Project Detail

Long-term woodland dynamics in Central Europe: from estimations to a realistic model

Name: Long-term woodland dynamics in Central Europe: from estimations to a realistic model
Researchers: Szabó Péter (head – principal researcher)
Provider: European Research Council
Number: 278065
Realization from: 2012
Realization to: 2016
Summary: Using an extensive range of primary sources from history, historical geography, palaeoecology, archaeology and ecology, the interdisciplinary LONGWOOD project aims to reconstruct the long-term (Neolithic to present) patterns of woodland cover, structure, composition and management in a larger study region (Moravia, the Czech Republic, ca. 27,000 km2) with the highest spatio-temporal resolution possible. Causes for the patterns observed will be analyzed in terms of qualitative and quantitative factors, both natural and human-driven. The project will introduce woodland management as an equal driving force into long-term woodland dynamics, thus fostering a paradigm shift in ecology towards construing humans as an internal, constitutive element of ecosystems.

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