Nicola Arndt und Matthias Pohl - Neobiota

Sometimes, where there is comprehensive
information about the flora in a particular
area, it is possible to use such profiles of
potential natural vegetation and replacement
communities to develop a more dynamic
visualisation of a mapping unit. Figure 2
shows a map of West Yorkshire produced
from a computerised plant atlas of the
county (LAVIN & WILMORE 1994), the dots
indicating the coincidental occurrence
Figure 1: Extent of mapping unit F8 Atlantic-Subatlantic
within a 1km grid of the characteristic
species of the F8 birch-oak woodland. In
many of the high-scoring locations shown,
there are no actual woodlands of this type
existing at present, but rather mixtures of
woodland species ‘waiting in the wings’
which might possibly be recruited to areas
set aside for planting. Understanding the
distribution of the species pool available for
birch-oak forest in mainland UK.
the development of potential vegetation and
the extent to which these species already occur in various precursors and replacements are essential
stages in giving a dynamic perspective to the mapping units when they are used for landscape design.
3 Incorporating ecological processes in landscape design
Providing simple models of such dynamic systems for site managers – rather than single static targets
for landscape design – is an important challenge in applying the European Vegetation Map. In the UK,
the environmental charity Groundwork is giving a lead in this approach for post-industrial restoration
through its ‘Changing Places’ programme (HANDLEY et al. 1998). Such post-industrial landscapes
pose the additional challenge of difficult terrain and unusual substrates and the general approach in
restoring these sites has been for remediation through strong intervention, engineering of graded
landscapes and the creation of a limited repertoire of vegetation types such as recreational grasslands
and ornamental woodlands through planting and seeding. This new approach aims to change places in
an ecologically informed fashion by limited intervention and by working with whatever vegetation
processes are occurring on the site.
Darwen Parkway is a ‘Changing Places’ site of 24 hectares on the outskirts of Blackburn in northern
England. The solid geology of this area consists of Carboniferous shales and sandstones forming the
fringe of the Pennine hills, but these are overlain locally by a thick terrace of Pleistocene fluvio-glacial
sands through which a river has cut a rejuvenated valley. Maps show that in 1835, the valley slopes
were pasture with woodland strips remaining along the riverside but, in the subsequent period of
industrialisation, the area was quarried for sand with the construction of associated railway sidings,
while housing and factories encroached around. Since abandonment of the workings 60 years ago,
neglect has allowed a mixture of grasslands, tall herb vegetation, heath, scrub and woodland to
develop over the series of bluffs, hollows and terraces left by the quarrying and on the abandoned
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