Ancient Wood Research Articles

Alvar and Butvar: The Use of Polyvinyl Acetal Resins for the Treatment of the Wooden Artifacts from Gordion, Turkey

Archaeological excavations conducted by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology from 1950 to 1973 at the ancient capital of Gordion in central Anatolia uncovered impressive remains of the material culture of ancient Phrygia. During the early years of the project, the exploration of three massive earthen burial mounds or tumuli in the royal necropolis led to the discovery of one of the most important collections of wooden furniture and objects to emerge from the ancient Near East.Composed of a surprising variety of woods, the artifacts ranged in condition from poor to excellent. Initial attempts to treat the furniture and wooden objects on-site included the application of Alvar, a polyvinyl acetal resin. Soon after, most of the pieces were transferred to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara, where they remained in storage until a rescue program was initiated by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in 1981. Consolidation of the wood with Butvar B-98, a polyvinyl butyral resin, was the procedure adopted after testing to successfully retreat 37 pieces of ancient furniture and more than 50 small wooden objects from the three royal tombs.An assessment of the effects of both resins on the ancient woods is presented here, followed by a description of recent scientific tests conducted on samples of Butvar B-98. These tests include scanning electron microscope studies to determine the extent of penetration of Butvar B-98 into treated samples, hardness testing to assess the strengthening effects of the consolidant on the wood, and exposure to intense environmental conditions to determine the aging characteristics of Butvar B-98 films.The treatment of the Gordion wood has provided a unique opportunity to document and characterize the behavior of two related wood consolidants over a 40-year period. This contribution to the growing body of literature on the subject should assist conservators in making informed decisions when called upon to treat dry archaeological wood.

The Technophobe Seeks Common Denominators

podium that you can access only if you know the secret code that is dispensed and changed frequently by the media center. Inside the unit are not one but two computers-one a Windows PC, the other a Mac-both with direct hookups to the Internet, both loaded with for shows. There is a video tape player and a video disk player; there is a desktop TV camera called an Elmo that functions as an overhead/opaque projector with a zoom lens that lets you range from macro closeups of something small, say a comma or period, to full-page magazine covers or even three dimensional objects. There's also a carousel slide projector unit in the podium, and the images from all these sources can be sent to a video projector suspended from the ceiling and thence to a screen, which can be raised and lowered automatically from a touch pad on the console, where one can also dim the lights. equipment in each room is worth about $35,000, and it works like a charm-some of the time. Unfortunately, software and hardware changes have made most of the computers just slightly out of date, so the odds are only about fifty-fifty that the laptop presentation you prepared so painstakingly prior to class will actually run, and about fifty-fifty that if it runs, it will look the same on the podium computer as it did on yours at the office. If, to be safe, you bring in your own laptop, the odds are slightly less than fifty-fifty that the input socket on the computers will match with the output cable for your computer, if you remembered to bring your own cable in the first place. The projection techology is pretty good for any print material eighteen points or larger, but one finds oneself frequently using the phrase, This doesn't show up too clearly, but if you could see it, you'd know that it says .. . For reasons not altogether clear to anyone, the system periodically projects menu messages on the screen, right in the middle of whatever it was you were trying to show: External Video Two Ready, Fatal Error: Restart. I am told that these smart classrooms will be lete-the media folks' word for the opposite of obsolete-for no more than two years. In a quiet moment after the students have left, I look out on this smart classroom. Many of the desks are made of brightly colored plastic with graffiti-proof false woodgrain surfaces, but a number of them are ancient wood desks brought over from when the old English building was emptied, the university not having enough money to replace them. The wooden

Open spaces as habitats for vascular ground flora species in the woods of central Lincolnshire, UK

The vascular flora of open space habitats was examined in 89 ancient woods and 273 recent secondary woods in Central Lincolnshire by means of whole-site species lists. 467 species were found in the ground vegetation of all 362 woods combined, of which the majority (60%) were strongly associated with open space habitats. Within individual woods, however, shade species generally constituted a majority of the total flora, and in several very small woods open space species were completely absent, but in large woods (>40 ha) open space species often outnumbered the shade species. Open space habitats within woods were not adequate substitutes for semi-natural grassland, heath and mire, for most of the rare and specialised species of these habitats were rarely or never found in woods. Nevertheless, woodland rides supported rich mixtures of grassland and edge species, many of which have been largely eliminated from the intensively farmed land around the woods. If new woods on farmland (i) are located close to existing woods and non-woodland semi-natural habitats, (ii) extend to at least 3ha and (iii) include some permanent open spaces, the individual woods may become diverse habitats, and they will make a significant contribution to regional biodiversity.

Trees, Chemistry, and Prehistory in the American Southwest

At least 200000 trees were used in the building construction in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, from aboutad850–1150. A large portion of these construction timbers were transported 50km or more and the harvesting location(s) is not known. We argue that a feasible method for determining the wood source areas is to chemically characterize the possible source areas using modern wood and then attempt to match the prehistoric timbers to the modern signatures. This paper establishes the feasibility of this method. ICP-AES was employed to obtain element concentration values for 29 elements, from 62 trees, on three bedrock types. We conclude that it is possible to isolate the variation due to lithology if one controls for wood type (bark, sapwood, heartwood). In addition, ICP-MS was used for the analysis of a small sample of ancient wood. Data from these determinations are presented and the results indicate that the elemental variation is consistent with the most current model of wood use practices in Chaco Canyon. The methods pioneered here should be broadly applicable for determining wood source areas.

Orthotrichum handiense, sp. nov. from Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

A new epiphytic moss, Orthotrichum handiense F. Lara, Garilleti, & Mazimpaka, is described from the Jandia Peninsula (Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain). The new species is included in section Pulchella Vent. and characterized by robustness, lanceolate leaves with recurved margins, immersed capsules, stomata cryptopore located in the neck, well developed prostome, peristome of 16 teeth and 16 segments, and calyptra and vaginula densely covered with slightly papillose hairs. Drawings and SEM micrographs of the main characters are given, and possible confusion with other taxa is discussed. During spring 1992, one of the authors (M. Brugu6s) collected bryophytes in the mountainous area of the Jandfa Peninsula, from the extreme south of Fuerteventura Island, in the eastern part of the Canarian Archipelago. One of the epiphytic samples collected from the beautiful shrub Asteriscus sericeus (L. fil.) DC. corresponds to the moss described here, a robust Orthotrichum that has an exclusive set of characters differentiating it easily from any other member of the genus. The Jandfa Peninsula that gives its name to the new moss, is an area that comprises a phanerogamic flora rich in local endemics; namely, the Zarza Peak (the highest peak) is the locus classicus of, among others, Bupleurum handiense Bolle, Echium handiense Svent., Ononis christii Bolle, and Argyranthemum winteri (Svent.) Humphries. Asteriscus sericeus itself is endemic to the isle, and the most characteristic plant of the Jandia summits, where it forms the dominant scrub. Its occurrence indicates the potential area of the ancient lauroid wood, which is nowadays represented by residual, small trees like Visnea mocanera. L. fil., Maytenus canariensis (Loes.) Kunkel & Sund., and Apollonias barbujana (Cav.) Bornm. The occurrence of lauroid wood (a xeric variant of the Canarian laurisilva), as well as that of the epiphytes that grow on the shrubs, is made possible by fog persistence and horizontal precipitation owing to trade winds, however the annual rainfall average is very low around 250-400 mm (Santos, pers. comm.). At present, the Jandfa peninsula is considered a natural area under protection of the Canarian government, but it is actually subjected to strong and uncontrolled grazing pressure, mainly by goats. Only two Orthotrichum species are known from Fuerteventura O. affine Brid. and O. diaphanum Brid.; both reported by Dirkse et al. (1993) on the basis of Malme's (1988) original records. Both species were found occurring on Asteriscus sericeus, but our gatherings from this shrub at Zarza peak contained only O. diaphanum and the moss described as new here. ORTHOTRICHUM HANDIENSE F. Lara, Garilleti & Mazimpaka, sp. nov. FIGS. 1-15 Planta robusta, ramosa, filidiis lanceolatis acutis vel acuminatis, marginibus variabiliter recurvatis cellulibusque cum papillis humilibus. Capsulae ellipticae, immersae vel vix emergentes, minute sulcatae, stomatis cryptoporis in collo sitis; prostoma praesens, exostoma 16 dentibus longis papilloso-striatisque, endostoma 16 segmentis linearibus, longis papillosisque, membrana connectivali continua; vaginula et calyptra abundantibus pilis longis paulo papillosisque obtectae. TYPE: SPAIN, CANARY ISLANDS. FUERTEVENTURA. Pico de la Zarza, 760 m elev., UTM grid 28RES60, epiphyte on Asteriscus sericeus. M. Bruguds, May 1992. (BCB, holotype; MA and Universidad Aut6noma de Madrid herbarium isotypes). Plants robust, 1-2 cm tall, foliose and branched, olive-green or brown, with rhizoids restricted to lower part, in 3 cm cushions. Leaves erect to erectpatent when dry, upper ones with somewhat flexuose points; erect-patent to patent when moist; 3.00007-2745/99/619-622$0.55/0 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.249 on Wed, 03 Aug 2016 05:55:55 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 620 THE BRYOLOGIST [VOL. 102

Migration of vascular plants to secondary woodlands in southern Sweden

1 We studied the migration of field layer plants across ecotones between ancient woodlands and recent deciduous woods on former arable land varying in age between 30 and 75 years. 2 Number and percentage cover of woodland species in recent woods decreased with increasing distance to the ancient woods, and increased with the age of the recent woods, indicating dispersal limitation during secondary succession. 3 Colonization by typical woodland plants was observed in 183 of 200 species × site combinations. In 72 combinations, a colonization front was characterized by logarithmic or linear decrease in species cover, indicating establishment of isolated individuals and gradual infill of gaps. This pattern was most common in ant‐dispersed species and less frequent in species with adhesive or ingested seeds. 4 Migration rates were calculated for 49 woodland species. Mean migration rates based on maximum cover in recent woods varied from 0.00 to 1.00 m year−1 between species, with a median migration rate of 0.30 m year−1. Migration rates calculated on occurrence of the farthest individual ranged from 0.00 to 1.25 m year−1, with a median rate of 0.53 m year−1. 5 Ant‐dispersed species had lower migration rates based on maximum cover compared with species with adhesive or ingested seeds. No differences between dispersal modes were found when comparing migration rates based on the farthest individuals. Most of the calculated migration rates (84%) exceeded the rate of possible vegetative spread of woodland species. 6 Establishment of a field layer vegetation in secondary woods comparable to that of the adjacent ancient stands proceeded at a rate of c. 0.3–0.5 m year−1. We conclude that scale and intensity of temperate forest management should be adjusted to the relatively slow migration of the field layer flora in order to enable complete recovery during a management cycle.

The potential for developing a normal age-structure in managed ancient woodland at a local scale in three English counties

Summary This paper describes a model for assessing the potential for sustained management of ancient woodland at the local landscape scale, based on the premise that a 'normal' forest structure is the best option for integrating nature conservation with provision of a regular supply of timber. The concept of 'normality' is applied to clusters of small ancient woods which are considered together and treated as a whole. Data on ancient woodland distribution are used from West Sussex, Essex and North Yorkshire. At ten sample points within each county the woodland area within a 25-km2 block centred on the point was considered to see whether a normal forest structure could be created and maintained by sustained management using likely minimum felling rates and average rotation lengths for the main species for both high forest and coppice systems. The model was also tested for situations where small woods or woods with conservation status were excluded from the system, as well as for different minimum felling rates. The areas proposed for felling within ancient semi-natural woods currently listed within the Woodland Grant Scheme (WGS) (II) are higher than can be maintained in the longer term in West Sussex and Essex. The model provides a preliminary method for setting the context of individual forestry schemes within the wooded landscape as a whole.

Competition between Quercus petraea and Carpinus betulus in an ancient wood in England: seedling survivorship

Abstract. Age structures of populations of canopy trees in Wormley Wood are consistent with reports that successional change is occurring, with Carpinus betulus replacing Quercus petraea as the dominant species. TWINSPAN analysis of data from a vegetation survey identifies three communities (described in earlier work), the ‘Bracken’, ‘Bramble’, and‘Bareground’ societies, characterized by increasing prominence of C. betulus and loss of species diversity.An experiment was set up in which C. betulus, Q. petraea and Betula pendula seedlings were explanted into each of the communities. Survival of seedlings was monitored over 860 days and differences investigated. Cohort survivorship differed between species and sites. C. betulus seedlings survived longer than Q. petraea in Bracken and Bramble communities.Species‐ and site‐specific variation in the types and effects of herbivory were found. Herbivory did not appear to be a critical factor in the survival of Q. petraea seedlings. The photosynthetic light response of the seedling species was measured in the field. The light compensation point for Q. petraea seedlings (77 μmol photon m‐2 s‐1) is higher than the maximum available light under the main tree canopies in the wood. In contrast, seedlings of C. betulus have a lower light compensation point (15 μmol photon m2 s‐1) and the mature tree casts a deeper shade than Q. petraea. It is suggested that the invasion of the canopy by C. betulus, following the cessation of coppicing, is creating light levels too low for Q. petraea seedling banks to persist.

The conservation of a fragmented ecosystem within a cultural landscape—The case of ancient woodland in England

Ancient woodland (land continuously wooded since ad 1600) was identified in the 1970s (and confirmed in the 1994 UK Biodiversity Action Plan) as the most important category of woodland for nature conservation. It predominates within special protected sites, but the bulk of this resource (85%) lies outside such protection. Ownership by government and non-government bodies ensures that areas outside the protected site system are managed sympathetically, but the distribution of sites in such sympathetic ownership is very patchy. Hence, the nature conservation value of ancient woods must also be recognised in national forestry policies that apply to all such sites. In cultural landscapes such as in England, not all woodland species survive within the fragmented ancient semi-natural woodland resource. Plantations of introduced species and other, recent woodland must also be included in the conservation strategy. This paper explores the implications of these factors in the development of nature conservation policy and practice in England over the last 15 years.

The nature of three ancient woodland soils in southern England

Abstract. Despite a wealth of published research on the nature of woodland soils, little is known about the nature of soils on sites that have supported woodland for many hundreds of years, namely ancient woodland. The properties and variability of soils in three ancient woods; one in the New Forest, Hampshire and two in Berkshire, were compared with those under recent woods. The acidity of ancient and recent woodland soils was high and remarkably similar. Only where cultivation of soils had preceded woodland establishment was soil acidity lower. The quantity of carbon in the soils studied was inversely related to soil acidity and the ancient woods had accumulated larger quantities of carbon than their recent counterparts. The quantities of Ca2+, Mg2+ and K+ were larger in the ancient woods except where prior cultivation had taken place. Total and organic phosphate contents of the ancient woodland soils were also consistently larger. The nature and pattern of soil variability in ancient woodland soils was quite distinct from that found in recent woods. Overall, the variability of soil acidity, carbon content and organic phosphate was larger in the ancient woodland soils but the pattern of variability differed between the soil properties. No clear association existed between the pattern of soil acidity and individual trees. At the surface of some of the woodland soils, however, carbon distribution appeared to be associated with individual trees. At depth in the ancient woodland soils, the association with the existing vegetation cover was not so clear. It is probable that the ancient woodland soils retained relict features of previous vegetation cover. Organic phosphate distribution was very strongly associated with the present vegetation cover. The pattern of distribution of organic phosphate appeared to be stronger than that of soil acidity and carbon content.

Framing Water: Historical Knowledge in Elizabeth Bishop and Adrienne Rich

As two most prominent women poets of their generations in United States, Elizabeth Bishop and Adrienne Rich embody sharply contrasting attitudes toward poetry and its cultural roles. Most critics have tended to approach Bishop as an aesthete, essentially private in her concerns and vision, while viewing Rich as an activist, strongly committed to use of poetry as an instrument of social change.(1) The facts of case are not quite so neat, however. Rich's early poetry explores much of same thematic terrain as Bishop's - domesticity, travel, memory - and even in its later phases her work continues to take individual experience as base from which to mount its political critiques. Conversely, as a number of critics have shown, including Rich herself and most recently Betsy Erkkila, Bishop's poetry is far from indifferent to issues of social and economic justice.(2) The real locus of difference between them, I want to argue, is not politics but history. The two poets disagree not so much over questions of action as questions of knowledge, which necessarily precede and inform action. More specifically, they disagree over extent to which poet is capable of gaining unmediated access to truth of history, even when that history may be suppressed, silenced, or submerged. Two of their most familiar and oft-anthologized poems - Bishop's At Fishhouses and Rich's Diving Into Wreck - reveal some surprising affinities of trope and language while casting into relief fundamental differences between poets, which revolve around questions of knowledge, history, and, in a key metaphor for both poems, immersion. Most prominently, both poems allegorize sea as a medium of pure knowing wholly distinct from compromised, constructed world above. Bishop famously says of icy water off Nova Scotia that It is like what we imagine knowledge to be: / dark, salt, clear, moving, utterly free, / drawn from cold hard mouth / of world, derived from rocky breasts / forever, and drawn, and since / our knowledge is historical, and flown (66). Historical in this final line assumes a double meaning: Our knowledge is necessarily historical inasmuch as it occurs in time and is therefore subject to transience of all temporal things, flowing and flown; but it is also knowledge of history, of lives and events that precede our own and give it meaning. Thus history of this particular Nova Scotia fishing village proves to be closely bound up with Bishop's own painful childhood and its formation of her present self. The old man speaker meets near water a friend of my grandfather, she tells us, and like ancient wooden capstan with its melancholy stains, like dried blood, his presence speaks of a past beyond recovery. We talk of decline in population, she reports dryly, her euphemistic language failing to obscure that real subject of their conversation is death - her grandfather's included, as was in preceding line poignantly attests.(3) Rich's allegory is no less clear-cut than Bishop's, but she is not quite as explicit in her association of sea with knowledge, choosing at first to characterize it by negation: the sea is another story / sea is not a question of power / I have to learn alone / to turn my body force / in deep element (Fact 163). The world of sun-flooded schooner with its sundry equipment of ladders, knives, books, and masks is governed, like human world at large, by will to power, effort to master and subjugate one's environment. But sea does not yield to such efforts, requiring a different approach, gradual, patient, without force. As becomes clear in course of poem, this is because sea marks a dimension beyond reach of change, action, or intervention. Like memory, sea preserves traces of past traumas that can only be inspected, acknowledged, and laboriously brought to light, never revised or effaced. …

The isotopic climatic records in the Alleröd‐Bølling‐Younger Dryas and Post‐Younger Dryas events

The combined isotopic records in the Greenland ice cores, in modern and ancient wood samples, and in marine foraminifera provide a climatic record for the Alleröd‐Bølling‐Younger Dryas and post‐Younger Dryas Periods that is not compatible with the usual climatic interpretation of the 2H/1H ratios in the Greenland ice cores. For example, the Younger Dryas was not solely a North Atlantic event because evidence for it is also found in the 2H/1H record in wood samples which grew on the north slope of Alaska. The Younger Dryas was not necessarily a time of cooling over the ice caps. Moreover, it might have been a warming period in the temperate zones of the northern hemisphere continents. A better understanding of the climatic scenarios during these periods of time could be ascertained from additional isotopic data in plant remains which grew during these intervals and which cover a wider climatic range on the continents.

The role of woodland fragments, soil types, and dominant species in secondary succession on the western Carpathian foothills

Four seventy-year-old broadleaved recent woods adjacent to three ancient woodland fragments, which all together covered an area of 27.5 ha, were investigated. Two of the recent woods were established naturally and two were planted. The ancient woodlands, including oak-hornbeam and oak-pine woods, were the only near source of diaspores of woodland species. The recent woods differed in area, location, soil richness and light conditions. On the basis of the data from 236 systematically located plots the similarities and differences in ground vegetation between the ancient and recent woods were studied by detrended correspondence analysis (DCA). Even after 70 yr of forest vegetation recovery in the recent woodlands differences were found in the vegetation of the woods examined. The direction of secondary succession was strongly determined by soil conditions. Mature woodlands showed higher beta-diversity. The causes of convergence and divergence in the composition of the communities were analyzed and discussed. The greatest similarity was found between recent and adjacent ancient woods growing on rich brown soils. The greatest divergence was observed in the recent woods growing on poor soils and more open to light, where the very great density of Carex brizoides inhibited the rate of succession. The results obtained indicate that with no isolation and only small distances from ancient woods the community composition in recent woods is to a greater degree dependent upon soil conditions, light and the influence of dominants than on the modes of species dispersal. The regeneration of ground vegetation of woodland communities is possible to a high degree, close to ancient woodlands, on rich brown soils.

Seasonal 13C/12C changes in tree rings: species and site coherence, and a possible drought influence

Seasonal stable-carbon isotope patterns were measured on cellulose of tree rings from white pine (Pinusstrobus L.) and silver maple (Acersaccharinum L.) for the years 1985–1989 from open-canopy and closed-canopy forest stands in southeastern Wisconsin. The absolute δ13C values differ between species (maple more 13C depleted) and between microenvironments (closed canopy more 13C depleted). However, the seasonal δ13C patterns are quite similar between species and between microenvironments and seem to be responding to soil moisture conditions. The δ13C patterns for 1985 and 1987 have maxima prior to the end of the growing season, corresponding approximately to midseason moisture stress (increased drought severity). The severe 1988 drought was characterized by increasing δ13C throughout the entire growing season, consistent with the continuous downward trend in drought indices. These results suggest good isotope-signal reproducibility among trees and are therefore encouraging to ecophysiological studies with living trees to assess water-use efficiency and to paleoclimatic reconstructions with ancient wood.

Some comparative insect conservation issues of north temperate, tropical, and south temperate landscapes

As insects are so numerous as species and individuals, they should feature strongly in global conservation. Historical and contemporary events both in the tropics and temperate lands are reviewed briefly to determine whether the same principles might apply across the globe. Past climatic events have been partly responsible for the great differences in species richness and levels of endemism between the tropics and the north temperate lands. Many centuries of settled agriculture in the north have also greatly modified the landscape, particularly from an insect's point of view. The south temperate situation is more analogous to the tropics than to the north temperate areas. Not all of man's past activities in the north temperate and tropical lands have been detrimental to insect communities. Until recent times, there was only gradual transformation of the landscape using non-mechanized farming and construction techniques. The resultant network of natural and artificial habitats, such as hedgerows, woodland rides and small tropical forest clearings, has often been beneficial for certain insect communities. In recent decades this situation has changed, and Europe has lost many of its remaining wetlands, heaths and ancient woods, while in the tropics habitat modification has been recent and sweeping. Both north and south temperate conservationists are actively engaged in insect conservation efforts, but in the tropics, where the insect fauna is the richest and most imperilled, it is, in general, least cared for. There simply are not the funds nor the expertise even to competently identify this tropical variety. Insects have enormous economic, heuristic and educational benefits for man. With the inevitable increasing pressure and need for reconciliation between agriculture, urbanization and conservation, insects feature strongly as subjects for concern. After consideration of latitudinal differences in temperatures, the biology and conservation requirements of tropical insects are not very different from those of temperate species. Intact habitats are the key. But where landscape modification is inevitable, landscape features such as hedgerows, saums and mantels can be incorporated into ecological landscaping, as has been done in Europe, to go some way to preserving the diverse tapestry of insect life in the tropics.

Book Review: The Heart of the Ancient Wood

Book Review: The Heart of the Ancient Wood

Thermogravimetric analysis of ancient and fresh woods

Thermogravimetric analysis was applied to the analysis of fresh and ancient woods belonging to portals of old churches. Also, other different archeological wood samples were analysed by TG. Quantitative data and qualitative information concerning age and damage, also supported by elemental analysis and micrographs, were obtained for all these samples.

Vegetation differentiation and secondary succession on a limestone hill in southern Poland

Abstract. The vegetation of the SkoHzanka Reserve, situated on a limestone hill near Krakow, was examined over a 30 year period, using the Braun‐Blanquet method. With the help of a numerical classification eight types of grassland communities were distinguished, belonging to the classes Sedo‐Scleranthetea, Nardo‐Callunetea and Festuco‐Brometea, and 11 types of woodland communities, both remnants of ancient woodlands from the classes Querco‐Fagetea and Vaccinio‐Piceetea and more recent woods. In the case of grasslands the results of detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) indicated that the largest variation was associated with the soil type. Woods on sandy soils are very different from those on calcareous soils, and the younger recent woods are very different from the ancient woodlands. An analysis of historical cartographic material and aerial photographs shows that in the last few decades the area of recent woods has increased considerably at the expense of grasslands. Changes in species diversity in the woods during secondary succession and their successional convergence were examined and discussed. It was found that young and mature woods on sandy soils are more similar to each other than young and mature woods on calcareous soils. These differences are mainly related to the fact that many woodland herb species growing in rich, broadleaved ancient woods are unable to colonize recent woods since they have a limited colonization capacity.

Ancient two-armed stone-stocked wooden anchors-Chinese and Greek

Ancient two-armed stone-stocked wooden anchors-Chinese and Greek

Species area-relationships and frequency ? Floristical data analysis of 44 isolated woods in northwestern Germany

44 isolated ancient woods (9,3–8579 ha) in southeastern Lower Saxony (northwestern Germany), where the Tertiary hilly country meets the Pleistocene plain, were investigated. Complete lists of 273 vascular plant species showing a more or less strong preference for woodlands were made for each wood including all the species of the groups Querco-Fagetea, Trifolio-Geranietea, Galio-Calystegietalia (selection of species) and Epilobietea. The majority of character species of woods show either a low or a high frequency, whereas fewer ones have medium frequencies. Most of the rarer species have their main occurrence in the larger woods. The number of species of all of the four groups increases with area of the wood and the correlation between the number of species and the log of area is related by a highly significant linear regression. Comparison of a single wood with two smaller woods of the same total area reveals that the two smaller woods on average have the greater number of wood species. Considering this and the fact that the rarer species have their main occurrence in the larger woods, when discussing questions of nature conservation a simple comparison of number of species and area is problematical.