COST Action E 52 - vTI - Bund.de

esearch PrIorITIes For beech IN brITaIN
Over the past century a number of lines of active applied research have been pursued with regard
to beech in Great Britain, both by the research branch of the Forestry Commission (now known as
Forest Research) and by academic researchers in university forestry departments and government
research institutes. The main areas of work have been:
• Plant ecology and site affiliations – early work between the two world wars adopted the
Continental European phyto-sociological and edaphic approaches, leading essentially to the
three-fold floristic/edaphic classification of the British beechwoods. Leading researchers in this
period were Tansley, Watt and Bourne, based at the university forestry departments in Oxford
and Cambridge (Tansley 1911, 1939, Watt 1923/25, 1931, 1934, Watt, Tansley 1930). The
Chiltern and Cotswold beechwoods received particular attention. Later woodland ecologists
such as Peterken and Rodwell have refined the basic classification of the British beech woodland
communities, providing finer detail (Peterken 1993, Rodwell 1991).
• establishment and productivity – post Second World War research, based at the Forestry
Commission’s Alice Holt Research Station, focussed on improving techniques for the establishment
of new beech crops, particularly on rendzina soils/calcareous grasslands within the British
natural range. There was also a programme of tree breeding, with early provenance trials, elite
tree selection, progeny trials and seed orchard establishment (Savill, Fennessy, Samuel 2005).
Leading Forestry Commission researchers on beech were J. M. B. Brown and D. Fourt (Brown
1953). Current advice would be to establish beech crops at 2,500 stems/ha or ideally more. Crops
established at 1,100 stems/ha require intensive pruning to achieve satisfactory timber crops and
this is rarely applied due to high costs for the required labour inputs.
• diseases and pests – the long-standing disease of beech in Great Britain was beech bark disease,
caused by an initial infestation by the felted beech coccus insect (Cryptococcus fagisuga) followed
by lesion infection with the fungus Nectria coccinea. Together these cause significant canker and
die-back of beech from the pole-stage onwards and were the subject of research at Alice Holt in the
19 0s and 1980s (Lonsdale, Wainhouse 198 ). More recently attention has turned to the highly
aggressive Phytophthora fungus-like pathogens that have become established in western parts of
Great Britain (Phytophthora ramorum and Phytophthora kernoviae). Although the main hosts for
these species in Great Britain are ornamental shrub species such as Rhododendron, Azalea, Syringa
and Pieris, these pathogens have demonstrated an ability to infect beech trees growing in close
proximity, particularly in the warm-moist climates of south-western Britain. More recently Larix
kaempferi has been affected in this region. A programme of research is currently being pursued,
led by Forest Research at Alice Holt, to develop avoidance and mitigation measures for these new
diseases across a range of tree species. Grey squirrels remain the main mammalian pest of beech
within its British native range, causing significant bark stripping damage, especially at the poletimber
stage. This species was introduced to Britain in the 1800s and has since spread widely,
displacing the native, and less damaging, red squirrel. A variety of research and development
approaches has been pursued to enable effective control of grey squirrels in the forestry context
by trapping and to examine the potential applicability of immuno-contraception.
• drought damage and die-back – since the severe summer droughts of 19 5 – 19 6, increasing
evidence has been found of mature beech within the British natural range suffering apparent
drought damage (Peterken, Mountford 1996). This leads to crown recession and partial
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