FACTS
: WOODLAND BIRDS AND ANIMALS
Remaining
native or semi-natural woodlands in Ireland vary in their tree,
shrub, forest floor vegetation and general ecology. Depending
on soil fertility, wetness, depth and height above sea level woodlands
display considerable variation. For example in wet places near
rivers and lakes woodlands are often composed of alder, willow
and birch whilst on acid soils sessile oak, birch, mountain ash
and holly often dominate. Similarly, on the west coast the boughs
of trees support ferns, lichens and liverworts as a result of
the very wet and humid climate.
Some
of our native woods are rare on a national and European context.
The yew wood at Muckross, for example, is very rare in Europe
and some of our wet woodlands may also be unique. There are a
number of plants and animals that depend wholly on our native
woodlands and if the woods disappear so too do these so-called
'woodland specialists'. The woodpecker, a hole-nesting bird, which
may once have lived in our woodlands is such an example but they
do not now breed in Ireland probably as a result of the historical
decline of woodland cover and the very small amount of standing
dead timber remaining in our woodlands. In addition to woodland
specialists, the majority of our woodland inhabitants are so-called
'opportunists', that is creatures and plants that may also be
found in other habitats such as hedgerows, grassland or bogs,
for example. Thus foxes, badgers, many songbirds, earthworms and
grasses are examples of opportunists.
In
Ireland today, many native woodlands are under threat, principally
from the invasion of non-native species, especially rhododendron
and laurel. These species out-compete native flora and replace
them in time. Many native woodlands were previously underplanted
with non-native beech, sycamore, pine and spruce and those will
be removed - along with rhododendron and laurel - from the Peoples
Millennium Forest's woodland sites. They will also be phased out
in other native woodlands under a new 'Native Woodland Scheme',
which was introduced by the Forest Service of the Department of
Communications Marine and Natural Resources in 2001.
A
true native Irish tree is generally accepted as one that was here
before people arrived. The pollen of these trees has been found
preserved in peat laid down before human settlement. Because native
trees have been around for so long, they play a very important
role in regulating the cycles of nature and in maintaining the
ecological balance of these ecosystems, complete with a vast array
of resident plants and animals.
The
vast array of creatures and organisms that native trees support
have adapted to live in native woodlands over thousands of years.
We also have many 'introduced' trees that have become 'naturalised'
in Ireland and the creatures they support, especially the insects,
have only had about 500 years to evolve with these trees. Generally
the introduced trees support less creatures as a result of the
shorter evolutionary timeframe involved. Introduced trees were
brought in and planted by man for pleasure, gardening or forestry.
Familiar trees such as beech, sycamore, chestnut and hornbeam
are not native Irish trees even though they have been naturalised
in many parts of the country for hundreds of years. Introduced
or naturalised trees are not necesssarily bad because they have
less species associated with them, rather it is important to protect,
maintain and enhance native woodlands because of their complex
biodiversity as a result of thousands of years of co-evolution.
Introduced trees have their place and the number of species associated
with them may increase in time, particularly the broadleaf introductions.
Introduced trees only pose a threat if they have the potential
to invade native woodlands and out-compete the native trees and
shrubs, thereby replacing them in time.
