Forestry Advance Access originally published online on June 21, 2006
Forestry 2006 79(3):351-359; doi:10.1093/forestry/cpl022
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Long-term woodland dynamics in West Glen Affric, northern Scotland
School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland
*Corresponding author. E-mail: rt1{at}stir.ac.uk
The former woodlands west of Loch Affric are described from pollen analyses. Related records of climate change from the analysis of lake-level change and peat growth are also presented to explore the importance of climate in driving woodland change. The woodlands were more diverse than extant pinewoods to the east, with a very considerable deciduous component. They developed in the early Holocene period, and brief periods of range expansion and contraction are recorded within a pattern of overall woodland stability over thousands of years, despite the high frequency and intensity of climatic excursions, until a final collapse in all woodland communities occurred at around 4000 calibrated years ago (BP). This collapse had a climatic origin, but the precise character of the climate change is ill-defined.