Influence of historical land use on present-day forest patterns: A case study in south-western Germany

Abstract

Two major questions were investigated in this study: (1) What are the contributions of historical in comparison with natural factors to the development of present-day forest patterns? (2) What implications can be drawn from an understanding of forest patterns and historical land-use development with regard to landscape planning and nature conservation? The Sandstein-Spessart, a natural unit in south-western Germany, served as an example to show the influence of different types and intensities of land use on the differentiation of the natural landscape. The methodological approach to this study was a synthesis of previously available information. It was shown that different initial site conditions within the natural unit such as geology and climate led partly to the spatial differentiation of the present-day landscape. However, economic and political factors such as the glasswork industry and hunting activities also played a major role in the development of different forest patterns. Examples are given of how this synthesis of landscape ecology and landscape history can provide a useful basis for nature conservation and landscape planning.

Keywords:

• Cultural landscapes
• forest development
• glasswork industry
• hunting
• land-use history
• nature conservation

Acknowledgments

I am indebted to the Archaeological Spessart Project and the Scientific Research Institute and Museum of Nature Senckenberg for making their digital data on the forest cover and the altitudinal ranges in the Spessart available. The pollen analytical investigations were supported by the German Science Foundation (DFG). I thank Ole Caspersen and an anonymous reviewer for valuable comments on the manuscript, Katja Weichhardt-Kulessa for improving my English and Wilfried Roloff for creating the figures.

Notes

Zerbe, S. (Institute of Ecology, Technical University of Berlin, Rothenburgstr. 12, D-12165 Berlin, Germany). Influence of historical land use on present-day forest patterns: a case study in south-western Germany.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stefan Zerbe

Zerbe, S. (Institute of Ecology, Technical University of Berlin, Rothenburgstr. 12, D-12165 Berlin, Germany). Influence of historical land use on present-day forest patterns: a case study in south-western Germany.