe dream and it can have real benefits for people. In the late 1990s, environmental deterioration in China became critical, with vast areas resembling the <a href="https://theconversation.com/national-service-for-the-environment-what-an-army-of-young-conservationists-could-achieve-113276">Dust Bowl of the American Midwest in the 1930s</a>. Six bold programmes were introduced, targeting over 100m hectares of land for reforestation. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddocument/9783319115047-c2.pdf?SGWID=0-0-45-1491130-p176989718">Grain for Green</a> is the largest and best known of these. It reduced soil erosion and stabilised local rainfall patterns. The ongoing programme has also helped to alleviate poverty by making payments directly to farmers who set aside their land for reforestation.</p>
<p>Better yet, the new study suggests that bringing back 900m hectares of forest wouldn’t impact on our capacity to reserve land for growing food. This is certainly possible, and in line with other <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/">estimates</a>. Reforestation may even result in production from farmland increasing, as was found in <a href="https://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddocument/9783319115047-c2.pdf?SGWID=0-0-45-1491130-p176989718">China</a> when more stable rainfall and fertile soil followed the return of forests.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282210/original/file-20190702-126360-1tu3yul.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282210/original/file-20190702-126360-1tu3yul.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282210/original/file-20190702-126360-1tu3yul.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282210/original/file-20190702-126360-1tu3yul.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282210/original/file-20190702-126360-1tu3yul.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282210/original/file-20190702-126360-1tu3yul.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282210/original/file-20190702-126360-1tu3yul.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282210/original/file-20190702-126360-1tu3yul.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Where the billion hectares of forest could be planted – excluding desert, farmland and urban areas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.aax9539">Crowther Lab</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282209/original/file-20190702-126382-3d82k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282209/original/file-20190702-126382-3d82k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282209/original/file-20190702-126382-3d82k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282209/original/file-20190702-126382-3d82k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282209/original/file-20190702-126382-3d82k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282209/original/file-20190702-126382-3d82k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282209/original/file-20190702-126382-3d82k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282209/original/file-20190702-126382-3d82k3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How all of that new forest would look, alongside what’s already there.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.aax9539">Crowther Lab</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>No solution without emission cuts</h2>
<p>There should be more scepticism about how much CO₂ 900m hectares of new forest could store though. The paper insists on 205 billion tonnes of carbon, but this seems too high when compared to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01026-8">previous studies</a> or <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo1182">climate models</a>. The authors have forgotten the carbon that’s already stored in the vegetation and soil of degraded land that their new forests would replace. The amount of carbon that reforestation could lock up is the difference between the two.</p>
<p>Mature forests can store a lot of carbon, but this capacity is only reached after hundreds of years, not a couple of decades of new forest growth as assumed in this study. The most recent estimate from the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/">IPCC</a> suggests that new forests could store on average an extra 57 billion tonnes of carbon by the end of the century. This is still a huge number and could absorb about one sixth of the carbon that’s already in the atmosphere, but reforestation should be thought of as one solution to climate change among many.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282646/original/file-20190704-51292-117nda8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282646/original/file-20190704-51292-117nda8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282646/original/file-20190704-51292-117nda8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282646/original/file-20190704-51292-117nda8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282646/original/file-20190704-51292-117nda8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282646/original/file-20190704-51292-117nda8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282646/original/file-20190704-51292-117nda8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Radically reducing carbon emissions and absorbing the carbon that’s already in the atmosphere will be necessary to avert catastrophic climate change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Maslin</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even if warming is stabilised at 1.5˚C, the study indicates that one fifth of the land proposed for reforestation could be rendered too hot for growing new forests by 2050. But this concern ignores the role of <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ask-the-experts-does-rising-co2-benefit-plants1/">carbon dioxide fertilisation</a> – when there are higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, photosynthesis is more efficient, meaning plants need less water and can still be productive at higher temperatures. Today, the most immediate threat to tropical forests is <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48827490">deforestation by people</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-driving-wildfires-and-not-just-in-california-107240">and the fires they light which get out of control</a>, not the more subtle impacts of higher temperatures.</p>
<p>Reforesting an area the size of the US will have massive benefits on local environments and will store a huge amount of man-made carbon emissions. It is not, however, a substitute for reducing those carbon emissions. </p>
<p>Even if the world reduces its carbon emissions to zero by 2050, there will still need to be negative global carbon emissions for the rest of the century – drawing CO₂ out of the atmosphere to stabilise <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/">global warming at 1.5˚C</a>. Reforestation is essential for creating negative emissions – not reducing the amount of carbon that humans are still emitting.</p>
<p>There is another sting in the tail. Massive reforestation only works if the world’s current forest cover is maintained and increasing. Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest – the world’s largest – has <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48827490">increased</a> since Brazil’s new far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, came to power. Current estimates suggest areas of rainforest the size of a football pitch are being cleared <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48827490">every single minute</a>.</p>
<p>It won’t be easy, but society needs to protect the forests we’ve got, and protect new forests in perpetuity to permanently keep carbon sequestered in trees and out of the atmosphere.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119842/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Maslin is a Founding Director of Rezatec Ltd, Director of The London NERC Doctoral Training Partnership and a member of Cheltenham Science Festival Advisory Committee. He is an unpaid member of the Sopra-Steria CSR Board. He has received grant funding in the past from the NERC, EPSRC, ESRC, Royal Society, DIFD, DECC, FCO, Innovate UK, Carbon Trust, UK Space Agency, European Space Agency, Wellcome Trust, Leverhulme Trust and British Council. He has received research funding in the past from The Lancet, Laithwaites, Seventh Generation, Channel 4, JLT Re, WWF, Hermes, CAFOD and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Lewis has received funding from Natural Environment Research Council, the Royal Society, the European Union, the Leverhulme Trust, the Centre for International Forestry, National Parks Agency of Gabon, Microsoft Research, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.</span></em></p>
Could our best shot at stopping climate catastrophe be restoring forests on a massive scale?
Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science, UCL
Simon Lewis, Professor of Global Change Science at University of Leeds and, UCL
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/108395
2018-12-07T12:36:47Z
2018-12-07T12:36:47Z
Agroforestry can help the UK meet climate change commitments without cutting livestock numbers
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249424/original/file-20181207-128190-1stq4lu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/healthy-livestock-enjoying-early-morning-sunlight-155638616?src=Z7PBCLiyg04eMBwp-nSAIw-1-34">Martin Fowler/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some 12m hectares of the UK is currently covered by agricultural grasslands which support a national lamb and beef industry worth approximately £3.7 billion. However, proposals have been made that this landscape should undergo radical changes to aid the country’s climate change commitments. A <a href="https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Land-use-Reducing-emissions-and-preparing-for-climate-change-CCC-2018.pdf">controversial government advisory report</a> recently produced by the independent Committee on Climate Change calls for UK lamb and beef production to be reduced by up to 50%. It claims that by replacing grazing land with forestry the UK will be able to substantially decrease its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.</p>
<p>The National Farmers Union <a href="https://www.nfuonline.com/news/latest-news/nfu-response-to-committee-on-climate-change-report/">has responded</a> to the report stating that it has no plans to reduce livestock numbers. Lamb and beef production is an important part of the UK’s cultural heritage, and is vital for supporting rural communities. The lamb and beef industry also provides the country with a supply of high-welfare locally sourced meat. In fact, the UK is the top lamb producer and the third largest beef producer <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Meat_production_statistics">in the EU</a>. And in 2016, the UK was <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/515048/food-farming-stats-release-07apr16.pdf">76% self-sufficient</a> in terms of its own food production. But lamb and beef production is also the greatest contributor to agricultural GHG emissions – the CCC report states that, in 2016, lamb, beef and dairy production combined contributed to around 58% of UK agricultural emissions. </p>
<p>Sheep and cattle grazing is also an integral part of how upland landscapes are currently managed. This is particularly true for Scotland, where managing the upland landscape is important for supporting other industries, such as game bird production. These upland systems have great potential for afforestation – the planting of trees in previously unforested areas – though this doesn’t necessarily have to result in a decrease in livestock numbers. </p>
<h2>Woodland integration</h2>
<p>Planting trees is a crucial step in the fight against climate change. Trees act as a carbon sink for CO2 and also provide <a href="https://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/woodland-economics/biofuels-from-trees/">a source of different biofuels</a> products. Previous planting schemes have seen success, for example, between 1990 and 2010 the area of the UK covered by woodland increased <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/mediafile/100229275/stake-of-uk-forest-report.pdf">from 2.6 to 2.8 million hectares</a>. But grazing land need not be taken away for the sake of this environmental initiative. Afforestation plans can be sensitive to the aforementioned socioeconomic and cultural factors if a balanced approach is taken.</p>
<p>So what can be done? Agroforestry might be a way to meet the Committee on Climate Change’s recommendation to release between three to seven million hectares of grassland for afforestation without affecting the UK’s food supply. </p>
<p>Under agroforestry schemes, new woodlands are grown and existing trees are cultivated on farmlands. The aim is to optimise farming systems by incorporating woodland into them rather than replacing grazing land with trees. Planting trees and hedgerows improves grass growth, protects against flooding and topsoil erosion, increases farmland biodiversity and provides a source of natural shelter for livestock. And if the trees are used for biofuel or timber they can provide additional farm income. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249425/original/file-20181207-128220-yulktv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249425/original/file-20181207-128220-yulktv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249425/original/file-20181207-128220-yulktv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249425/original/file-20181207-128220-yulktv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249425/original/file-20181207-128220-yulktv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249425/original/file-20181207-128220-yulktv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249425/original/file-20181207-128220-yulktv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249425/original/file-20181207-128220-yulktv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Highland cow enjoys the autumn sunshine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/highland-cow-on-edge-woodland-autumn-1240210684?src=dLembf21rWDePeGiVzYDlw-1-1">PJ photography/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Agroforestry schemes can improve animal welfare too. The 2018 lambing season resulted in an <a href="https://www.fginsight.com/news/news/fallen-stock-at-highest-levels-probably-ever-following-tough-lambing-season-63184">unprecedented lamb mortality rate</a>. But it has <a href="http://www.asap.asn.au/livestocklibrary/1984/Bird84.PDF">been shown that</a>, by providing a source of natural shelter, lamb mortality rates can be reduced by up to 50% during inclement weather.</p>
<p>Projects like this are already in place, for example the Welsh government’s Glastir scheme. Launched in 2012, this pan-Wales sustainable land management scheme rewards farmers financially for adhering to environmental guidelines. Though <a href="http://www.audit.wales/system/files/publications/Glastir_English_2014.pdf">it must be noted</a> that while Glastir has proven more effective than previous agri-environmental schemes, it has been criticised for its lack of measureable outcomes and its limited uptake by Welsh farmers.</p>
<p>With Brexit looming, now is the perfect time for agricultural reform as the country <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/12/gove-hails-plans-to-reward-uk-farmers-for-adopting-green-policies">revisits current land use policies</a>. As an industry that is currently so reliant on EU subsidies, there is a strong incentive to optimise production methods. Government discussions are already <a href="https://beta.gov.wales/sites/default/files/consultations/2018-07/brexit-and-our-land-consultation-document_0.pdf">well under way</a> over how to bring together the agriculture and forestry sectors in order to better manage pastoral landscapes. If agroforestry is incorporated in to these new agricultural policies and subsidy schemes there will be huge benefits for farmers, conservationists, the general public and the livestock they rely on.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108395/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charlotte Pritchard receives funding from KESS 2, a pan-Wales higher level skills initiative led by Bangor University on behalf of the HE sector in Wales. It is part funded by the Welsh Government’s European Social Fund (ESF) convergence programme for West Wales and the Valleys.</span></em></p>
Integrating trees into farming systems can improve farming, help the environment, and boost animal welfare too.
Charlotte Pritchard, PhD Researcher, Bangor University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/107535
2018-11-30T10:01:55Z
2018-11-30T10:01:55Z
Rare woodland wildlife at risk because of 50-year-old tree felling rules
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247977/original/file-20181129-170232-b5gv53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/curious-red-squirrel-peeking-behind-tree-363182720?src=tDW2Y1lP9zJ7wLi1Hdg-xA-1-102">VOJTa Herout/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the UK <a href="https://www.rsne.org.uk/squirrels-and-law">it is illegal</a> to deliberately kill or injure <a href="https://www.redsquirrelsunited.org.uk/">red squirrels</a>, disturb them while they are using a nest, or destroy their nests. Yet, although the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/69">1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act</a> provides these protections, there is a legal anomaly in England and Wales – one that can potentially undermine the conservation of the red squirrel, along with every other rare and endangered forest plant or animal species. Although rare woodland species are protected, the habitat they dwell in is generally not.</p>
<p>Timber harvesting requires a licence – although there are some very <a href="https://naturalresources.wales/media/682351/tree-felling-getting-permission-booklet.pdf">limited exceptions</a> where this permission is not needed, for example <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/699889/treefellingaugust.pdf">due to</a> public safety, or where small volumes of wood are being cut. But under the 1967 Forestry Act, applications in England and Wales <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1967/10/part/II/crossheading/restriction-of-felling">cannot be refused</a> for “the purpose of conserving or enhancing” flora or fauna (though they can be refused for this purpose in Scotland). Nor can licence conditions be imposed for this reason. No matter how rare, how vulnerable or how much effort has gone into the regional conservation of a species, there are no exceptions to this.</p>
<p>A timber felling licence does not sweep aside the <a href="http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/PDF/rs_law_ewn.pdf">legal protection</a> that animals such as the red squirrel have – and a precautionary approach is advisable when felling in woodlands containing this species. Nevertheless, the possession of a felling licence opens a loophole because the wildlife legislation protecting the red squirrel provides the <a href="https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/wildlife-offences">defence of</a> “incidental result of an otherwise lawful operation”. So, with a licence in hand, <a href="https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/fears-baby-red-squirrels-could-14936025">woodlands containing this threatened species</a> <a href="http://northernredsquirrels.org.uk/northnews4.pdf">can be clearfelled</a> because tree harvesting is a lawful operation. </p>
<h2>Changing the rules</h2>
<p>The solution is clearly to amend the Forestry Act to better align timber harvesting and wildlife protection laws. Harmonising UK forestry legislation would allow for better timing, methods and patterns of tree harvesting to be guaranteed in habitats containing any rare species. Additionally, while licensing authorities currently can only assess each felling licence application in isolation, legislative change would enable the cumulative impact of granting a licence to be considered in relation to felling that had previously been approved. This stops management of rare woodland species on specific sites being at the mercy of timber prices and market economics.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247979/original/file-20181129-170238-q5lu9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247979/original/file-20181129-170238-q5lu9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247979/original/file-20181129-170238-q5lu9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247979/original/file-20181129-170238-q5lu9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247979/original/file-20181129-170238-q5lu9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247979/original/file-20181129-170238-q5lu9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247979/original/file-20181129-170238-q5lu9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247979/original/file-20181129-170238-q5lu9a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pine trees are felled near Glencoe, in the Highlands of Scotland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pine-tree-forestry-exploitation-sunny-day-341954180?src=o4zEYrwSwO-pS9G2dstENg-1-2">lowsun/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Commercially managed forests provide jobs and <a href="https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/statistics-by-topic/timber-statistics/uk-wood-production-and-trade-provisional-figures/">produce valuable products</a>. As the <a href="https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/farmingrural/Forestry/completingdevolution/forestrylandmanagementbill">modernised laws</a> in Scotland show, the forest industry operates quite successfully where timber harvesting licence applications <a href="https://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/treefellingaugust.pdf/$FILE/treefellingaugust.pdf">can consider wildlife impacts</a>. Amendment in England and Wales would deliver similar integration. </p>
<p>Consequently, the ethical credentials of the timber harvesting industry would be strengthened. In an age where <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/greenwashed-timber-how-sustainable-forest-certification-has-failed">consumers want confidence</a> that timber products they purchase have not destroyed wildlife populations, this is essential. It is already commonplace for products made of UK-sourced wood to have the <a href="https://www.fsc-uk.org/en-uk/about-fsc/what-is-fsc">Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo</a>. The FSC signifies the wood is from sustainable sources managed with a high regard for wildlife conservation. So amendment of the 1967 Forestry Act would give greater consumer confidence in supply chains and also reinforce the credibility of the global FSC forest certification scheme itself. </p>
<h2>Balancing priorities</h2>
<p>Since the 1980s, the forestry sector has increasingly balanced commercial, societal and environmental imperatives. Consequently there will be times, should the law change, when refusal of a logging license to conserve biodiversity is an unavoidable trade off. Here it is important to stress that the forest industry <a href="https://www.forestry.gov.uk/england-grants">receives state grants</a> to support crop establishment and protection. The taxpayer therefore has a right to ensure that forests are managed sympathetically for wildlife. We should not forget that commercial plantations can be <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/trees-woods-and-wildlife/woodland-habitats/plantations/">vitally important for wildlife</a> and without them many species would be much rarer.</p>
<p>On the other hand, some felling will inevitably still be licensed even though operations will adversely affect individual animals of a protected species through habitat loss or alteration. Although such decisions may be unpopular with local people, it is common for <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/ethics-of-wildlife-management-and-conservation-what-80060473">wildlife management strategies</a> to focus on population level conservation targets rather than at the individual animal level.</p>
<p>I believe an amendment to the Forestry Act is overdue. Regulatory change will empower authorities with the legal tools to achieve a better balance between often competing forest management objectives. It will <a href="https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/nature-recovery-network">benefit wildlife</a> and the UK timber industry too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107535/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Shuttleworth currently works in the Red Squirrels United project EU LIFE14 NAT/UK/000467.
He is an advisor to European Squirrel Initiative, Red Squirrels Survival Trust and the Zoological Society of Wales.
He is urging Government to amend the 1967 Forestry Act.</span></em></p>
The 1967 Forestry Act is a barrier to integrated forest management in England & Wales.
Craig Shuttleworth, Honorary Visiting Research Fellow, Bangor University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/95299
2018-04-23T12:33:17Z
2018-04-23T12:33:17Z
Storm damage to forests costs billions – here’s how artificial intelligence can help
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215767/original/file-20180420-75095-2tp1ym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Trunk road. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/trees-down-on-balcombe-road-horley-397051630?src=B6DxBahV9r1P1jf_JM1U2g-1-11">Paul Biden</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>High-intensity storms <a href="https://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/abi-uk-floods-to-cost-insurers-13bn/1416942.article">cause</a> billions of pounds of damage every year, and climate change is <a href="https://www.abi.org.uk/news/news-articles/2017/05/climate-change-likely-to-increase-risk-of-costly-storms/">set to</a> make this worse in future. We already <a href="https://www.abi.org.uk/globalassets/files/publications/public/property/2017/abi_final_report.pdf">appear to be</a> seeing more frequent and intense windstorms. <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-ex-hurricane-ophelia-took-a-wrong-turn-towards-ireland-and-britain-and-carried-all-that-dust-85851">Ex-hurricane</a> Ophelia and Storm Eleanor both wreaked havoc in the British Isles over the winter, including <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/storm-ophelia-2017-path-live-uk-updates-as-storm-ophelia-kills-at-least-three-in-ireland-a3660681.html">injuries</a>, <a href="http://www.itv.com/news/london/2018-01-03/homes-left-without-power-and-fallen-trees-cause-travel-misery-after-storm-eleanor-batters-uk/">power cuts</a> and severe travel delays.</p>
<p>It’s not only commuters and households that are affected. Every year across Europe, the number of trees that commercial forests lose to storms <a href="https://www.efi.int/publication-bank/living-storm-damage-forests">is equivalent</a> to the annual amount of timber felled in Poland. </p>
<p>Forest damage is a particular problem in northern and western Europe, but increasingly also places like the Baltics and Belarus. Thanks to climate change, <a href="http://www2.efi.int/portal/virtual_library/publications/what_science_can_tell_us/3/">the damage could double</a> over the course of this century. </p>
<p>Researchers use various modelling techniques to help forest managers predict which trees are at risk of damage, but none are sufficiently accurate. Artificial intelligence has the potential to make a big difference, however. We have built a system that we believe points the way to protecting the forestry industry more effectively in future. </p>
<h2>Wood and brass</h2>
<p>Forestry is an important contributor to the UK economy, with an <a href="https://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/Ch8_Finance_FS2017.pdf/$FILE/Ch8_Finance_FS2017.pdf">annual gross value added</a> of around £2 billion – slightly over 0.1% <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossvalueaddedgva/bulletins/regionalgrossvalueaddedbalanceduk/1998to2016">of the total</a> economy. There is around 31,000 square kilometres of woodland, <a href="https://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/Ch1_Woodland_FS2017.pdf/$FILE/Ch1_Woodland_FS2017.pdf">about</a> 13% of Britain’s total land surface. </p>
<p>This area is increasing all the time, both to meet the <a href="http://www.savills.co.uk/research_articles/141557/215817-0">rising demand</a> for timber and for environmental reasons: in England, the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42591494">recently announced</a> Northern Forest between Hull in the east and Liverpool in the west will help with flood prevention, soil loss and wildlife. In Scotland, a large proportion of tree planting is being <a href="http://www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/diversification/forestry/15535035.Carbon_credits_offer_new_benefits_to_landowners/">driven by</a> the need for more carbon dioxide to be removed from the air via <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/carbon-sequestration">carbon sequestration</a>. </p>
<p>Forest damage is holding this back, however. <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/environment/forests/pdf/STORMS%20Final_Report.pdf">At least</a> five times in the UK in the past 50 years, huge storms have damaged timber with a volume of more than 1m cubic metres. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215769/original/file-20180420-75093-1yjrt9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215769/original/file-20180420-75093-1yjrt9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215769/original/file-20180420-75093-1yjrt9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215769/original/file-20180420-75093-1yjrt9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215769/original/file-20180420-75093-1yjrt9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215769/original/file-20180420-75093-1yjrt9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215769/original/file-20180420-75093-1yjrt9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215769/original/file-20180420-75093-1yjrt9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wild wood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/autumn-lonely-tree-wind-field-324082661?src=0JXKuAaTP0d1svNqHcPmQg-1-93">Kichigin</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The forestry industry attempts to reduce the risk of wind damage in various ways, including harvesting trees at a younger age, and thinning forests earlier to increase the long-term stability of the trees. </p>
<p>Foresters in the UK commonly use a software system called <a href="https://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestgales">ForestGALES</a> to help estimate the probability of wind damage to groups of trees – stands as they are called in the industry. <a href="https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/70643/1/cjfr-2015-0237.pdf">Modelling techniques</a> also exist to predict storm damage to individual trees, based on things like their height, width and more general forest characteristics like soil type. </p>
<p>All these systems suffer from the fact that their predictions reference databases of information which do not contain much data. Unfortunately it is very time consuming to gather the relevant information and it is not available for some areas, so it is not always practical to improve on this. It also doesn’t help that the proportion of damaged trees in any given forest is quite low, at circa 15% of the total. </p>
<h2>Forest futures</h2>
<p>We and several other colleagues <a href="https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3071217">have been collaborating</a> to find a different way forward, combining our expertise in computer science and forest management. We have been able to show that computers can use machine-learning to devise a model that can predict damage to individual trees very accurately. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215768/original/file-20180420-75114-1t6qjol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215768/original/file-20180420-75114-1t6qjol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215768/original/file-20180420-75114-1t6qjol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215768/original/file-20180420-75114-1t6qjol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215768/original/file-20180420-75114-1t6qjol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215768/original/file-20180420-75114-1t6qjol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215768/original/file-20180420-75114-1t6qjol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215768/original/file-20180420-75114-1t6qjol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tree of knowledge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/trees-down-on-balcombe-road-horley-397051630?src=B6DxBahV9r1P1jf_JM1U2g-1-11">Macrovector</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It relies on a type of artificial evolution called <a href="http://geneticprogramming.com">genetic programming</a> (GP), which mimics evolution in the natural world to come up with completely new features that can be fed into a classification system to make it easier to discriminate between different trees. These features don’t fit into any neat human categorisation, so it’s hard to give examples; each new feature is a complex mathematical function that combines some of the original variables such as tree density and trunk circumference in novel ways. </p>
<p>When we tested the model using data collected from two storm-damaged forests in south-west France, it was 90% accurate in one forest and 79% accurate in the other. In terms of percentage points, the improvement on other modelling systems was in the double figures. </p>
<p>The new approach also provides new insights to forestry managers, for example highlighting the factors that most influence susceptibility to damage – such as tree density – which in turn helps them to develop better forest management plans for the future. And the models work sufficiently fast that the impact of these management plans can be mapped in real time, which is extremely helpful for forest planning and engaging with stakeholders.</p>
<p>It is a good example of how artificial intelligence is improving our ability to cope with the world around us. We don’t know of anyone else trying to apply machine learning to forest risk management, but there are parallels in numerous areas – <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031320305003511">breast cancer diagnosis</a>, to give one example. Time will tell whether we can get to grips with climate change: but if there are more storms in future, we should at least be better at identifying the weak spots in forests in advance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95299/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Hart receives funding from the EPSRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barry Gardiner has received funding from an INRA scientific package and from grant ANR-12-AGRO-0007-04 (ANR, Agrobiosphere, France, project “FOR-WIND) in support of this work. He is also affiliated with Forest Research in the UK as an Honorary Fellow.</span></em></p>
Europe loses as many trees to storms each year as Poland produces in timber. Until now, the models for predicting which trees are at risk have not been good enough.
Emma Hart, Chair in Natural Computation, Edinburgh Napier University
Barry Gardiner, Senior Scientist, Inrae
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/86966
2017-11-07T12:43:48Z
2017-11-07T12:43:48Z
Why we need a better philosophy of trees
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193450/original/file-20171106-1014-1s6o43g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Souluminous/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On November 6 1217, Henry III’s <a href="http://info.sjc.ox.ac.uk/forests/Carta.htm">Charter of the Forest</a> gave ordinary English people back their traditional rights to use royal hunting grounds for livestock grazing and collecting firewood. The freedoms that were restored in the use of ancient woodland reshaped the community’s legal and political relationship with nature. But, today, this relationship has broken down. Only <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/">2%</a> of the UK’s ancient woodland survives; over half has been destroyed since the 1930s. Only <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/">13%</a> of the UK is covered with trees, compared to the European average of 37%. And so exactly 800 years on, in Lincoln Castle, home of the original charter, a new <a href="https://treecharter.uk/">Charter for Trees, Woods and People</a> has been launched by the Woodland Trust. </p>
<p>The purpose of the new charter is to set out “the principles by which trees and people in the UK can stand together”. In the face of <a href="https://treecharter.uk/about.html">problems</a> such as low planting rates, inconsistent management, threats from housing and infrastructure developments, the desire is to “build a people-powered movement for trees” and to “demonstrate the important role that trees play in people’s lives”. The principles of the charter include the protection of irreplaceable trees and woods, the creation of transport networks for wildlife, the strengthening of habitats with trees and the development of an action plan to harness their health benefits. Its purpose is to serve as a unified “rallying cry” for disparate voices and organisations, and so to bring the plight of trees and woodlands to national consciousness, in a particularly cogent way. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193547/original/file-20171107-1027-4kjh33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193547/original/file-20171107-1027-4kjh33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193547/original/file-20171107-1027-4kjh33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193547/original/file-20171107-1027-4kjh33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193547/original/file-20171107-1027-4kjh33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193547/original/file-20171107-1027-4kjh33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193547/original/file-20171107-1027-4kjh33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">English woodland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bellephoto/Shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So why is such a charter needed? Writing as a philosopher, and reflecting on the history of my subject, it does give pause for thought: trees, and plants generally, have simply not garnered attention in the way that humans, and more recently, non-human animals have. It’s as if Socrates’ <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plat.+Phaedrus+230d&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0174">remark</a> that “the trees teach me nothing” is very much still the attitude today. </p>
<p>Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Exciting work in botany is revealing the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jun/19/what-plant-knows-daniel-chamovitz-review">extraordinary capacities</a> of plants: for memory, for communication, for tracking environmental features and even – perhaps – for discrimination between self and non-self. Any philosopher interested in the intelligence or psychological capacities of animals, human or otherwise, needs to be able to situate their work in relation to these <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/12/23/the-intelligent-plant">newly discovered capacities</a>.</p>
<p>Take the complex, often vast, symbiotic relation between common fungi and the roots of forest trees, dubbed the “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-secrets-of-the-wood-wide-web">wood wide web</a>”. Here, organisms have formed a <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-trees-communicate-via-a-wood-wide-web-65368">mutually beneficial connection</a> for the purpose of exchanging nutrients or even, in the case of trees, distributing resources. If we want to know about the nature of intelligence, or what a species is, or whether an entity such as a forest is a super-organism, attending to the lives of trees can teach us a lot.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193540/original/file-20171107-1055-zxp945.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193540/original/file-20171107-1055-zxp945.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193540/original/file-20171107-1055-zxp945.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193540/original/file-20171107-1055-zxp945.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193540/original/file-20171107-1055-zxp945.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193540/original/file-20171107-1055-zxp945.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193540/original/file-20171107-1055-zxp945.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Log, mushrooms and mycelium.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/conchur/15446550510/in/photolist-pwXBjo-obufGW-KHviDw-KSNp5B-KauKyc-7n2nkZ-ZrBJ2q-CpLLUd-aMEfwT-k6k35M-qiMRg4-oQupv8-obyy2R-Lbx3CM-L4N6V6-Lbx3vT-dzYDHj-KauKqX-KauKBt-obyx9Z-KeZSE4-gtJCEw-KiYYY4-EaRtf-odjfg4-odkxxM-oqe8U5-RNRLxC-bQEyEc-Z858Eo-CpLRzA-7Wnmp2-CpLLkN-oPjUoh-Vb1QLo-9TdiJy-ZvU2WH-gtKvrU-Z85pzQ-YuEt9k-VLedjR-9F7kWn-7WqDBY-5rUXXg-ZvU2Bp-Vb1QSL-ZvU2ng-grzdLw-dSEv4f-aVfdMr">conchur/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Beheading wildflowers</h2>
<p>To be fair to Socrates, when he says that “only the people in the city” can teach him, what he means is that it is only by speaking to and interacting with others, within the walls of the city-state, that we can learn how to be good. But, again, he’s wrong. We live among trees and how we interact with them, as well as the degree of our sensitivity to them, has moral significance. </p>
<p>Imagine a person gleefully beheading wildflowers by the roadside or cutting down an oak in their garden for the sheer pleasure of it. Many of us would that say these <a href="http://www.ekah.admin.ch/fileadmin/ekah-dateien/dokumentation/publikationen/e-Broschure-Wurde-Pflanze-2008.pdf">actions are wrong</a>. Why? It’s not as if another person has been harmed because their property rights have been violated. If we assume that trees lack sentience, then it isn’t right to say that the actions are cruel, because cruelty presupposes a being that can suffer. </p>
<p>Kant <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=MJcrTG6tJsAC&pg=PA192&lpg=PA192&dq=kant+metaphysics+morals+plants+beauty&source=bl&ots=kkwb7y3TQJ&sig=i2TGPUhBlTCWbCFWfhjOUxliCWs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJzq7qtarXAhUHvBoKHc7iBGIQ6AEIKjAB#v=onepage&q=kant%20metaphysics%20morals%20plants%20beauty&f=false">condemns</a> the wilful destruction of nature because he thinks such actions inculcate bad habits. He argues that we have an indirect duty to treat animals well, for example, because a person who is cruel to animals will often end up being cruel to human beings, to whom we owe direct duties. Likewise, we have indirect duties to inanimate nature – Kant lumps together beautiful crystal formations with the beauty of plants – because respecting their intrinsic, aesthetic value helps instils in us the habit to treat each other well. So, although Kant does deal with humanity’s relationship with nature, he only does so in terms of how this relationship benefits human beings and their social interactions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193541/original/file-20171107-1068-1rn6c4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193541/original/file-20171107-1068-1rn6c4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193541/original/file-20171107-1068-1rn6c4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193541/original/file-20171107-1068-1rn6c4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193541/original/file-20171107-1068-1rn6c4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193541/original/file-20171107-1068-1rn6c4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193541/original/file-20171107-1068-1rn6c4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Killing wildflowers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Oko Laa/Shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Beyond natural capital</h2>
<p>So what is the dominant philosophical conception of nature now? </p>
<p>The new charter appears largely to reflect this Kantian approach to nature, at least in broad terms. It draws our attention, rightly, to all the benefits of trees in our lives and in the lives of other sentient creatures: habitats resilient to climate change, opportunities for education, cultural enrichment, health benefits, the list goes on. </p>
<p>The danger is that this human-centric approach slides inexorably into an increasingly popular <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/natural-capital-committee">natural capital</a> mode of valuation, in which trees and woodlands are conceived first and foremost as “assets” that provide vital “ecosystem services”. It is this language, borrowed from economics, that, for example, frames the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/183095/Independent-Panel-on-Forestry-Final-Report1.pdf">Independent Panel of Forestry</a> report, published in 2011 to advise the government on the future direction of forestry and woodland policy in England.</p>
<p>The philosopher in me would like to point out that we ought to value trees for their own sake and not simply for the benefits or “services” they provide to human beings (or another forms of sentient life). However, in a time of environmental devastation, any reason to protect trees and woodlands is a good reason. In any case, the two are not mutually exclusive. We can, without contradiction, value nature for its own sake and also for the sake of its benefits. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193543/original/file-20171107-1008-1dvsj05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193543/original/file-20171107-1008-1dvsj05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193543/original/file-20171107-1008-1dvsj05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193543/original/file-20171107-1008-1dvsj05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193543/original/file-20171107-1008-1dvsj05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193543/original/file-20171107-1008-1dvsj05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193543/original/file-20171107-1008-1dvsj05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Why do we value this tree?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fotoluminate LLC/Shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But there is, perhaps, a special role for philosophers in banging on about the former, even as we need the latter approach to get government to listen. It used to be thought that the only thing that mattered morally was a capacity to reason. Then, in the 19th century, the British utilitarians <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/utilitarianism-history/">showed</a> that an animal’s capacity to suffer meant that we also owed the animals moral consideration. Now, it seems, the sheer fact that a thing is alive is of moral importance. </p>
<p>It may be that value attaches to an organism’s ability to develop all of its natural, biological capacities, <a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/envi-eth/">as biocentrists think</a>. Or it may be that we attach value to entities that display certain kinds of animate, bodily movement, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11007-016-9396-y">as I have argued</a>. In any case, trees are special, wonderful organisms and the Charter for Trees, Woods and People does a great service in drawing their silent, mysterious lives to our attention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86966/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tristan Moyle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
It’s as if Socrates’ remark that ‘the trees teach me nothing’ is very much still the attitude today.
Tristan Moyle, Senior Lecturer, Philosophy, Anglia Ruskin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/75470
2017-04-06T14:01:41Z
2017-04-06T14:01:41Z
Grey squirrels are bad for the British countryside – full stop
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163326/original/image-20170330-4578-1ftx14x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/113551735@N04/21418461706/">Tom D/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>According to some animal rights groups the grey squirrel is a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/andrew-tyler/red-fur-good-grey-fur-bad_b_10144572.html">victim of circumstance</a>. They say it has been made a <a href="https://www.animalaid.org.uk/please-defend-grey-squirrels/">scapegoat</a> for regional red squirrel population extinctions and claim that loss of the reds is caused entirely <a href="http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/father-son-champion-grey-squirrels-4468630">coincidentally by habitat change</a>. They suggest the <a href="http://www.grey-squirrel.org.uk/victimising_grey_squirrels_2.pdf">true facts are being hidden</a> and scientific research being <a href="http://www.thepetitionsite.com/en-gb/723/774/674/stop-the-european-union-squirrel-cull/">intentionally misinterpreted</a>. </p>
<p>If so, then this conspiracy must extend to <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/8331195/What-is-the-law-on-killing-squirrels.html">British legal provisions</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/25/eu-clamps-down-on-grey-squirrels-and-other-invasive-wildlife">EU directives</a> both listing the grey squirrel as an invader to be controlled, right? </p>
<p>Well, no – put this argument to the test and you’ll see that the facts actually do stack up against the grey squirrel. The reality is that, while the grey squirrel is an important part of <a href="https://cals.arizona.edu/research/redsquirrel/res_pdf/Other%20Squirrel%20and%20Sky%20Island%20Publications/Mamm%20Spec%20Sciurus%20carolinensis%2094.pdf">North American forest ecosystems</a>, since being brought to Europe by the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/sep/05/red-grey-squirrels-cornwall">Victorians</a> in 1876, the animal has had severe <a href="https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/mediafile/100258230/Squirrel-position-statement.pdf">ecological and economic impacts</a> on British woodlands. </p>
<p>Acrobatic and entertaining they may be, but the charge sheet against the grey squirrel is based on hundreds of peer-reviewed research papers. There really is no <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-defence-of-the-grey-squirrel-britains-most-unpopular-invader-73983">defence</a> for it. </p>
<h2>Greys vs red in Europe</h2>
<p>Today there are <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/10705527/History-of-grey-squirrels-in-UK.html">approximately 2.5m</a> grey squirrels in Britain, but less than <a href="https://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/redsquirrel">140,000 reds</a>. Grey squirrels <a href="http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/publications/naturallyscottish/redsquirrel.pdf">out-compete</a> native reds for food and space. They also dig up and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4602061?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">consume seed</a> that red squirrels have buried as a winter store. This behaviour reduces red squirrel skeletal growth rates and adult size, and greatly depresses <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2656.2004.00791.x/abstract">juvenile survival rates</a> too. </p>
<p>In addition, greys harbour infections – including <a href="http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/%7Eawhite/White_Hystrix2016.pdf">squirrel pox</a>, which can devastate red squirrel populations. They <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3914897/">elevate local viral and nematode infection rates</a>, and bring in new parasites, such as <a href="https://air.unimi.it/retrieve/handle/2434/232973/302558/phd_unimi_r08996.pdf">Strongyloides robustus</a>, which are picked up by red squirrels.</p>
<p>Occasionally a healthy red squirrel is found with squirrel pox antibodies – some researchers have suggested that this is evidence of them <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/22/red-squirrels-poxvirus-resistance">evolving resistance</a> to the pox. Unfortunately, 63% of red squirrels dying from pox have also been found to have this <a href="http://squirrelweb.co.uk/2015/06/22/new-book-on-red-squirrel-conservation-published/">antibody response present</a> and there is no evidence that these antibodies confer immunity. Even if they did, research has also shown that antibodies are <a href="http://www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/article/view/10126">gone within 18 months</a> and, irrespective of any resistance, red populations would be replaced by grey via competition anyway.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163328/original/image-20170330-4555-i3vuw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163328/original/image-20170330-4555-i3vuw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163328/original/image-20170330-4555-i3vuw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163328/original/image-20170330-4555-i3vuw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163328/original/image-20170330-4555-i3vuw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163328/original/image-20170330-4555-i3vuw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163328/original/image-20170330-4555-i3vuw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Squirrel pox.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sarah McNeil</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Woodland damage</h2>
<p>Grey squirrels also <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112716300421">damage and kill forest trees</a> making it impossible for foresters to grow high-grade hardwood. This means such material is imported instead, bringing with it the risk of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/oct/23/british-trees-threat-imported-timber-disease-china">new tree pests and pathogens</a>.</p>
<p>Tree damage is most frequently seen on the branches and trunks of oak, beech and maple; <a href="https://www.forestry.gov.uk/fr/infd-7rlgm2">bark is stripped</a> by squirrels eager to consume the <a href="https://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/fcpn004.pdf/$FILE/fcpn004.pdf">the sap underneath</a>. Tree stems break or die following stripping, which in turn leads to changes in the <a href="https://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/fcpn004.pdf/$FILE/fcpn004.pdf">structure and species composition</a> of high canopy in amenity woodlands.</p>
<p>Even songbirds are affected by grey squirrels. A <a href="http://news.cision.com/kendalls/r/predation-of-woodland-songbirds--grey-squirrels-have-a-case-to-answer,c9224977">recent study gave evidence</a> of negative association between woodland songbird fledging rates and presence of grey squirrels – though it must be noted that this was not observed annually and only seen on some of the sites studied. Earlier studies didn’t find evidence to indicate greys <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8448000/8448807.stm">affect bird population</a>, but also didn’t exclude the possibility – even for bird species whose population is increasing overall. </p>
<p>Other animals may be affected by greys too: there has been some suggestion that squirrels compete with <a href="http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-94-011-2362-4_11">dormice for hazel nuts</a>, though more research is needed to <a href="http://www.europeansquirrelinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web-ESI-newsletter-issue-29-lowres.pdf">confirm the true impact</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163329/original/image-20170330-4557-1auejbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163329/original/image-20170330-4557-1auejbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163329/original/image-20170330-4557-1auejbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163329/original/image-20170330-4557-1auejbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163329/original/image-20170330-4557-1auejbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163329/original/image-20170330-4557-1auejbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163329/original/image-20170330-4557-1auejbp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stripped tree bark.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Craig Shuttleworth</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Controlling greys</h2>
<p>The Wildlife Trust has recently <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/feb/24/red-squirrels-5000-volunteers-sought-to-save-species-and-help-kill-invasive-greys">started to recruit</a> 5,000 volunteers to monitor and control grey squirrel populations. However, a look beyond the headlines will reveal thousands of people are already legally <a href="http://www.smallholder.co.uk/news/15080927.Grey_squirrels_best_controlled_using_a_variety_of_techniques/?ref=mrb&lp=13">trapping and shooting</a> greys across the country to control their numbers. <a href="http://www.northernredsquirrels.org.uk/nrs-groups/">Volunteer groups</a> cull 6,000 grey squirrels per year in the north of England, for example. Even in areas where reds are absent, locals control grey squirrels to protect woodlands or <a href="https://www.gov.uk/pest-control-on-your-property">prevent damage to property</a>. This is not some dramatic new approach by the Wildlife Trust, but is simply reinforcing an established national movement.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163327/original/image-20170330-4551-x7l8rh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163327/original/image-20170330-4551-x7l8rh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163327/original/image-20170330-4551-x7l8rh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163327/original/image-20170330-4551-x7l8rh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163327/original/image-20170330-4551-x7l8rh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163327/original/image-20170330-4551-x7l8rh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163327/original/image-20170330-4551-x7l8rh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Red and grey meet on the battleground.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Bailey</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The eradication of greys from the <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10530-014-0671-8">Welsh isle of Anglesey</a> saw red squirrel numbers increase from 40 to 700 and there are other <a href="http://www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/article/view/9988">examples</a> of grey control halting or reversing red squirrel decline. Research has also demonstrated that red squirrels do not prefer <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279174227_Red_squirrel_population_dynamics_in_different_habitats">conifer to broadleaved</a> habitat and are just as happy in either.</p>
<p>Future control may involve giving the squirrels <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22182332">contraception</a>, but will almost certainly not rely solely on this because of logistical barriers. The pine marten may assist in some landscapes too: <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-014-0632-7">one Irish study</a> found a strong negative correlation between pine martens and greys in the woodlands studied. However, the use of trapping and shooting will inevitably continue as part of an <a href="http://www.rfs.org.uk/news/2017/3/grey-squirrel-fertility-control-funding-top-priority-says-rfs/">integrated national approach</a>.</p>
<p>And so the grey squirrel stands guilty as charged. Their presence has decimated the British countryside since they were introduced from North America, and if we do not continue to control the species, the future for red squirrels and woodland ecosystems will be bleak.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75470/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Shuttleworth is an independent advisor to the European Squirrel Initiative and is on the management board of the EU LIFE14 NAT/UK/000467 invasive species project. He is a Director of Red Squirrels Trust Wales which receives funding from Welsh Government to study viral infections in squirrel species including squirrelpox. </span></em></p>
Grey squirrels are wreaking havoc on UK woodlands.
Craig Shuttleworth, Honorary Visiting Research Fellow, Bangor University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.