On the origins of old growth
Old-growth forests have been a central focus of forest research and conservation for decades.
They provide a range of ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, habitat, and water conservation, that are important within local landscapes. They have also declined rapidly in area and quality locally, regionally, and globally over the past two centuries. This has led to well-documented declines in a range of old-growth dependent animal and plant species. Despite broad interest in old-growth forests, ideas about how they develop have changed little over the past half-century.
In this talk, Professor Patrick Baker will discuss the common features of old-growth forests, explore widely used conceptual models of old-growth forest development, and review the available empirical evidence on how old-growth forests around the world develop.
Time: 04:00 BST
