Home · Science · Oct 3 archive
Woodlands project records more trees than expected
Confirmed
In Short: A Sussex project aimed at restoring ancient woodlands has recorded more than 5,570 trees, exceeding initial expectations.
Since March 2024, volunteers with the Lost Woods project have been recording ancient, veteran, and notable trees across a 121-square-mile (314-square-km) area from Lewes to Storrington.
According to the latest figures, the project has recorded 5,570 trees, a number that outreach adviser Bob Epsom called a 'milestone' for the project.
Epsom noted that the map shows clusters of newly recorded trees, indicating where volunteers have been most active.
About 20 volunteers are each assigned a square kilometre area to cover, and once recorded and verified, the trees are added to the Ancient Tree Inventory, which has been mapping the oldest and most important trees in the UK for 20 years.
Of the recorded trees, 2,743 are veteran trees, which have developed features typical of ancient trees.
Epsom emphasized the importance of these trees for biodiversity, particularly for fungi.
The project also recorded 348 ancient trees and 2,467 notable trees, which are mature trees larger than their surroundings.
Meanwhile, a University of Cambridge-led team has used aerial surveys to create detailed 3D maps of young trees across the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland.
These maps show the beginnings of large-scale recovery of native woodlands, with over 5,235 hectares of previously open land now supporting young woodland.
The new LiDAR-based method is excellent at tracking where new woodlands are establishing across the landscape, and also for tracking the impacts of fires, which are increasing in severity with climate change.
In Butte County, California, the Department of Development Services is working on an ordinance to help preserve oak woodlands on private property.
The proposed ordinance offers guidelines for replacement trees or acorns for planting, or fees if damage or tree removal occurs.
What's confirmed
- We are developing predictive ecosystem models initially with the intention of providing projections of the future state of United Kingdom woodlands.
- This information is most obviously of utility for those, who like ourselves, are planning to use individual-based models of trees, and who may be interested in the allometry and growth of the taxa included here ( Table 1 ).
- Scientific Data volume 2, Article number: 150006 ( 2015 ) Cite this article As part of a project to develop predictive ecosystem models of United Kingdom woodlands we have collated data from two United Kingdom woodlands - Wytham Woods and Alice Holt.
- Here we present data from 582 individual trees of eight taxa in the form of summary variables relating to the allometric relationships between trunk diameter, height, crown height, crown radius and trunk radial growth rate to the tree’s light environment and diameter at breast height.
- Large sample sizes with longitudinal data spanning 22 years make these datasets useful for future studies concerned with the way trees change in size and shape over their life-span.
- For long-lived species, such as trees, parameterisation is especially demanding as most processes occur slowly, and so require long-term datasets to ensure that robust estimates of the relevant rates can be obtained 4.
- Young trees are spreading naturally into areas where woodlands have been missing for centuries, following a landscape-scale approach to deer management.
- Their new AI-supported method of analyzing the data revealed more than 6 million individual trees across the 569 km² survey area, as well as the exact height of every tree.
- Now, a decade since the RSPB Scotland, Forestry and Land Scotland, NatureScot, and WildLand Ltd came together to form the Cairngorms Connect partnership, this study shows that over 5,235 hectares of previously open land supports young woodland - defined as land with over 100 trees per hectare.
- Researchers have analyzed aerial laser scans of huge areas across the Cairngorms Connect partnership in the Scottish Highlands, to produce incredibly detailed maps showing millions of young trees have naturally established following an increase in deer culling.
- These small, regenerating trees grow mostly near the edges of existing forests, where seeds are most likely to fall - but some new trees were found growing over half a kilometre from the forest edge.
- “The ability to map regenerating trees so precisely, at such a huge scale, is a breakthrough for monitoring nature restoration at a landscape scale. It means we can effectively map young trees, assess whether restoration targets are being met, and inform future restoration work,” said Dr Aland Chan in the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Landscape Regeneration, who co-led the work.
What's still developing
- Airborne LiDAR shoots laser beams at high frequency from a light aircraft towards the ground, which bounce back when they hit trees or any other surface.
- THE WOODLANDS, TX – Last night about 90 minutes after midnight, portions of The Woodlands – particularly sleepyheads in Panther Creek – were awakened by an unearthly noise that raised questions and heart rates alike.
- Reaching out, Woodlands Online learned that there are no unannounced or disruptive large-scale military exercises scheduled to directly impact or cause major noise disruptions in The Woodlands area for the near future.
- The American chestnut once dominated the Eastern woodlands.
- It does not come in reaction to significant destruction of oak woodlands in Butte County, according to county Department of Development Services Assistant Director Pete Calarco, who has headed the process.
- “That was more about promoting awareness and the value of oak woodlands,” Calarco said.
- However, seeing where oak woodlands have been destroyed in other areas has prompted the process to start in Butte County, Calarco said.