RESEARCHERS from the University of Gloucestershire have unlocked secrets buried in the earth for 6,000 years, to predict how woodlands in the British Isles could be transformed due to disease and climate change.
Ecologists Dr Julia Webb and Professor Anne Goodenough studied 6,000-year-old pollen grains that had been preserved in sediment. It shed light on how a catastrophic decline in one species within the canopy impacts wider woodland ecology.
Research found that when a particular stressor directly affects only one tree species, gaps are created in the woodland canopy. The amount of light reaching the woodland floor increases and there is then a battle to see which tree species will fill it. Species which are highly competitive or already abundant locally are most likely to win.
This means that change in one tree species causes woodlands to change dramatically, which impacts on the insects, amphibians, birds and mammals that are especially adapted for specific woodland types.
Anne Goodenough, Professor in Applied Ecology, said: “Looking to the past to help predict future changes is vital. When species such as ash are lost, we can expect shrubs, including non-native species such as rhododendron, to increase, at least until gaps refill with trees.
“These changes will affect many important aspects of woodland sites, including how many species they support, and whether rare species increase or are lost. Rare plant species that need dark conditions are especially at risk.
“As the woodland recovers with new trees filling the gaps, woodland canopies could be more varied than before, so having specific ‘ash woodlands’ and ‘beech woodlands’ and ‘oak woodlands’ could gradually become consigned to history.”
Woodlands account for 13 per cent of the total land area in the UK, providing habitat for a huge range of animal species. However, outbreaks of disease and pests, as well as droughts could have a huge effect on their composition.
You can read in more detail about Dr Webb and Professor Goodenough’s research on the subject online.
