Postglacial population expansion of forest trees in Norfolk, UK

K. D. Bennett*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The long life and large size of trees make it unrealistic to use conventional methods of plant biology in the study of their populations 1. However, detailed radiocarbon-dated pollen diagrams offer the opportunity for observing the behaviour of tree populations over long periods of time (102-104 yr) and to compare phases of expansion with simple mathematical models of population growth2. This produces information concerning tree populations which could not otherwise be collected. I report here a pollen-analytical study of the expansion of several tree taxa in the early and mid-postglacial of Norfolk, UK. Exponential and logistic growth models applied to the phases of expansion of these taxa show that their populations double every 35-175 yr.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)164-167
Number of pages4
JournalNature
Volume303
Issue number5913
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 1983

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