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Wood-pastures are important elements of European cultural identity and have an exceptional ecological value, yet they are in decline all over Europe. The structure of wood-pastures is strongly influenced by grazing and multiple other land uses and by local and regional environmental conditions. European Wood-Pastures in Transition examines the diverse expressions of wood-pastures across Europe. It provides a new perspective, using a social-ecological framework to explore social and ecological values, governing institutions, threats and conservation approaches. It explores the major drivers of decline, which are shown to be related to accelerated cultural, institutional and developmental changes occurring across Europe over the past century.
Case studies are included from North-Western, Southern, and Eastern Europe. Written by renowned scholars and conservationists, European Wood-Pastures in Transition contributes to developing better, locally adapted conservation policies and management approaches for wood-pastures.
Part 1: Introduction
1. The Social and Ecological Dimensions of Wood-pastures
Tibor Hartel and Tobias Plieninger
2. Diversity, Threats and Conservation of European Wood-pastures
Erwin Bergmeier and Marlene Roellig
3. Wood-pastures as Examples of European High Nature Value Landscapes – Functions and Differentiations According to Farming
Rainer Oppermann
Part 2: History and Change
4. The Origins and History of Medieval Wood-pastures
Dolly Jørgensen and Peter Quelch
5. Recent Dynamics of Evergreen Oak Wood-pastures in South-Western Iberia
Augusta Costa, Manuel Madeira, José Lima Santos and Tobias Plieninger
5.1 Wood-pasture Profile: Monroy, Spain
Tobias Plieninger
6. Ecological Patterns and Processes at Various Spatio-temporal Scales in Wood-pastures of the Swiss Jura Mountains and Adaptation to Climate Change
Alexandre Buttler and Alexander Peringer
6.1. Wood-pasture Profile: Musella, Italy
Matteo Garbarino
Part 3: Biodiversity and Ecology
7. Plant and Vegetation Diversity in European Wood-pastures
Matteo Garbarino and Erwin Bergmeier
7.1 Wood-pasture Profile: Saaremaa, Estonia
Marlene Roellig and Marek Sammul
8. Wood-pastures as Reservoirs for Invertebrates
Steven Falk
8.1. Wood-pasture Profile: Hatfield Forest, England
Keith Kirby
9. Grazing as a Tool for Wood-pasture Restoration and Management
Jan Van Uytvanck and Kris Verheyen
9.1 Wood-pasture Profile: East Vättern Scarp, Sweden
Simon Jakobsson and Regina Lindborg
Part 4: Socio-cultural Values
10. Social-cultural Values of Oak Wood-pastures and Transhumance in Greece
Thanasis Kizos
10.1 Wood-pasture Profile: Western Lesvos, Greece
Thanasis Kizos
11. The Role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Managing Wood-pastures
Anna Varga and Zsolt Molnár
11.1 Wood-pasture Profile: Csokonyavisonta, Hungary
Anna Varga
12. Mapping Ancient and other Trees of Special Interest: UK citizens’ Contribution to World Tree Heritage
Jill Butler
Part 5: Governance Institutions
13. Wood-pasture Management in Southern Transylvania (Romania): from Communal to Where?
Laura Sutcliffe, Kinga Öllerer and Marlene Roellig
13.1 Wood-pasture Profile: Breite, Romania
Tibor Hartel
14. Common Management of Wood-pastures and Sustainable Regional Development in the Southern Black Forest (Germany)
Claudia Bieling and Werner Konold
14.1 Wood-pasture Profile: Southern Black Forest, Germany
Claudia Bieling
15. Institutional Arrangements of Wood-pasture Management: Past and Present (UK)
Keith J. Kirby and Suzanne C. Perry
Part 6: Synthesis
16. Wood-pastures and the Greening of the Common Agricultural Policy
Guy Beaufoy
17. European Wood-pastures in Transition: Lessons for Science, Conservation and Policy Development in High Nature Value Landscapes
Tobias Plieninger and Tibor Hartel
Tibor Hartel is Associate Professor at the Environmental Science Department of Sapientia University of Transylvania, Romania and is member in the Board of Directors of the Society for Conservation Biology-Europe Section. His research focuses on rural landscapes from Eastern Europe. He studies wood-pastures from Romania and was involved in a number of management and educational activities targeting wood-pastures and old trees.
Tobias Plieninger is Associate Professor at the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is interested in the study of the driving forces, processes, and patterns of changes in human-shaped landscapes. His research integrates natural and social science approaches to landscape ecology and conservation.
"Wood-pastures in their remarkable variety have not had the attention they merit in Europe. The authors of this book bring their richness to life by combining historical as well as ecological and sociological approaches, with some authoritative case histories. It is an important step forward in the literature."
– David Baldock, Executive Director, Institute for European Environmental Policy.
"Tibor Hartel and Tobias Plieninger have put together a wonderful volume on European Wood-Pastures in Transition: A Social-Ecological Approach. The book, at the front of social-ecological research, is a most timely and valuable contribution to a deeper understanding of stewardship of social-ecological systems and the services they generate."
– Carl Folke, Professor and Director, Beijer Institute, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and Science Director, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University.
"In a world where agriculture is becoming synonymous with laser-directed plow lines steering crop bed planting, this book opens our eyes to a different farming that is part of nature, with woodlands that provide sustenance for generations, often with breathtaking beauty and resilience. Expert and insightful analyses are offered of complex systems where trees and grass, culture and ecology, tradition and science give rise to sustainable agricultural systems."
– Lynn Huntsinger, Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California at Berkeley
"This book is ultimately an outstanding and alluring call to action for efforts to balance the ecological, economic, institutional, cultural and social components of wood-pastures that are required to guarantee the long term preservation of these landscapes in Europe."
– Agroforestry Systems, R. A. Correia, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
