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Application of the Ancient Forest Concept to Potential Natural Vegetation Mapping in Flanders, A Strongly Altered Landscape in Northern Belgium

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Abstract

Construction of potential natural vegetation (PNV) poses particular challenges in landscapes heavily altered by human activity and must be based on transparent, repeatable methods. We integrated the concept of ancient forest (AF) and ancient forest species (AFS) into a four-step procedure of PNV mapping: 1) classification of forest vegetation relevés; 2) selection of those vegetation types that can serve as PNV units, based on AF and AFS; 3) merging of selected vegetation types into five PNV units that can be predicted from a digital morphogenetic soil map; 4) mapping of three additional PNV units based on additional environmental data. The second step, concerning the selection of reference forest vegetation, is of particular interest for PNV construction in Flanders (northern Belgium), where forest cover has been subject to temporal disruption and spatial fragmentation. Among the variety of extant forest recovery states, we chose as PNV units those vegetation types for which a high proportion of relevés had been located in AF and that contained many AFS. As the frequency of AFS depends on site conditions, we only compared and selected vegetation types that are found on similar sites according to average Ellenberg indicator values. While succession is irrelevant for the definition of PNV, colonization rates of AFS can be used to estimate the time required for PNV to be restored in a site.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Guillaume Decocq, Jörg Ewald, and three anonymous reviewers for improving earlier versions of the manuscript. Marc Esprit assisted with GIS operations, and Alexander Van Braeckel supplied the tidal data to delineate the potential area of freshwater tides.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Gaverstraat 4, 9500, Geraardsbergen, Belgium

    Luc De Keersmaeker, Kris Vandekerkhove, Bruno De Vos, Thierry Onkelinx & Arno Thomaes

  2. Eidgenössisches Departement für Umwelt, Verkehr, Energie und Kommunikation (UVEK), Bundesamt für Umwelt (BAFU) Abteilung Wald, Worblentalstrasse 68, CH-3003, Bern, Switzerland

    Nele Rogiers

  3. Nature and Forest Agency, Koning Albert II-laan 20 bus 8, 1000, Brussel, Belgium

    Bart Roelandt & Johnny Cornelis

  4. Laboratory of Forestry, Ghent University, Geraardsbergsesteenweg 267, 9090, Melle, Belgium

    An De Schrijver & Kris Verheyen

  5. Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, 3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Martin Hermy

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  1. Luc De Keersmaeker
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  2. Nele Rogiers
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Correspondence to Luc De Keersmaeker.

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De Keersmaeker, L., Rogiers, N., Vandekerkhove, K. et al. Application of the Ancient Forest Concept to Potential Natural Vegetation Mapping in Flanders, A Strongly Altered Landscape in Northern Belgium. Folia Geobot 48, 137–162 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-012-9135-z

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