The Oak History Ecology Management and Planning Sweden

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The Oak History, Ecology,

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THE OAK HISTORY, ECOLOGY MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING

Proceedings from a conference in Linkping, Sweden, 9 11 May 2006

6

European oaks: cultural historyand ecology

Presented by Oliver Rackham, CorpusChristi College, Cambridge, [email protected]

Europe has nearly thirty dierent species ooak. It invaded the continent 10 000 yearsago and thereater became common inmost parts o the continent. When the gla-

cier o the last ice age withdrew northward,mixed deciduous orest migrated up romreuges in the south parts o Europe. Onereason or its successul colonisation is thatit is highly adaptive to dierent kinds oenvironments. It can grow in almost any soil, in various climates and on di-erent altitudes. It regenerates through cloning or seeds and it can grow verylarge or stay really small, like some Greek species that are more bush-likethan tree-like. They invade abandoned felds; grow on grazed land and alongthe railways in England. They grow in orests, in oak coppices, scatteredamong other trees, in wood pastures and on armland. There are evergreenoaks with really deep root system, and deciduous species with more shallowroots.

Dierent species beneft to dierent degrees rom various human activi-ties, like woodcutting, pasturing, abandonment o land and burning. Someoaks can resist fre, since they have a barque that protects the trunk againstthe ames. Others yet have underground tubules or regeneration ater fre.

Benefits of the oak tree for human use

The oak tree also has a unique range o uses or humans. Some o these usesare determined by the properties o the dierent oak, but they also vary rom

one human culture to another. In Japan, the oak tree is a low status tree, inSpain it is not at all used as a timber tree. In France, the timber is used asrailway sleepers, whilst in Sweden it was used or the grounds in the housesduring the earlier centuries. In England, the majority o the buildings romthe middle ages were made o oak. One building consisted o 300 small oaks.At that time, they more oten used the young oaks or timber productionand the trees rarely grew as big as they are today. They used the size that wassuitable or the purpose. The whole oak tree was sometimes used or makingdug-out boats, which should have been quite a hard work to do, since thetree is really hard and can easily split.

There was also a substantial import o oak timber rom Poland and Lit-


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huania. It is the perect timber or urniture, since its structure is really hardand it hardly ever rots. The leaves were used as ood or the cattle, the acornsor both animal- and human ood. The barrels in which whisky and wine was

aged was made out o oak wood. And it was, and is, a symbol o majesty.

The oak change

The oak is also a victim o the tree globalization. Since the beginning o thecentury the oak has gone through a drastic change. During the early 20thcentury, there was a ungi Phytophthora quercina that was spread romNorth America and reached Europe. It invaded the oak trees root systemand made it weaker and less tolerant to shade. The result o this inection isthat the oak now is less competitive against other tree species. While the oakstruggles against the shade and competes or light, the ungus is an extra bur-

den or the tree. Also, the ungus probably makes it harder or the oak tree tocarry out the photosynthesis. This is probably one reason why there is such alack o younger oak trees in England the regeneration is prohibited by theungi inection.

Picture 3:

A field with old pollarded

oak trees a method that

has been used to prevent

the tree from casting shade,

and also to protect valuable

timber from grazers.

Picture 4:

Coppicing is the practice

of cutting trees to ground

level, in order for the tree to

produce more timber.

Picture 1 and 2:

Through history, oak timber

has been used by mankind

for the construction of i.e.

houses, churches and ships.


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8

Oak behaviour in relation to largeherbivores

Presented by Frans Vera, Driebergen,[email protected]

The present is the key to the past. That isthe basic rule in paleoecology, or recons-tructing the past. In other words speciesbehave today as they did in the past. The

present is that oak is a light demandingspecies that do not regenerate well inorest reserves in the company o moreshade tolerant species. In act, they areousted within two centuries by these species. Oak is obviously not a closedcanopy orest tree.

However, pollen analysis show that in the past, oak was present togetherwith these shade tolerant species or thousands o years. Also at present day,oak regenerates very well in the presence o shade tolerant species in woodpastures and on wooded meadows. These habitats are park-like landscapes,grazed by livestock like cattle and horses, and also by species o wild ungu-lates like deer and moose. And since they prevent the landscape rom turninginto a closed canopy orest, they acilitate the regeneration o oaks.

Present forests are former wood pastures

Many o the orest reserves today were actually wood pastures in the past.When these orest reserves were established, cattle and horse were removed,since those were considered to be alien species introduced by man. Withoutthese grazing animals, wood pastures soon turned into close canopy orests where oak regeneration is poor or absent as a result o oak disappears, to-gether with other light demanding plant species.

In the primeval vegetation, there were indigenous species o large grazingungulates

in the past, or example the aurochs that became extinct in the 1600s,and the tarpan that became extinct in 1887. These ungulates, together withother grazing and browsing wild ungulates like European bison, red deer, roedeer, elk and wild boar kept the landscape open. These grazing and browsingspecies that still exist today, like bison, red deer and elk, are everywhere keptartifcially in very low densities, since they prevent the regeneration o treesin the orests and thereore possess a threat to the traditional orestry. Theyare also kept in low densities in orest reserves, because o the classic theory

about the primeval vegetation. This theory states that the primeval vegetation


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was a closed canopy orest. Forest reserves are considered to be modern ana-logues o the primeval vegetation. Because in high densities existing grazingand browsing animals can prevent the regeneration o trees in orests, these

animals are also artifcially kept in low densities in these orest reserves. Wit-hout a sufcient amount o wild ungulates, and the domestic animals remo-ved rom the landscape, the wood pastures soon turned into closed canopyorests, where oak and other light-demanding species disappear.

Shrubs as a protection from overgrazing

The process o regeneration o trees in wood pastures is that young trees among them oaks - are nursed by thorny shrub species like blackthorn andhawthorn or by other plant species that are not or less palatable or largeungulates. These species are also light demanding and establish themselves

in open grassland, grazed by cattle and horse. Within these, oak and othertree seedlings and saplings can grow up. Oak is very common in wood-pas-tures, because there the jay hoards acorns in the ringes o the thorny shrubs.Thereby the jay plants acorns where seedlings and saplings o oak meet al-most optimum conditions to grow up, that is in ull daylight and protectedby a nurse species. I the nurse species concern small scrubs, seedlings andsaplings o tree species grow up as solitary, so-called open grown trees. I thenurse species spreads clonally, like the blackthorn does, groves are ormed .Inside the groves the regeneration o trees is prevented at frst by the shadeand secondly by the large ungulates themselves, a phenomenon that is knownrom the practice o orestry and grazing orests by livestock. It is a non-li-near, cyclic succession where thorny shrubs invade an open grazed grassland.The shrubs remain solitary or scrubs are ormed, which allows seedlings otrees to grow up, protected by the shrubs and solitary open grown trees, orgroves, are ormed. The trees die and the groves change into open grassland,where the thorny shrubs establish again.

In many orest reserves today, which are mainly closed canopy orests,there are still large oaks However, their presence is not a proo o positiveoak regeneration in closed canopy orests. It is a memory rom the past,when the orest was a parklike wood pasture,with grazing livestock and other large indigenous

ungulates. Former wood pastures now being closescanopy orests are representatives o a mixture otwo dierent histories. Because o the presence ooak in combination with shade tolerant tree spe-cies, it is not the closed orest that is the closestmodern analogue o primeval vegetation it is thepark like wood pastures together with cattle andhorse and other wild living ungulates who acilitatethe establishment o trees in open grassland, andat the same time prevent the regeneration o trees

in the groves (orests), and by doing so, inducing anon-linear, cyclic succession .

Picture 1: Oak is not a closed canopyforest tree species.


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The history of oak in theScandinavian landscape since thelast ice age

Presented by Richard Bradshaw, University ofLiverpool, [email protected]

Genetic and paleoecological studies revealthe patterns o oak colonisation throughEurope and into Scandinavia ater the lastice age. The historical distribution o oakwas frst estimated through studies o pol-len; and this was confrmed by the geneticand molecular biology studies that weredone later. There are two lines o oaks, oneemerging rom Italy and one rom Spain.(Picture 2)

The primary driving orce or the dist-ribution o oak has been climatic changes.Populations were largest and reached their

northernmost extent about 6 000 yearsago and has slowly retreated southwardsever since. This is seen in the actual distri-bution o trees, but also in the paleoecolo-gical studies o pollen.

Foresights about climatic change that willresult in warmer temperatures predict that theoak will have a larger distribution in the upco-ming years. It will spread up to more northernparts o Sweden and will also have a larger

population throughout Europe.

Human activities influence oak distribution

It is, however, not only the climate that e-ects the oak distribution. It is a species thatis highly aected by human activities and dis-turbance changes. Fire, or instance, is one actorthat strongly inuences the oak distribution. Itis o great ecological importance in broad-leaved orests, but has the latestcenturies been more or less abandoned rom northern European orests. Oak

gain on fre, compared to several o its competitors. They can withstand freto a certain extent, and its pollen can better survive a fre than the pollen o,or example, birch.

Picture 1: The oak distribution

today (above) and under future

climate (below)


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Another actor is grazing and browsing by animals the importance olarge ungulates on past orest structures. One unknown and still uncertainvariable is the size and the number o the past ungulate populations. Severalobservations, however, show that it is probably not only the ungulate pres-sure that has ormed the historic landscape. It is highly probable that therewere several dierent actors that inuenced the historic orest structures.

The effect of fire and grazing

Studies in two dierent orests in Halland show how present orest structurehas developed. During the 20th century there were an extensive planting ospruce, and the orests are today dense with a closed canopy. Plant macroos-sils show that more open conditions prevailed earlier. There are signifcantamounts o large charcoal ragments recorded at these sites rom the middleages, and smaller amounts until 1650. The ollowing years, until the early1800s, it is just sporadic occurrence o charcoal. Fire as the mean or keep-ing the orest open was replaced by grazing animals rom 1700s to the mid

1900s when the orest canopy closed.Fire, together with grazing and browsing, maintained the orest openduring earlier centuries, and was probably an important actor in the processo oak regeneration. Historical orest structure was probably more open andvaried than ound in present day reerence orests.

The conclusions drawn rom these studies are:

Oak history is driven by climatic change There is a strong relationship with moderate fre regime Herbivores are one o several controls

The uture or oaks in Sweden looks good, because o the upcomingwarmer climate.

Picture 2: Different lines of oaks in Europe, one emerging from Italy (red dots) and one from Spain (yellow dots).


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The political history of the oaksin Sweden from the 16th to 20th

century

Presented by Per Eliasson, University ofLund. [email protected]

The conict in Sweden between the statepower and the peasants over oak trees wasone about many dierent values culture,economy, politics and ecology. It was notonly about ownership and timber, butalso about the oaks role in damaging thecrops and about the oak as a symbol o thecrown.

In 1558, the Swedish King Gustav Vasa declared that all oaks belongedto the crown, at least all oaks on taxed- and crown land. Nobility ownedthe trees on noble land. The main purpose was to save the oaks to the navy,or the production o ships. Farmers could ask or permission to ell oaks ontheir land, but it was very difcult to obtain. The elling also had to be done

with a saw instead o the usual axe, and it had to be ollowed by compulsoryplanting o oaks two new oaks or each one elled. The planting was donein small plantations, usually with bad results.

Historic oak decline

So, elling an oak was not an easy thing to do Because oaks have quite a bigimpact on the vegetation and crops on the armers lands by casting a sha-dow below it, armers started an extensive branch cutting, partly to reducethe lea mass, but also driven by a sheer oak-hatred, hence, more or less adeliberate destruction o royal oaks. The result was a rapid decline in the

number o trees ft or the navys use.It was not only the armers branch cutting that resulted in oak decline.

Naval ofcers in Kalmar and in Kronoberg made a frst oak inventory in17291732. In Kalmar the navy had used a lot o the good oaks, to buildships or the war. The inventory showed a huge dierence between the twoareas. In Kronoberg there were a lot more healthy oaks than in Kalmar andthe portion o bad quality oaks was substantially higher in Kalmar than inKronoberg

Nation wide oak inventory

The frst nation wide inventory was made in 17911795. The oaks werecounted, the position o the oaks were recorded as well as the quality o the


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14

The Oak Tree, from PeasantTorment to a Unifying Concept ofLandscape Management

Written by Jerker Mostrm,National Heritage Board of Sweden, Sweden.

[email protected]

The expression Tender oak trees and young noblemen should be hated isan ironic peasant saying originating rom the 18th century. It expresses thehatred within the peasant community towards the nobility and the oak trees,caused by what they perceived as injustices in the contemporary Swedish o-restry acts.

In the Middle Ages the oak tree, regardless o its place o growth, wasmore or less considered state property. During the 16 th and 17th century thispolicy was reinorced as a result o the consolidation o the state interests andthe expansion o its military power. The production o oak tree timber wasdedicated to the Royal Navy. Thereore the elling o oak trees was an exclu-sive state aair on both crown land and on allodial land.

What caused the strong dislike or the oak among the peasants were obvi-ously the restrictions on their land use but also the act that the oak trees had

a negative impact on the arable land. The dense tree crowns shaded the feldsand stunted the crop growth. Due to the slow decomposition o the acidicoak leaves, felds, meadows and grazing lands covered with oaks were alsogenerally less productive.

Picture 2: Today the oak tree is seen as a versatile asset

which enriches the landscape in many ways. However,

only a few centuries ago it was a source of conflicts bet-ween the state and the peasants. Photo: Kristina Ask.

Picture 1: The appearance of the grand oak tree of

Rumskulla is an obvious reminder of the great time

depth of the landscape. Photo: Nicklas Jansson.


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A symbol of power and opression

During the 17th century the oak became not only an important source oincome or the nobility but also a physical symbol o the wealth and power

o the aristocracy. Ideally manors should be surrounded by oak tree orestsand the roads within the estate should be designed as oak tree-lined avenues.While the peasants did what they could to limit the damage on their land bysecretly eradicating the plants and damaging the old trees by pruning, bur-ning and removal o the bark, the nobility took active measures to encouragethe growth o oak trees.

During the 19 th century the orestry policies changed and the restrictionson oak trees on crown- and allodial land expired. Initially peasants wereonly allowed to exploit old and bad oaks, but later on the restrictions werecompletely removed, resulting in a rapid decrease o the number o oak trees

since the peasants were eager to get rid o their hated enemies.

A new symbolic value

From the mid-19th century and onwards, the associations projected onto theoak tree gradually changed. Land owners now gained equal property rightsand the overall inequalities o the pre-industrial society subsided. As a resulto this, the oak tree was no longer perceived by common people as the phy-sical maniestation o oppression and injustice. Today the oak is attributedpositive characteristics.

The oak tree o Rumskulla (Kvilleken), in the county o Kalmar, oers

mind-staggering perspectives on the time depth o the landscape consideringit is literally still a living prehistoric organism. By the time the Rumskulla oakwas a sprouting plant a thousand years ago the people o Scandinavia werebusy carving runic stones and exploring Europe with their Viking ships.

At the moment we are acing the great challenge o implementing theEuropean landscape convention into Swedish management practice. Thelandscape convention stresses the importance o local participation as well asa multidisciplinary approach to the landscape. It also conveys a multipurposeperspective on the use o the landscape. The oak tree is no longer a signalo social injustice causing disagreement and division, but rather a symbol odiversity and richness in the landscape. Perhaps it is also the kind o uniyingconcept that the landscape convention asks or. Yet, one might also wonderwhether the oak tree landscapes even would have arisen, i the Europeanlandscape convention had been implemented in the past, giving the nobility,reeholders and tenants equal rights in defning the values and use o thelandscape.


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Changes in the biodiversity of oakhabitats in Sweden through thelast centuries

Presented by Sven G. Nilsson, LundUniversity, [email protected]

The typical oak habitat in Sweden today isprobably the cultural landscape with woodpastures. The disturbances rom humanactivities in the landscape have changedduring the last centuries. Fire and grazingis more or less gone, which probably is onereason why the regeneration o oaks hasdeclined. Since the mid 1800s the meadows in Sweden are more or less gone.Also, the ooded areas along rivers were in earlier days an ideal habitat oroaks, since they are more resistant to ooding than most broad-leaved treespecies. When these areas were turned into haymaking areas or arming land,the oaks disappeared.

The drastic changes in the distribution, number and ecological quality oold oaks in Sweden has also had eects on the biodiversity. There is directevidence rom historical records o birds, lichens and some insects that usedto be widespread in the Swedish landscape, but now are very rare or haveeven gone extinct.

Oak as a habitat for many species

The oak is associated with a number o species the biodiversity in the tree isvery high. It is a complex web o actors that contribute to the oak as a habi-tat or many species. The long lie cycle, the dierent stages o decay etc are

probably important reasons or the high biodiversity.The oak is a very stable habitat. A dying or decaying oak does not disappear

or undergo dramatic changes or a couple o hundred years. That makes an oldoak avourable compared to a more temporary substrate such as a wind-elt tree.

When the oak disappears, many beetle, ungi and lichens go with it. Oneexample is the bird Dendrocopos medius. It went extinct in 1982 in Sweden,although it still exists in some sites with old oaks around Europe. In the 18 thcentury it was a common bird in the south o Sweden. When the protec-tion o oaks disappeared 1832, the oak habitats started to ragment. Recentstudies have shown that one pair needs an area o at least ten hectares with

many old oaks. A viable population can establish when there are many suchsites not too ar rom each other, which is hardly so in Sweden today.


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Because the birds do not move more than ten kilometres, the ragmentation and theloss o habitat eventually led to the birds extinction.

Habitat changes that affect the faunaAmong the beetles that are associated with the oak, the Lucanus cervus isone o the most characteristics. It used to be very common in the south oSweden, especially when the oaks were very abundant on the pastures andmeadows, up until the beginning o the 19th century.

But as the amount o oak trees has decreased, so has the habitats or theL. cervus, which is why the beetle is not as common today as it used to be.

Another beetle, highly associated with oak, is the Osmoderma eremita. Itis not oten seen, since it can live its entire lie in the same tree. Only fteenpercent o the adult beetles leave their original tree and those who do, do not

move very ar. The beetle is sort o an indicator o high biodiversity. In thepresence o the O. eremita, there are a lot o other, oten vulnerable, species.Although there are more than 200 sites in Sweden where the O. eremita isobserved, very ew o these are appraised to be viable in the long run, mainlybecause these sites are too ar rom each other, but also because most o theminhabit less than 500 individuals.

The uture or many o these species depend on how the oak landscapeis managed in the uture and the regeneration o oaks has to be substantiallylarger than it is today. It is now a lack o the 100200 years old oak genera-tions in the Swedish landscape. For biodiversity conservation in the south o

Sweden, the oak tree is the most important tree.

Phot

o:Aivars

Petrins

Picture 1 and 2:

Two species, highly associated with the oak. The

Lucanus cervus, which is still seen in the Swedish oak

landscape, and the Dendrocopos mediuswhich has

now gone extinct in Sweden.


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The fauna and flora on oaks howimportant are the Swedish oak ha-bitats in a European perspective?

Presented by Anders Dahlberg, Swedishspecies information centre, SLU, [email protected]

Oaks, especially old and coarse ones, har-bour a remarkable interesting and diverseora and auna. In Sweden, it is the treespecies that are associated with the highestnumber o species, probably or severalreasons. One is that the tree can get reallyold, at this coarse state it can provide manydierent niches. The associated specieshave evolved when the oaks were more requent and are oten dependent onan oak habitat with many oaks where distances between them are short.

Dramatic landscape changes

With changed land use practices, the oak landscape has gone through a dra-

matic transormation in Sweden as well as in the rest o Europe. Old growthdeciduous orests, meadows and wood pastures have been reduced to a smallpart o their original coverage. As a consequence o the decline in oak ha-bitats, several o the species associated with the oak tree are also becomingmore and more threatened.

It is necessary to make priorities in conservation and management ospecies diversity. The oak associated biological values must be defned andanalysed. Either rom a species perspective by studying what species areound, how they are distributed and what their possible uture may look like.Or, rom a habitat perspective by looking at the occurrence o the habitat

and its quality. Unortunately has no such analysis has been conducted at theEuropean level. It require a substantial amount o inormation. A pragmaticoption is thus to use national analyses complemented with all avaliable inor-mation.

Red Lists as a tool for conservation

Using the Red Lists can be one basis or setting priorities in management andconservation o nature. It consist o a compilation o species ecology, distri-bution and status and evaluates the species risk o becoming extinct.A red listed species can be:


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Common but declining Uncommon and declining Very unusual

Nearly 700 oak associated speciesare on the Swedish Red List rom 2005,mainly beetles, but also ungi and lichens.Several o these species appear to havea noteworthy share o their Europeanpopulation in Sweden. 140 o the red-listed

species are estimated to have more thanten percent o their European population

in Sweden, and 30 more are estimated to have at least 20 percent.

O the oak associated species on the Red List, the major part consists odierent kinds o beetles. Natura 2000, a EU network with the aim to con-serve species diversity, will ollow up the status o three oak associated beet-les species. Their status and development will be thoroughly analysed. Oneo these is Osmodermaeremita, or the Hermit beetle. It now lives in 1 000known localities in Europe, with the highest concentration in Sweden.

Lichen communities o Swedish giant old oaks are o high internationalvalue. Especially in south-eastern Sweden, there is an abundant and rich ora,due to the concentrations and continuity o giant oaks in combination withgood air quality. Swedish oaks comprise eleven species on the Red List, whichhave more than 25 percent o the European populations. There are also 170red listed oak ungi o which several have a large part o their Europeanpopulation in Sweden. Hapalopilus croceus is one o these. It is extremlyrare and threatened throughout Europe. It has only 130 European sites and alarge share o the European occurrence are in Sweden.

All o these species are more or less dependent on old giant oaks. TheSwedish concentration o giant oaks in pasture woodlands is exceptional, de-spite only a small action o its earlier occurence, although especially Britainhas high numbers o giant oaks. Also Spain, Greece and Russia has a substan-tial amount o old oaks. However, due to the severe decline in oak habitatsin Sweden as well as in other European countries during the last 200 years,

the uture o the biologi-cal diversity depends onmanagement. The oak-habitats in Sweden aresignifcant rom an Euro-pean perspective and Swe-den has an internationalresponsibility to managethese habitats to secure itsbiodiversity values or the

uture.

Picture 1: Map over European distribution of

giant oaks.

Picture 2: Nearly 700 oak associated Swedish species were red-lis-

ted in 2005.


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What about the regeneration ofoaks in the Swedish forests?

Presented by Frank Gtmark, University ofGteborg, [email protected]

In planning or uture orests and in thecommitment to avour oaks, there has to bedeep knowledge about the occurrence anddevelopment o seedlings and saplings. The

regeneration o oak has recently been studiedin two dierent surveys. The frst one was innon-protected orests, mostly conierous. Theother was in woodland key habitats; withplots both in conservation cutting areas and in areas with ree development. Thepurpose o the studies was to understand the oak regeneration in relation to di-erent orest types, the oak ecology, orest management and orest policy.

The defnitions used in the studies are: Conierous orest: at least 60 percent coniers Broadleaved orest: at least 70 percent broadleaved trees Seedling: small oak, less than 25 cm tall Sapling: small oak, 1,3 m tall to 5 cm in diameter at 1,3 meter Large oak tree, or oak tree: 15 cm in diameter at 1,3 meter Young orest: average height o trees less than 7 meter High orest: average height o trees more than 7 meter

Regeneration in broad leaved- and coniferous forests

In the frst survey, the regeneration o oaks in deciduous and broad-leavedorests was compared. The results showed that there is considerable moreregeneration o oak in broad-leaved orests, but since there are so many more

conierous orests in Sweden, the overall result is that there are substantiallymore young oaks growing in conierous orests than in broad-leaved orests.

YOUNG FORESTSConierous: 3243 oak saplings per hectareBroad-leaved: > 300 oak saplings per hectare

HIGH FORESTConierous: 3260 oak saplings per hectareBroad-leaved: 56146 oak saplings per hectareOverall: 6374 percent o all saplings in the study area (Southern third o

Sweden), grew in conierous young and high orest. These saplings may beavoured rather than removed and it is potentially easy to increase the densityo oak trees.


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The effect of conservation cutting

In the other study, in woodland key habitats and nature reserves, the ocuswas on dierences in oak regeneration due to cutting or thinning versus ree

development. The survey started in 2000, and during the winter 2002/2003hal o the one-hectare study plots were thinned by the removal o 2530percent o the tree biomass. In 2005 the oak saplings and seedlings was coun-ted again and the results showed that thinning increases seedling density.More light avours survival and growth o oak seedlings. Partial cutting ishence one way to avour oak regeneration.

In a comparison between a national orest inventory during the years1983 to 1987 and a similar inventory during 1998-2002, the dierences inoak regeneration is striking - the oak saplings have decreased substantially,mainly due to browsing by deer and moose. The conclusions rom this study

is that the orest practices and conservation policies that dominate the Swe-dish orestry does obviously not avour oak saplings or seedlings. However,the same inventory shows that the number o large oak trees has increasedduring the same period, so the management o today avours big oaks beoreyoung oaks. Since the results rom several surveys show that good survivaland growth in oak seedlings requires canopy opening, it can be stated thatthe practice o conservation cutting is necessary to strengthen the regenera-tion o oak.

Picture 3 and 4:

The practice of conserva-

tion cutting allows the

sunlight to reach the

ground, which favours the

regeneration of oak.

Picture 1 and 2:

Before and after conserva-

tion cutting in one of the

study areas.


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Fluid relationships: The inclusionalneighbourhood of oak trees andfungi

Presented by Alan Rayner, Universityof Bath, [email protected]

What is an oak? A tree? Or a perect habi-tat or ungi and beetle? Simple questionslike that can sometimes be really hard toanswer, as the answers may very well bediverse. However they all contribute toan overall understanding o the subject.

In ecology, the problem is that we tendto defne natural orms, like oaks, as discre-te objects in a fxed perspective. For millennia, our attitudes have been biasedthrough believing that nature can be defned into discrete material bodies thatare separated rather than pooled dynamically together. This way o lookingat nature, natural orm, tends to create a dualism is it this way? Or is it thatway? With or against? It is a sort o logic that in the end probably underlies

many kinds o mismanagement, since it excludes a lot o possibilities.

Present way of looking at nature

Another problem, when we are trying to answer simple questions, is that wetend to separate ourselves rom nature, as well as isolate the object (in thiscase the oak tree). It leads to the alienation rom our natural human neigh-bourhood, and leads to environmentally unsustainable practices. There is nosuch thing as an isolated natural orm or object; there are no complete, fxedboundaries or dividing lines in nature. So, the next question that ollows is:what is neighbourhood? It oten tends to be perceived either as the surroun-

ding o an individual entity or as a group o entities within a defned space.But as mentioned earlier there are no such thing as boundaries or dividinglines in nature. And as or the oak tree all the confnes o an oak tree are tosome degree impermanent and permeable. Full o holes. Indeed a holey place!

And what is a ungus? Fungi could be thought o as dynamic relationalow-orms that can inhabit the living space o the equally dynamic relationalneighbourhood that we call an oak tree. And as a river is inuenced by, andinuences the landscape it ows through, so do the ungi and oak tree inu-ence one another reciprocally. Because there is no object that acts in a va-cuum, an object cannot be isolated rom its surroundings. The ungi and the

oak shape and reshape one anothers lives.


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Including instead of excluding

There is a need or transormation in our view o the world and ourselves.We need a view that does not exclude, but that rather includes. A shit in the

way we rame reality, rom fxed to dynamic. A radically dierent perspectiveemerges rom inclusionality the awareness o space as an inclusion onatural dynamic geometry. We need to think about how our perceptions oreality aect our appreciation and management o natural orm and beauty,like the oak tree and the ungi. Perhaps the most important role o ecology isto understand complex uid dynamic relationships rather than take sides inwhat objectivity might lead us to perceive as the War o One against Other.

Picture 2: Painting made by Alan Rayner Fountains of the forest.

Picture 1:

Co-creative sculpting by

fungi and oak.


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Habitat requirements and distribu-tion of wood- and bark inhabitingfungi on oak

Presented by Stellan Sunhede,Skvde University, Sweden. [email protected]

One o the main characteristics o oak isthe high biodiversity associated with thetree. There are many beetles, several lichensand a large amount o ungi that lives inor on the oak tree. In order to assess theamount o oak associated ungi, the non-lichenized wood- and bark inhabiting ungion oak trees are being mapped and calcu-lated in an ongoing project. So ar, 95 000oaks in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden,have been surveyed with respect to population structure, spatial distribution,habitat and substrate requirement. The ungus ora on individual oaks hasbeen inventoried with a little extra ocus on rare and endangered species.

Brown rot and white rot

The oak trees are inhabited by a lot o dierent ungi, and these can rough-ly be divided into two groups: brown rot and white rot ungi, respectively.The brown rot species decompose cellulose and leave the lignin as a brownishrest. The white rot ungi frst remove the lignin and then decompose a lot othe cellulose, but they leave some behind as a whitish remnant.

The most common brown rot species associated with oak, are Laetipo-rus sulphureus and Daedalea quercina. A rare species causing brown rot isPiptoporus quercinus. The dierent ungi contribute to make the oak hollow

and create varying habitats or other organisms, in particular insects. Thereare a lot more white rot ungi than brown rot ungi on oak trees. Phellinusrobustus is one o the most common species, while Inonotus dryadeus is arare ungus, which only occurs in habitats with a rich herbal ora. Even morerare is Ganoderma resinaceum, which is only ound in three sites in Sweden in Skne,Halland and Blekinge.

Rare fungi in Sweden

One o the most beautiul oak habitats in Sweden is seen in Halltorps hageon land. Here grow several old and thick oaks, and on some o these the

very rare Hapalopilus croceus is ound. It is one o the ungi that are on thered-list or endangered species, and it will probably become even more rare


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Picture 3:

One of the inventoried sites

a wood pasture.

Picture 4:Inonotus dryadeus

Picture 1:

One of the inventoried sites

a fjord slope.

Picture 2:

Fistulina hepatica

since it lives solely on old oaks. There are not enough middle-aged oaks toreplace the old ones as they die.

The most amous Swedish oak is probably Rumskullaeken in Smland.

It is a airly low tree, but with a substantial girth - more than 14 meters incircumerence. It has been hollow or a long time; even Carl von Linn wrotein his stories about the oak and it was then used as a tool shed. It is theungus Fistulina hepatica that has contributed to the hole in the tree. Theactivity o this ungus has precluded the possibility to decide the age o theoak, but by omparing the tree to other oak trees the age is estimated to about1 000 years. Many times, the individual oak is colonized by several dierentungi, both brown and white rot species. It is quite common that the ungispecialize on dierent parts o the oak. Some species are or example almostalways ound on thick branches, while others are mostly seen near the base

o the tree. One way to protect and preserve threatened species o ungi is toleave dead branches and dead, standing or allen trees. These will make up aperect substrate or several ungi. Most ungi do not inect undamaged oaks,but a small scar on the trunk or a broken branch may be enough or a ungusto colonize the wood. One way to preserve these ungi is to inoculate an oakwith mycelia. This will speed up the decay in resh trees in order to createhabitats or rare insects, as well as to transer rare and endangered woodungi.


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The interaction of oak-fungi andbeetles and the use of a saproxylicindex in Britain

Presented by Keith Alexander, Ecologicalconsultant, [email protected]

The invertebrate auna which is directlydependent on decaying wood comprisesover 1 800 species in Britain, o which700 are beetles. That equals six percento the total invertebrate auna and 20percent o the beetles in Britain. Oak treessupport an important part o this auna.

It is not only old, hollow and dyingtrees that are substrate or this auna. Also young trees have dead branches,even though they are small. As they grow and mature, more branches die,bigger and oten particularly lower parts o the tree. Early heartwood decaybegins when the tree is mature, even though it still has a ull crown and goodlateral branching. As it grows older, the crown starts to get thinner, and the

the heartwood on the oak gets more and more hollow, the crown eventuallystarts to sink andthe oak tends to grow downwards.

Factors that influence the faunaDuring these stages there are several dierent ungi associated with the tree,ungi that many beetles depend on. The beetle species have very particularrequirements, both in terms o type o ungal decay and the trees stage odecay process. Also the situation o the decay and the host tree is importantor the beetles. Other actors which aect the auna is:

Total number o trees Density o trees open grown vs. high orest Age structure o trees Management history continuity Each site is unique

In order to succeed with a good conservation, there is, among others,need or a species list and a comparison o dierent sites. There also need tobe a recording o tree actors as numbers, age and size, as well as inorma-tion about the dierent beetles rarity. The types o sites that are typically rich

in species are the ones with a long history o tree cover, oten on relativelyuncultivated land and ormer hunting preserves.


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Measuring rarity

There are several reasons why a species is rare. It can have a low mobility, theniche can be rare, it can be under-recorded, unknown or a recent colonist. It

can even be a newly established non-native species. Traditional inventoriesare thereore not always enough. A new tool, Index o Ecological Continuity(IEC) is one way to reduce the uncertainty.

The Index o Ecological Continuity is a scoring system, used in order toassist in the site assessment. It consists o a list where the dierent selectedbeetles have scores according to their rarity and occurrence in old habitats the more restricted to habitats. The sum o all the scores o the speciesound on a particular tree then signals the conservation value o that habitat.

The IEC saproxylic beetle list contains 180 species, which are graded ac-cording to:

1. Only known rom sites with old trees and long history (3 scores)2. Mainly in the above (2 scores)3. More widespread but collectively characteristic (1 score)An IEC total score o 25 or more is assessed as a site having national

importance. The Index o Ecological Continuity, and the saproxylic beetlelist have to be revised over time and continuously developed. But, it providesa working tool and a robust scheme or the nature conservation work. It isnow adopted by nature conservation agency in England, but there is alsoneed or a European IEC listing.

Figure 1:

Diagram showing Index of

Ecological Continuity (IEC)

for a number of sites in dif-ferent age classes.


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What can we learn from theecology of Osmoderma eremita?

Presented by Thomas Ranius, SwedishUniversity of Agricultural Sciences, [email protected]

In Europe, old growth broad-leaved orestshave declined to only a small raction otheir original extent. Until the 19th cen-tury, old oaks were airly widespread in

pasture woodlands and wooded meadows.Abandoned management and changed landuse practices have severely reduced thesehabitats. When the old trees became scarce,the species associated with them became confned to small remnants o theiroriginal habitats.

Habitat requirements for Hermit beetle

Osmodermaeremita, or the Hermit beetle, is dependent on hollow trees. Thelarvae develop in wood mould inside the tree during three-our years, and

the adult beetle is seen only or a ew weeks in July and August. It has a highpriority in EUs Habitat Directive, and is used as a model species in research.There are records rom 2 100 localities, but in only 900 o these localitiesthere are records since 1990. As these 900 are the ones where people havebeen searching or O. eremita, they may very well exist on even more sites,or instance, in south-eastern Europe. In Sweden, the species mainly occursin old hollow oaks in pasture woodlands.

Surveing spatial distribution

For conservation eorts to be eective, it is important to understand how thespatial structure o the oak habitat inuences O. eremita. For that reason, anumber o sites were surveyed, diering in size and density o suitable sitesin the surrounding. Eight litres o mould was taken rom each tree, and sear-ched or remains o adult beetle body parts. The requency o presence pertree increased with stand size; single trees always lacked parts oO. eremitacompletely.

With urther studies telemetry and capture-recapture it was shownthat there were on average eleven beetles per tree and year, with a variationbetween zero and 85 beetles per tree and year. These surveys also confrmedthat the beetles are rather prone to stay in the same tree their entire lie, withonly 15 percent moving to another tree.


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Fragmentation a threat to the Hermit beetle

One conclusion drawn rom these results is that ragmentation is negativeto the beetle. Trees in small stands are used to a lower extent by the beetle,

and are consequently less valuable, in comparison to trees in larger stands. Asimple population viability analysis based on the present knowledge, suggestthat many o the O. eremita populations will go extinct even i the habitatquality remains constant. However, the extinctions may very well take deca-des, or even centuries.

Some consequences or nature conservation are:

Maintain or improve localities where the species is present. It is rarelyuseul to create stepping-stones or corridors.

It is important to avoid bottle necks in the number o suitable trees

over time. It is necessary to increase the number o suitable trees in many loca-

lities. Do not try to save every single locality, but give priority tolarger ones, or localities with a potential or restoration.

Picture 1:

Adult beetle of O. eremita. Photo: Niklas

Jnsson

Picture 2:

Distribution of O. eremita. Blue dot: last record before 1950, or the

time unknown; black dot: last record 1950-1990; red dot: last record

in 1990 or later.


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What have we learnt from massiveinventories of the oak beetle faunaand how can we use the results fortheir long term conservation?

By Nicklas Jansson and Karl-Olof Bergman,Linkping university, Sweden.

[email protected]

[email protected]

The oak trees are the trees that inhabitmost saproxylic species in Sweden. Therehas been several projects that has describedthe saproxylic beetle auna on old oaks instergtland, during the years 1992-2003.One o these was a recent inventory o 74sites. Dierent kinds o traps were placedin and around old oaks, suitable or saproxylic beetles. Window traps wereplaced on brances in interesting habitats, and pit-all traps in the mould inold trees.

Each tree has a unique auna and with traps on fve trees, 50 percent o theauna were caught, with 20 trees, 90 percent o the auna was caught. All inall, 198 oak associated saproxylic beetle was ound, o which 47 is on the redlist.

Various characteristics are important for species diversity

One conclusion drawn rom the inventory is that the sunlight is important tosome o the oak living species, and that orest regrowth thereore are negativeboth or the old oaks and or some o its inhabitants. It was also clear that alarge girth is positive or species richness as well as the age o the tree. Most

species was ound in oak trees in stage fve and six. A comparison betweenwere there are most species rich sites in stergtland coincides with the siteswere there are most old oaks. The most common beetles are spread all overthe county.

For conservation purposes o species richness, there has to be and activeconservation and proper management o old oaks. Beetles dependent on hol-low oaks with wood mould is the dominant group o red-listed species asso-ciated with oak habitats.One hollow oak may be enough or some individu-als or a while. But how much is enough to ensure the long term survival obeetles associated with old, hollow oaks? Some questions need to be answe-

red in order to work out a long term management plan or the conservationo oak living beetles:


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Oak regeneration challenges in na-ture based forest management

Presented by Palle Madsen, Forest andLandscape, KVL, [email protected]

Nature based orest management has gre-atly gained popularity in Denmark over thelast 15 years. It is emerging rom a moretraditional orestry, which goes back 200

years. At that time orest clearance hadreach almost an ecological catastrophe.Large parts o the country was covered byheath land and the ew remaining orestswere heavily grazed. This led to a shortage in wood supplies or the society,and plantations o ast growing non-native coniers was thought to be a solu-tion to the problem.

Todays nature based orest management system is a movement awayrom plantation orestry towards a system more nature like. It is part o ageneral trend in orest and landscape management on both public and privat-ely owned land. It rose rom increased ocus on multi-unctional orestry androm the problems associated with traditional orestry, caused by insufcientstand stability, reduced timber prices and high regeneration costs.

Various aims and interests

The Danish landscape is mainly characterized by armland. 61 percent othe area is armland, while only eleven percent are orests, o which, 37 per-cent are broadleaved orests (25 000 hectares in Denmark are oak stands).Additionally, the government decided 15 years ago that the Danish orestland area should double within the next century.

Management plans have a wide variety o aims and interests depending

on ownership, site etc. Recreation, biodiversity, nature conservation, woodproduction, bio-energy, landscape aesthetics, cultural heritage and groundwater protection are among the most common. Private landowners may intheir goal setting particularly ocus on issues like property value, investments,hunting and the mere pleasure o ownership.

Ultimately the challenge or management is how to recognize all theseaims and how to handle shiting aims over time. It seems vital to try and keepas many doors open or the uture as possible in this process, since nobodyknows what the uture will bring a strategy that calls or both economicaland ecological sustainability.


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Nature based forestry working methods

The toolbox or a nature based orest management consist o several dierentparts. Continous cover orestry is one o the common characteristics, alt-

hough clear-cuts o e.g. unstable stands may become relevant. Mixed speciesand uneven aged orest structures are also some o the typical characteristics.However, the species and structural diversity may not be ound at the smallscale in each part o a orest. The heterogeneity is more to be ound within ascale o hectares rather than parts o a hectare. Nature based orestry is alsoabout growing site adapted species and thereore primarily native species.Natural regeneration is the dominating regeneration orm and pesticides orertilization is hardly used.

Oak regeneration is a major challenge in the nature based orest manage-ment due to widespread use o the continuous cover approach. Canopy shade

and competition rom more shade tolerant or ast growing species are knownto create difculties or oak regeneration. Additionally, small oak are attrac-tive or deer and it is oten stated that oaks have no uture in nature basedsilviculture.

However, various theories o the historic landscape can serve as a valuablesource o inspiration or new methods in orest and landscape management.

Several studies have shown that the oak regenerates well over time in agrazed orest. Shade and competitors are removed which allow the oak toestablish, oten sheltered by species like wild apple, sloe, hawthorn and roses,to protect the seedlings and saplings rom grazers.

An important challenge seems to develop oak regeneration methods ornature based orest management. The approach is largely to mimic the na-tural ecosystem processes and dynamics. Oaks seem to call or new ways ocombining grazing by domestic stock, wildlie management, and regenerationmeasures like direct seeding and planting o various species mixtures.

Picture 1:

Average establishment rate for

oak seeding at 20 Danish ex-

periments at clearcuts. Some

were monitored only one yearand some up to four years.


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Geographical analysis of oakenvironments in Sweden andstergtlandPresented by Jens Johannesson, Kenneth Claesson and Tommy Ek, CountyAdministrative Board of stergtland, [email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

During 1990-2004, the County Administrative Board o stergtland sur-veyed the landscape or valuable oak habitats. The result o that study is amap o 18 000 hectares o oak and other broad-leaved high-value cores anddata about its biodiversity. It covers most o the broad-leaved habitats withhigh natural value, but it is still only 1,7 percent o the total land area ostergtland and probably only 30-50 percent o the historical broad-leavedenvironments.

High value cores in stergtland

O the surveyed high-value cores, 1 500 hectares or nine percent are in

nature reserves. 94 percent o the high-value cores are dependent on grazing,but only 30 percent are actually grazed today. The distribution o red listedand rare species are well known ater this survey. Some o these species havea large proportion o their European distribution in stergtland.

The oak landscape was classifed into our dierent groups, with regardto the age o the oaks and the size o the area. The high-value cores are oundin oak-wood pastures, on steep slopes, in grazed oak-pine orest, oak orestsor in urban environments.

Ancient trees in stergtland

In another survey, also perormed by the County Administrative Board,stergtland was surveyed or ancient trees during 1997-2006. Every old


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or ancient tree was mapped and described and positioned on a GIS sheet, byunemployed but trained people. More than 110 000 trees have been recor-ded. O these, 25 000 are oaks and 15 000 o these are more than one meter

in diameter. An additional 200 000 younger oaks have been counted, but notdescribed.

By a newly developed system or describing the hollowness in oaks, theshortages o hollow and/or old oaks in certain areas was recorded. The sys-tem consists o seven stages o which the frst was not used in this study. Thepossibilities or regeneration and the amount o replacement trees are nowquite well known. In this project there are also plans or restoration o over-grown pastures and oaks, with fnancial support to the landowners.

Preservation by the use of a new tool

With a new tool high value tract there are new possibilities to preservespecies in the long run. A high value tract is an area characterised by a con-centration o high value cores and/or a high concentration o red listed spe-cies.

With a more geographically concentrated nature conservation, there arebetter chances to get a higher degree o ecological unctionality. Nation (orcounty) wide ull-scale surveys o valuable nature in Sweden will give newpossibilities or conservation. However, it should be used with care. One riskis that areas not ully surveyed will not be classifed as high-value tracts, eventhough they should. In a normal landscape, around one hal to two percento the orest is (identifed as) high value core, very rarely above ten percent.

Combined digital data o the distribution o red data book species andhigh value cores, as well as experience-based inormation was used to deli-neate high value tracts in the County o stergtland. For example, in thetract o S:t Anna and Gryt archipelago, the total area is 44 200 hectares, owhich 1 502 hectares are classifed as high value core, equalling almost sevenpercent o the land area. Within this area there are 136 red data book species.

To conclude 30-50 percent o the oak habitats in the 18th and 19thcentury remain today in the best high value tracts. 70 percent o these areasare not grazed today, resulting in 46 percent o the ancient oaks being over-grown.

With these new tools and the detailed knowledge about oak habitats instergtland, the next step will be to make a landscape strategy or restoringthese areas.


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Veteran oak tree surveys and ma-nagement at United Kingdom sites

Presented by Neville FayTreework Environmental Practice (TEP) & theAncient Tree Forum (ATF), [email protected]

The quality and the condition o Britainsold tree heritage are reected in the greatnumber o ancient tree sites ound in the

British Isles. The majority o large sites arein the southern part o England. To protectand better manage these sites, the AncientTree Forum was established. It works toincrease awareness, promote better protection, and to avoid loss o ancienttrees by improving knowledge and science on the subject.

The ATF does not only work within Britain, but also cooperates withgroups in other countries, like Spain and Sweden. However, there are somedierences between the perspectives in these countries. In Britain, the ocusis more on the ecosystem, whereas in Sweden the main interest lies in thespecies associated with ancient trees.

Veteran and ancient oaks

The defnitions o veteran versus ancient trees are not always obvious. Asimple rule states that All ancient trees are veteran, but not all veteransare ancient. The arboricultural classifcation relates to tree age, so that anancient tree is one that is beyond ull maturity and in the fnal stage o lie,which is oten the longest stage.

To monitor veteran trees and their habitat eatures in Britain, a SpecialistSurvey Method (SSM), operating at three survey levels, was developed in19971. A signifcant number o ancient tree sites in England have now been

surveyed by this method. It has proven to be a useul tool to understand thehabitats and to compare habitat quality and characteristics between key sites.

Using the SSM it is possible to obtain detailed inormation about treedata, orm, habitat and associated species. TEP have urther designed anarboricultural enhancement to the SSM (called the SSM+). This is used toprovide an understanding o the trees viability and structural condition, andorecasts the probability o uture decline, estimating the risk o ailure oreach individual tree. The inormation is used to ormulate Individual TreeManagement Plans (ITMP) and to minimise uture ancient or veteran treeloss which is an essential strategy as old trees are obviously hard to replace.

This methodology has also been used at important Swedish veteran tree sites,such as Sr Vsterskog, Hrdalen andHallstad ng.


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Replacement trees

Veteran tree management need to enhance the viability o the existing popu-lation while incorporating an eective replacement strategy or young trees.

The loss o ancient trees is slow and hard to recover rom - with 40 percentewer saplings you get 40 percent ewer trees 250 years later. ITMPs are usedto guide the restoration program or individual veteran trees, using arbori-cultural techniques such as retrenchment pruning. The plan runs or over 30years with a number o return periods during those years.

New arboricultural techniques have been developed that mimic the natu-ral processes in the way trees age, racture and decline. This approach is inu-enced by the many dierent disciplines that contribute to the ATF and thisnow orms the basis o British environmental arboriculture. Some typicalmethods in this approach include:

Mimicking storm breakage Natural racture techniques Crown restoration Retrenchment pruning Coronet cutting Rip cuts Haloing; the slow release rom competition Enhancement o the rhyzosphere

The interactions between the tree and its surrounding are important i the

arboricultural program should succeed in supporting a unctioning tree-eco-system. Thereore the whole root-space and soil ecosystem, with associatedungi and insects has to be taken into account.

The assessment o tree population dynamics at veteran oak sites showsloss-rates o between one to two percent per annum, indicates that there is aneed to prevent man-made inuences that lead to tree ailure while develo-ping strategic management programs to reduce such losses since all ancienttrees are important.

1 Obtainable at www.treeworks.co.uk/downloads/SSM_HandBook.pdf

Ancient Tree

UK

Distribution

(KA)

Picture 1, 2 and 3: Different arboricultural techniques to mimic the trees natural ageing process.


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The oaks in natural and culturallandscape and the management ofoak habitats in Germany

Presented by Lebrecht Jeschke, University ofGreifswald, [email protected]

Oak immigrated into Europe around10 000 years ago. They ormed deciduousorests together with elm trees and limetrees. At that time, the reproduction o oaktrees was not inhibited by shade tolerantspecies. The oak trees colonized a largepart o Europe and had its peak around8 000 years ago. It was not until the earlyBronze Age, when the population o beech expanded, that the decline ooaks began. The oak regeneration and spreading then started to reduce, eventhough human activities had begun to create more suitable habitats or oaksthrough arming by introducing grazing animals.

In Germany today, orests cover around one third o the territory. Oak

trees and beech trees together occupy one quarter o that area. Oaks aloneinhabit ten percent o the orested land. Hal o the orests consist o conie-rous species.

Niches for the oak trees

Oak regeneration in mixed orests is airly dependent on human support, orexample conservation cutting. Otherwise the oak is more or less ousted bythe beech, as that is a more shade tolerant species. Actually, natural oak rege-neration is ound mainly in pine orests.

In beech dominated orests that are not directly inuenced by human

activities and land use practices, oak only have a niche in time. Ater a phy-sical disturbance, like a storm breakage, the oak can regenerate because oa temporary lack o competition or light. Niches in space, though, are notcommon today. Oak trees are mostly seen on orest borders, steep slopes andacid rocks. These oak communities in a steady state occupy only very smallplaces in habitats that may be too rough or other species.

There are also some niches or oaks in more dynamic sites, like oodedplains. The oak tree is more resistant to ooding than most other broad-leaved trees. It is above all a durable species and thereore has an advantageover many other trees on sites that are subject to drastic changes over time.

In the natural succession ater heavy orest damages the intermediateorest seems to be the optimal habitat or oaks.


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In the cultural landscape the oaks have niches in the orests managed ascoppice and standard system orests. In abandoned felds oaks have in theintermediate succession stages a broad niche in time too.

However to stabilizing these systems it needs conservation cutting andclearing, or grazing animals, otherwise beech trees take over and the old oakslowly disappears in the orest.

In the modern cultural landscape, old oaks are oten relics o ormer landusing practices. It is seen in coppice orests and coppice and standard systemorests and especially in ormerly grazed orests. Almost like a testimony overthe close bonds between oak regeneration and a more open landscape.

Balance between nature and management

However, it is vital that there is a balance between the natural regeneration

in the landscape and the inuence o grazing or clearing. There are severalexamples in Germany where there have been too many grazers in an area,or where there has been wrong animals, or where the clearing has been tointensive which in the end has caused severe damage to the historic culturallandscape.

The uture o the oak is yet somewhat uncertain. But what is clear is thatit needs the jay or spreading, it needs time to grow and it needs grazers toreduce competition rom other trees. Thereore, it is necessary to create a newprotection goal the semi open grazed oak landscape.

Picture 1: An old oak as a relic of historic land-use on Island of Vilm.


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How to combine nature conservationvalues and recreation with oak pro-duction and the importance of scale

Presented by Erik Ederlf, Swedish Forest Agency, [email protected]

Oak is not one o the ordinary tree spe-cies in Swedish orests in many ways.Partly because it unortunately is not avery common tree, but most o all be-cause it has so many dierent aces. Andthis characteristic opens up or dierentoptions. It is a species that can grow in agreat variety o sites since it is more du-rable than most other trees. And it growsolder than most species, which also maybe one explanation to why it can oerhome or more animals and plants than most other species. In addition, it isa tree that is physically more stable than most other species and it can growtogether with many other trees.

A tree with many qualities

Oak trees have more subtle qualities that are airly unusual among mostother species. It awakens interest in many people or dierent reasons, partlybecause it has a symbolic value and can create a ee or history. It is a naturalplayground or children (and adults) and creates a room or antasy. But it isalso a tree that or long has had a very practical use in human culture. Oakscan produce very valuable timber and they are popular or the production ourniture and oors, since oak is both beautiul and durable, and it has arelatively stable market.

So, the oak is a species with many qualities. Likewise, the landownerso today are oten interested in multiunctional goals. Forest advisors otenunderestimate the landowners interest in various issues. And o course, thelandowners primary interest is oten timber production, but it is ar romtheir only goal. Their orests have such a wide range o various possible uses,which has become more evident or the modern orest owners.

The orests are part o a larger landscape, physically, and o a long histo-ry. So the orest practises o today can and should be seen in the light o this a dierent scale than the usual. Many times it gives new perspectives andoer better ground or discussion, i the historical and landscape perspective

is presented or the landowners. This adds value to the ownership and makesit more interesting to decide about dierent alternatives.


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Ecopark Omberg Visions andpossibilities

Presented by Per Petersson, Sveaskog, andTommy Ek, County Administrative Boardof stergtland, [email protected]

[email protected]

A new tool or preserving biodiversity andor landscape planning is introduced by the

concept Ecopark. It is the state owned o-rest company Sveaskog that has decided toset aside 20 percent o its productive orestarea or nature conservation and specialenvironmental consideration. An ecoparkis a large part o a landscape, at least 100hectares, which has signifcant ecologicalmerits. Within these parks, Sveaskog hasdecided to set aside at least hal o the areapurely or conservation purposes. Currentplans are to establish 34 ecoparks, witha total o 175 000 hectares. These parkswill be spread over the country, romSnapphanen in the south o Sweden, toKiimavaara in the northern parts.

The first Ecopark in Sweden

Mount Omberg is Sveaskogs frst ecopark. It was established in the spring2003. It is situated on the banks o Lake Vttern and has a mosaic orest witha very diverse and rich ora and auna it is actually one o the most speciesrich areas in the country and hosts a large number o threatened species. The

slopes consist o a varied mix o old broad-leaved- and spruce orest whilethe at parts o the mountain is characterized by economic orestry. Themountain has a long history o grazing and hosts a large number o ancientoaks.

When it was established as an ecopark, the biodiversity, cultural heritageand orest structure was inventoried and Sveaskog together with Countyboard o stergtland created a management plan or the area.

The history o Omberg goes ar back. Old maps show a more open anddeciduous rich landscape. During the Stone Age there were rich broad-leavedorest at Omberg and later on, when the climate became colder, both beech

and spruce increased in the area. During the Middle Ages there were several


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settlings and armland on Omberg, and in the 17th and 18 th centuries thelandscape was more open than it is today.

These dierent data the biodiversity, the cultural heritage and the oreststructure together orm the basis or the environmental management planor Ecopark Omberg. It includes a number o long-term goals that will helpto determine how the area will look like in the uture:

Old-growth broad leaved orest will increase rom 15 to 45 percent Old-growth spruce orest will increase rom 5 to 15 percent The number o ancient oaks will increase rom 400 to 5 000 The amount o orest or timber production will be reduced rom

80 to 40 percent

Restoration of oak areas

One o the most important activities is to ensure that ancient oaks will survi-ve at least a couple o hundred years more enough to establish replacementtrees which can host the associated ora and auna. The strategy is to cleararound old oaks and to create many new. Since many o the old oaks are inclose canopy orest, they have to be released rom competing trees and bus-hes in order to survive. The ancientoaks are cleared in several steps; soar around 80 giant oaks have been

released and in fve years there willbe 400 oaks reed rom competi-tion.

One area has been restored intoa semi-open grazed oak lands-cape. The young oak stands havebeen thinned, and about 30 o theremaining 150 trees have been da-maged in order to create scares andhollows. Along the roads in thepark there are many oaks, with one

side towards an open environmentand the other towards trees andbushes. These oaks are also clearedto create a string o wide crownedtrees along the small roads.

Hopeully, this managementplan does not only create a long-term sustainability or the orest,but will also provide urtherknowledge about sustainable

orestry.

Picture 1: One of the main activities in the

Ecopark is to clear around old oaks and to

open up the closed forest, in order to facili-

tate oak regeneration and survival.


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are too isolated. Maximum distance between them should be less than 200meters and areas urther apart rom one another must be bridged.

The problem with ragmentation became even more urgent when the mu-

nicipality o Norrkping decided to plan or more exploitation in Hndel.Hence, the landscape planning or restoration and management o the oak si-tes in that area competed with the plans or urther exploitation. In the harshreality, the oaks lost the battle but not completely. There have been somecompromises between plans or development and exploitation and manage-ment o oaks. At least it can be seen as a step in the right direction. In a totalarea o two hectares, there are now 150 new oaks planted and 700 shrubs orprotection, and even more will be planted. Some gaps between the dierentsites are bridged and there are several new regeneration areas.

Cooperation with landowners in Brvik

The other area, Brvik, is a little over 2 000 hectares and there are severallandowners involved, o which only a ew own a larger area. The project con-cerns fve dierent areas, o which Brborg is one.

Brborg includes two nature reserves, and there is only one landowner.In the area, there are approximately 140 hollow oaks and the total core areais 64 hectares. The ocus o this still ongoing project is to inspire and advicelandowners in order to conserve the values associated with oak.

Knowledge rom various surveys was compiled onto digital maps usingGIS. On feld visits, the dierent landowners have been inormed about theecological values o the oak sites, how to manage the core site and i there areany generation gaps in the oak population. The landowner has also been o-ered help with restoration, and there have been some discussions about howto create connections between dierent sites.

The sum o all inormation, together with existing knowledge about corri-dors, barriers and buer zones, now orm the basis or the suggested manage-ment plan, which includes practices like nursing o shrubs, edge management,construction o corridors and avenues, stepping stones or dispersal and aorest management that avours oak trees.

Picture 1: Hndel, a heavily exploited urban landscapePicture 2: North of Vikbolandet, a rural landscape


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The action plan for Osmodermaeremitaand other oak living beet-les and The action plan for treeswith high conservation values

Presented by Kjell Antonsson, CountyAdministrative Board of stergtland, andOlle Hjer Swedish Environmental ProtectionAgency, [email protected]

[email protected]

The Osmoderma eremita is a somewhatmagical species. Not only does it preventmotorway constructions in France, but italso has the worlds highest salary orbeetles at least. Not less than 3,6 millioneuro in fve years. All because o its rarity.It is protected in several countries, and apriority species on the habitat directive list,

but not yet on the border to extinction.And, it is a very good indicator o siteswith a high biodiversity. There can be up to200 threatened species in the same habitatas the hermit beetle, so or the protectiono high biodiversity it is very efcient toocus on these sites.

The lie o an O. eremita goes on or acouple o years. It takes three years or theegg to develop into an adult. It lives in hol-low trees, oten in oaks. The larvae eat the rotten wood inside the tree and theadults are observed in July until August. They smell a bit like plum or leather.

Conserving habitats for Hermit beetle

The distribution o the beetle in Sweden coincides with the distribution ooak habitats.

Between 1998 and 2002 there was a large O. eremita project in the south oSweden. 45 sites (and seven more added sites) were cleared and enced to allowgrazing in the uture. There were also inormation signs, brochures and seminarsto spread inormation about the project. The dierent county administrativeboards carried out most o the work. The sites were spread rom the southernparts o Sweden up to the north near Stockholm, with a higher concentration in


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the southeast part o Sweden, which reects the distribution o the O. eremita.In total, SEK 33 million (equals EUR 3,6 million) have been spent on the

project. O the 52 sites, 45 are now protected, while others are either ongoing

in protection or have been protected in some other way. The new updatedaction plan is more ambitious all sites with O. eremita should be includedin it, and also some uture areas nearby. The goal is to reach 5 000 hectaresbeore 2015.

Saving the old oaks an international responsability

The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has established an action planor trees with a high conservation value within the cultural landscape. Thesetrees are a key to conservation o threatened species, as well as our environ-ment and cultural heritage. A successul strategy or biodiversity demands a

holistic approach. The actionplan speciy: What to do, how to do it and why? Which are the stakeholders? How much and when? Which are the prioritizations and objectives Form an input to conservation inormation and educational strategies

The targets o this action plan are giant trees, ancient and large hollowtrees. High priority is given to giant oaks, churchyards, avenues, arm en-vironments, pollarded trees and parks. Due to the act that trees with highconservation values oten are ound in the transitional zone between orestand agricultural landscape, within urban areas and by roadsides, there is asubstantial need or co-operation between dierent stakeholders (or exampleland owners, scientists, authorities and non governmental organisations). Theaction plan involves a number o suitabletools, like advice, consultation and inor-mation, site protection, environmentalsubsidies etc. An example o an importantobjective is that at least 80 percent o allgiant oaks within protected areas shouldhave avourable conservation status by

2014 in every county. This means thatthere should be a lack o competition orlight, the oaks should be ree rom physi-cal damage, be vital and there should alsobe adequate oak regeneration.

Picture1: The actionplan aims at protecting oldtrees, and trees with high conservation values.


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Differences in perspective betweenEngland and Sweden when mana-ging oak habitats what are thedifferences?

Presented by Vikki Forbes, Pro Natura,[email protected]

Oaks in England and in Sweden appear to

have dierent growth patterns. The ques-tion is i this is due to genetic variations orto dierences in historical management. Acloser look reveals dierences in historicalcontext as well as current management andocus between the countries.

In England oaks tend to grow in woodpastures, hedgerows, on roadsides, in parks, gardens and churches and alongavenues. They were revered by the common man and thereore oten protec-ted and they were pollarded and coppiced as well as let to be open grown.

In Sweden the oaks are ound in wooded pastures and meadows, alongroads and in parks, gardens and churches. They were hated by the com-mon man, and owned by the crown. They were rarely pollarded. The lowerbranches were oten removed to allow more light to the ground to increasevegetation growth or the animals, inuencing the orm o the ancient treesand their stability.

Different management and perspectives

Another dierence is that there are larger populations o old oaks in Englandthan in Sweden. In England they tend to grow on ertilized pastures, and in

Sweden the oaks are mostly in oak pastures and in unimproved pastures. InEngland, overgrazing is a serious problem, whereas in Sweden the problem isquite the opposite lack o grazing. In both countries there is a problem withwrong grazing animals, or example horses.

In Sweden today, there has been much ocus on the species associatedwith the old trees rather than the tree itsel. Any management work takes ac-count o these species requirements. The understanding o the ecology o thespecies associated with old trees is better than the understanding o the oldtrees relationship with its environment.

In England as well there has been a lot o ocus on species associated withold trees, which has provided a useul tool to understand the importance othe dierent sites across the country. However, in more recent years, ocus


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has shited towards understanding more clearly the relationship between theold tree and its environment. This is mostly due to the establishment o theAncient Tree Forum, inspired by Ted Green, and has brought together ecolo-

gists, oresters and arborists.

Surveying and protection

There are also some dierences, as well as similarities, regarding managementand surveying. England has learnt the hard way about dramatic clearance.The cooperation between arborists and ecologists has led to much better ma-nagement in England today, compared to what it used to be. In both Englandand in Sweden there are generation gaps to fll, and dierent techniques orearly veteranisation o younger trees or dead wood creation.

In Sweden, old trees have been regarded a priority habitat, which is not

the act in England. Perhaps one problem is that there are so many ancienttrees in England there has been a tendency to take this particular reso

Documents

The Oak History Ecology Management and Planning Sweden