Appendix 1 provides history of the creation of communities of users and the forest law. The second appendix discusses the use of the wilderness in the Middle Ages. Appendix 3 narrates the destruction of the wilderness.

This introductory chapter provides data of a closed forest as natural vegetation and presents the null and alternative hypothesis on the theory that the lowlands of Western and Central Europe were covered by a natural closed forest, where the most important species were oak (Quercus), elm (Ulmus),...

This chapter describes the development of the theory on succession and provides details on the development of the climax concept and a description of the models for the regeneration of the climax forest, such as Watt's gap phase model (1947) and Leibundgut's cyclical model (1959; 1978). Theories on ...

This chapter describes how Europe was covered by a closed forest in its natural state, a conclusion based on pollen studies. It deals with the premises which are used in pollen analysis and describes Iversen's Landnam theory, and examines whether a pollen collection believed to come from a closed...

This chapter traces the history of what is known as the use of the forest in Western and Central Europe. It also examines the premises for the conclusion that humans created pasture in the closed forests, and that this use resulted in the disappearance of the forest. Some regulations on the use of...

This chapter examines the theory which states that forests that are no longer exploited, i.e., where the grazing of livestock and cutting wood have ceased, revert to their natural state. This concerns former wood-pasture or scrubland used as pasture. The way in which the two species of oak (Quercus ...

This chapter examines extent of light required, or the tolerance to shade of seedlings of pedunculate (Quercus robur) and sessile oak (Q. petraea), broad-leaved (Tilia platyphyllos) and small-leaved lime (Tilia cordata), beech (Fagus sylvatica), hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) and hazel (Corylus...

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)...

Appendix 4 provides details of the three German regulations (the Hanau-Münzenbergse Forstordnung, the Mainzer Forstordnung, and the General Verordnung of 1744). The development of natural regeneration and description of various regeneration techniques, including the shelterwood system are given in...

Appendix 8 provides a list of trees and shrub species in landscapes grazed by large herbivores, followed by a list of some species of herbs on the fringes of scrub and groves (Appendix 9), and some species characteristic of the thermophile oak forest in Białowieza, Poland (Appendix 10). Two...