This chapter examines the hydrology of forested areas that are subject to soil saturation by precipitation, groundwater or surface flooding. They include mangroves and other tidal forests, the forested portions of peatlands and tree-dominated wetlands defined by the Ramsar Convention. They also...

The Veluwezoom National Park, a former agrosilvopastoral landscape covering 4900 ha (central part of The Netherlands), was designated in 1930 as a national park after most agricultural activities had been stopped due to changed agroeconomic conditions. The area comprised a mosaic of dry...

This concluding chapter summarizes in stages the conclusions and syntheses formulated in the preceding chapters in relation to the central hypothesis formulation in the introduction, and the null hypothesis that pedunculate (Quercus robur) and sessile oak (Q. petraea) and hazel (Corylus avellana)...

This chapter compares the landscape pattern dynamics of two contiguous alpine valleys - Rimella and Fobello, in the Mastallone Valley on the Italian side of the western Alps. Three main vegetation types are found in the area - grasslands, shrubland and forests, and the farming systems are mixed...

It is a widely held belief that a climax vegetation of closed forest systems covered the lowlands of Central and Western Europe before man intervened in prehistoric times to develop agriculture. If this intervention had not taken place, the forest would still be there, and if left the grassland...