Ancient Forests of England

Dr. Bob Browne, Wake Forest University Professor of Biology, and recipient of the Nathan and Julie Hatch Research Grant for Academic Excellence, will discuss his research at Oxford University on the Ancient Forests of England. His talk will focus on the ancient woodlands of Britain, most of which were former Royal land holdings. These fragments of ancient forests are relatively small but have land use documentation that can be traced for many centuries, often to the 11th century Domesday inventory. For some sites there are also excellent records for which species of insects, such as beetles, butterflies and moths, that have been collected there, sometimes for hundreds of years. By examining these valuable records and comparing them to what insects are currently found in the forest fragments we can estimate how much biodiversity was lost over various time periods. He will also talk about how various forest practices, such as pollarding and coppicing, affect insect and plant diversity. Research on ancient woodlands should be of interests not only to ecologists but to all those who care about our dwindling forests and the heritage they contain.

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