Changes and Variability in the Field Layer of a Coppiced Woodland in Norfolk, England

Drury & Nisbet (1973) suggest that a wide range of studies needs to be carried out to clarify what mechanisms control species replacement in different ecological situations. The literature on deciduous woodland succession in lowland England is surprisingly small. Successional patterns are described in the pioneer work of Salisbury (1916) and in that of Adamson (1921, 1932), Watt (1924) and Tansley (1939). Watt (1947) drew attention to the long-term cyclical changes involved in patchy regeneration of undisturbed beech woodland. More recently Horn (1971, 1975) has presented data which throw light on the mechanisms involved in replacement of species in the succession of trees in temperate woodland in general. However, there is a lack of information on the processes involved in field layer changes as a woodland canopy develops through time.