This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Day, S.P. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Woodland origin and 'ancient woodland indicators': a case-study from Sidlings Copse, Oxfordshire, UK

Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3RB, UK

A pollen sequence spanning the last c. 9500 years is presented from Sidlings Copse, a wood in Oxfordshire with a large number of vascular plant species generally taken to be indicators of 'ancient' (often assumed to be primary) woodland. The sequence provides evidence that the present woodland is secondary, resulting from regeneration on open land which commenced approximately 1000 years ago. Textual and cartographic evidence is used to shed additional light on the recent history of Sidlings Copse, indicating that it is a remnant of a much larger block of woodland present throughout the mediaeval and early postmediaeval periods up to the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century. The work demonstrates that ancient woodland cannot be assumed to represent relicts of the original post glacial woodland cover and that large assemblages of 'ancient woodland indicator' vascular plants can occur in secondary woodland. It is suggested that such plants tend to be absent from recent secondary woodland because they are slower to colonize new sites than other species.

Key Words: pollen analysis • woodland history • woodland flora • indicator species • ancient woodland.

The Holocene, Vol. 3, No. 1, 45-53 (1993)
DOI: 10.1177/095968369300300105


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				U. Segerstrom, U. Segerstrom, G. Hornberg, and R. Bradshaw The 9000-year histo of vegetation development and disturbance patterns of a swamp-forest in Dalama, northern Sweden The Holocene, January 1, 1996; 6(1): 37 - 48. [Abstract] [PDF]