Woodland variation, now and in the future; every site is different

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Suffolk Natural History, Vol. 32

WOODLAND VARIATION, NOW AND IN THE FUTURE: EVERY SITE IS DIFFERENT REITH KIRBY Variations in trees and woods contribute to our sense of place, to local distinctiveness; these variations also mean that the plants and animals found in woods differ from one to the next. Every wood is different but some are more alike than others. Classification provides a way of grouping woods, stands or plant lists from quadrats according to similarities in their structure, composition, history or current treatment (Table 1). Woods may end up in different groups depending on what type of Classification is used, which in turn depends on our objectives in carrying out the Classification exercise. There is no Single 'right' way. Table 1. Examples of different types of woodland Classification a. By tree and shrub composition • Coppice types described by Rackham (1980) based on underwood composition. • Stand Types (Peterken 1993) based on tree and shrub layer, plus some soil characteristics. • Forestry Commission census data: woods classified by main tree crop species (Forestry Commission 1983a, b). b. By ground flora as well as woody Vegetation • Merlewood Plot Type Classification (Bunce 1982). • The National Vegetation Classification (Rodwell 1991). c. By structure • Classifying woods according to whether they are coppice (± Standards), high forest, wood pastures is used both in Forestry Commission Censuses and in the selection of Sites of Special Scientific Interest. d. Historical breakdown of woods into ancient and recent sites and into seminatural stands or plantations as in the Ancient Woodland Inventories (Spencer & Kirby 1992). Classification helps us in describing woodland and in communicating our descriptions of stands to others. It helps to put sites into context, to help us in their evaluation, whether from a landscape, timber production or nature conservation perspective. Finally classifications may help in the prediction of where particular species or groups of species may occur or how woods may respond to particular treatments. The results can then be used, for example, as a guide to what species to use in new planting schemes. My aim in this paper is to show how Suffolk's woodland cover compares with that in England as a whole using different types of Classification and how understanding and describing the Variation in these woods contribute to the achievement of nature conservation aims.

Total woodland cover and extent of ancient woodland The total area of woodland in Suffolk was estimated to be 22,211 ha in the early 1980's (Table 2) (Forestry Commission, 1983a, b). The percentage cover

Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 32 (1996)


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