Tree shape and form in ancient coppice woodlands

Abstract

Ancient coppice woodlands are coppice-originated forest stands with a long-term continual development, and with the preserved typical natural and historic elements of old sprout forests. Prominent natural elements in the ancient coppice woodlands are namely old coppice stools. There is, in scientific literature, lack of information about features of ancient coppice stools. Therefore, our contribution aims to describe shape and form of ancient coppice stools, including the most important microhabitat of coppice woodlands - dendrothelms. Based on field survey of 20 localities of important coppice woodlands we recorded 135 ancient coppice stools of 13 tree species and a total of 80 dendrothelms in 9 tree species. Basic features of ancient coppice stools and dendrothlems were measured and evaluated.