Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Biogeographical factors explain these observations. In Northern Europe ancient
communities were destroyed by the Quaternary glaciations. Following glacial retreat,
recolonisation occurred through the invasion of a suite of ubiquitous, vagile, southern-
European species. Pastures provide conditions favourable for the development of quite
populous communities and, in middle European sites, such communities generally have
much greater biomasses than adjacent forests of similar species composition
(Lee, 1985). Nonetheless, detailed studies show that the relative dominance of each
species depends on the type of ecosystem (Scheu, 1992) (Figure IV.45).
