Driving forces of stability and change in woodland structure: A case-study from the Czech lowlands

This paper presents how long-term socioeconomic processes influenced the management and structure of a lowland ancient wood in the south-eastern Czech Republic from the 14th century to the present. The analysis draws on a wide range of historical documents to establish that the size, management and structure of Děvín Wood was remarkably stable throughout the study period except for the last 60 years. It is argued, however, that the long-term stability of woodland management and structure contrasts with the multiple changes that can be observed in the driving forces behind this stability. Four kinds of driving forces are distinguished (business, need for firewood, nature conservation and forestry policy), whose various combinations maintained the coppice structure of the Wood for six centuries. It is concluded that landscape ‘stability’ and ‘change’ are highly context-dependent, and that socioeconomic driving factors are a crucial link between forest ecology and history, representing a means to understand and control current ecosystems and future changes. The paper also demonstrates that in European historical ecology it is necessary to integrate qualitative and quantitative sources in order to study periods before ca. 1800 AD, i.e. the appearance of modern quantitative sources, because societal processes have exerted their influence on landscapes much longer than 200 years.