Title
Atlantic-subatlantic birch-pedunculate oak forests (Quercus robur, Betula pendula, Populus tremula) with Hieracium laevigatum, Lonicera periclymenum, Dryopteris carthusiana, Dryopteris dilatata, in the north with Ceratocapnos claviculata, Trientalis europaea, Maianthemum bifolium
Geographical distribution
Country/territory
Great Britain: Central England (hilly country of the Pennines, Severn plain), Norfolk, Suffolk; Belgium: Kempen and “Vlamse Vallée”; Netherlands: northern, eastern and southern sand regions; Germany: northwest German low plain, Darß, Zingst; Denmark: west Jutland, island Bornholm; southwest Sweden; south Norway
area frequency
73 polygons.
Scientific names of main plant communities and their most common synonyms (with author citation)
Atlantic province: Ilici aquifolii-Quercetum roboris Tüxen 1930 (with Betulo pendulae-Quercetum petraeae Schwickerath 1933), Violo rivinianae-Quercetum roboris Oberdorfer 1957, Quercus-Betula-Deschampsia flexuosa woodland W16 (Rodwell 1991) (Great Britain); subatlantic province: Betulo pendulae-Quercetum roboris Tüxen 1930 nom. invers. propos. (northwest Germany, Belgium, Netherlands); Populo-Quercetum Tüxen 1951 (Denmark, Sweden, Norway), Syn: Populo-Quercetum pinetosum et oxalidetosum Bjørnstad 1971 (Norway); Quercus petraea/robur-Melampyrum pratense-Deschampsia flexuosa type 2.2.3.1. (Påhlsson 1994); “Fago-Quercetum” Tüxen 1955 pro parte (oak-dominated part), Vaccinio vitis-idaeae-Quercetum Oberdorfer 1957 typo includo (subatlantic formations), Deschampsio flexuosae-Quercetum roboris Passarge 1966.
Structural feature of the main community(ies) (layers, life-forms, etc.)
Species-deficient mixed oak forests (15-25 m) of dominant oak (Quercus robur, Quercus petraea) and added birches (Betula pendula, Betula pubescens), locally scattered additional tree species such as Populus tremula, Sorbus aucuparia and Fagus sylvatica (the first two grow particularly energetically in north temperate regions). The shrub layer is only sparsely developed particularly under dry air conditions. The herb layer as a rule is species-deficient and is formed by dry-tolerant grasses or Pteridium aquilinum foci with Vaccinium myrtillus, while southern forms of the unit already contain Hieracium species. The moss layer is as a rule only sparsely developed, but increases in significance as the sites become poorer.
Dominant and most frequent species in different layers
Tree layer
Quercus robur, Quercus petraea, admixed Betula pendula, Betula pubescens, Fagus sylvatica, Populus tremula (in the north), Sorbus aucuparia (in the north), Ilex aquifolium (within suitable conditions in the Atlantic province)
Shrub layer
Young growth of trees, Frangula alnus (very rare in Great Britain), Sorbus aucuparia, Prunus serotina (introduced in northwest Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands), Ilex aquifolium
Lianas
Lonicera periclymenum (predominately in the Atlantic province)
Herb layer
Pteridium aquilinum, Melampyrum pratense, Deschampsia flexuosa, Calluna vulgaris, Festuca ovina agg., Veronica officinalis, Potentilla erecta, Carex pilulifera, Dryopteris dilatata, Dryopteris carthusiana; additionally predominately in the west: Rubus fruticosus agg., Holcus mollis, Lonicera periclymenum, Galium saxatile, Ceratocapnos claviculata, Teucrium scorodonia, Lathyrus linifolius, Hedera helix; in the north: Vaccinium myrtillus, Vaccinium vitis-idaea, Luzula pilosa, Maianthemum bifolium, Rubus idaeus, Trientalis europaea, Rubus saxatilis, Pyrola rotundifolia; in the south: Anthoxanthum odoratum, Agrostis capillaris, Poa pratensis, Poa nemoralis, Hieracium laevigatum, Hieracium umbellatum, (Hieracium lachenalii, Hieracium sabaudum), Epipactis helleborine, Luzula campestris
Moss layer (incl. lichens)
Polytrichum formosum, Dicranum scoparium, Dicranella heteromalla, Hypnum cupressiforme, Pohlia nutans, Leucobryum glaucum, Pleurozium schreberi, Cladonia spp., Lophocolea heterophylla, Calypogeia neesiana, Plagiothecium laetum, Aulacomnium androgynum, Scleropodium purum, Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus, Brachythecium rutabulum, Plagiothecium denticulatum, Lophocolea bidentata, Thuidium tamariscinum, Plagiomnium affine, Mnium hornum, Campylopus flexuosus, Pseudotaxiphyllum elegans; additionally in the north: Hylocomium splendens, Rhytidiadelphus loreus, Dicranum majus, Plagiothecium undulatum
Diagnostically important species
Quercus robur, Betula pendula, Populus tremula; Deschampsia flexuosa, Melampyrum pratense, Dryopteris carthusiana, Dryopteris dilatata and other acidophilous species; Lonicera periclymenum, Ceratocapnos claviculata and other atlantic-subatlantic species additionally in the west; Vaccinium myrtillus and other boreal species in the north; Hieracium laevigatum and further Hieracium species as well as grasses in the south
Ecological variants
- Dry form (typical): on dry podzoles which is consistent with the above description;- At the coast the trees are often shaped by the wind;- On extremely dry, oligotrophic dune and wind-swept sand nappes as well as exposed morainal tops Vaccinium species and Holcus mollis disappear, and instead Agrostis vinealis, Carex arenaria occur; (Deschampsio flexuosae-Quercetum Passarge 1966);- On nutrient-richer sites with Oxalis acetosella, Maianthemum bifolium, Polygonatum multiflorum, sometimes Milium effusum, Poa nemoralis, Anemone nemorosa.
Geographical variants (geogr. differential species)
- In the Atlantic province atlantic, atlantic-subatlantic and at humid air sites dependent species, especially ferns, form the largest proportion of the herb layer, and occasionally also Ilex in the tree layer.- In Great Britain: Vaccinium myrtillus increases towards the moister west and the north, where the stands feature transitions to the unit F2. The abundance of mosses in this transition is however greatly restricted by air pollution.- In the subatlantic province the acidophilous oak forests in the north or under cooler conditions are developed mostly as berry shrub-oak forests (Betulo-Quercetum roboris, Populo-Quercetum petraeae).- In the north (Norway, Sweden) often with Picea abies, Pinus sylvestris, Populus tremula, Sorbus aucuparia (in the tree layer) and Juniperus communis; also with Ceratocapnos claviculata, Trientalis europaea, Maianthemum bifolium.- The southern forms growing on warm-summer or relatively dry air sites often correspond to common bent-oak forests. They occur as far as southern Sweden (Olsson 1974).- In Belgium and the Netherlands Hieracium laevigatum is added;- in the Netherlands and in Great Britain sometimes with Castanea sativa (naturalised).
Natural accompanying vegetation (most important units in complex with the name giving mapping unit, scientific names)
Acidophilous oak-beech forests; in hollows and valleys: carrs (peatmoss alder carrs to downy birch carrs); small residual raised bogs.
Adjoining climax and permanent vegetation (with numbers of mapping units)
birch forests (C13), spruce forests (D15, D16), pine forests (D46, D54), coastal heaths (E7, E8, E9, E10), acidophilous oak forests (F9, F10), oak-ash forests (F31, F32), hornbeam forests (F35, F37), species-poor and species-rich beech forests (F76, F77, F78, F79, F104, F107, F108), dune vegetation (P5, P6), salt vegetation (P18, P19, P22), mires (S7, S8), birch carrs and degraded mires (T4, T5, T6), moist and alluvial forests (U7, U9, U28).
Land use, substitute communities
forestry (substitute communities, plantations of economic tree-species, scrub)
Historical low forest usage, today often replaced by pine, oak, beech or softwood plantations; locally Ulici-Sarothamnion and Lonicero-Rubion scrub.
grassland (meadows, pastures, herb-rich communities)
Shortgrass meadows; Nardo-Galion grassland; Heaths (Calluno-Genistetum); Thero-Airion or Corynephorion vegetation on open dunes.
arable land (characteristic weed communities)
Supplementary fodder plant cultivation (grass, corn, etc.); on better quality soils there is local market gardening (Teesdalio-Arnoseridetum mimimae community, crabgrass community, tangled form of the loose silky-bent and goosefoot communities).
settlements (typical ruderal vegetation)
No details
Site conditions of the mapping unit
Landscape type, geomorphology
Flat to shallow-undulating lowlands
Altitudinal belt and/or altitudinal range
lowland; ascending up to to 150 m from the coast
Geology (bedrock)
Glacial (outwash of the Saale- and Weichsel ice-age, sandy end moraine gravel, meltwater sands) and eolian (eolian sands) sediments, locally with formation of ortstein (Quaternary); sandstone, granites, hardly disaggregating siliceous rock, (Tertiary, Cretaceous, Triassic; Devonian, Carboniferous, Silurian; Precambrian)
soil type, also the depth of fine textured earth (soil), stone content; (international nomenclature)
Ranker, podzoles, podzolized brown soils, base-poor pseudogleys with raw humus or mull-like mor covering; locally (Belgium, Netherlands) “plaggen bodems” or Plaggen-esch; (rankers; dystric podzoluvisols; dystric cambisols; (stony) orthic and humic podzols; dystric planosols; cambic arenosols; dystric regosols)
soil moisture, water balance
very dry to fresh; periodically moist
soil reaction
strongly to moderately acidic
soil fertility
oligotrophic, oligo-mesotrophic
Climate incl. local climate
climate type (following Walter & Lieth)
VI1, VI1(IV), VI1b, VI2, VI3, VI3a, VI(V)2
average annual temperature
7,5-10 EC
average annual precipitation
550-1500 mm
average temperature of the warmest month
July 15-18 EC
average temperature of the coldest month
January -2 to 4 EC
local climate or other climatic peculiarities
Oceanic climate; Great Britain: in the north, where it is cooler and moister, for a long time the atmosphere has been affected by industrial and urban emissions.
Importance for nature protection
Present state and development trend of natural vegetation (degree of endangerment)
Only small semi-natural residues remain preserved, mostly transformed into heaths, crop fields or coniferous plantations.
endangered communities, species worthy of protection in natural vegetation
Great Britain: The most interesting stands are to be found on sands in breckland and at the coast, where the natural succession includes Corynephorion vegetation. Belgium and Netherlands: in contact to oligotrophic waters with a belt of amphibian vegetation (Littorella uniflora, Lobelia dortmanna and Isoetes lacustris). Sweden: Of special conservational interest are the coastal low oak forests formed by wind.
causes of endangerment
Low forest usage, forest clearing, grazing, fire, afforestation, eutrophication, air-borne nitrogen compounds and pollutants, recreational use
required measures for protection and restitution
Protection of the remaining semi-natural stands by designation of protected areas; reduction of air-borne pollutants; afforestation and forest conversion with indigenous oaks, tolerance of natural succession.
Localities of representative stands (loci typici) with state of protection
of the natural vegetation
Great Britain: Cavenham Heath, Thursley Warren, Chaddesley Woods as well as some National Trust- and local nature reserves; Germany: primeval forest reserve Ausselbeck/Klappholz (Schleswig-Holstein); Denmark: Hald geskov, Bruunshåb Krat; Sweden: Särö-Västerskog, Göstorp-Blåalt (Halland), Kullaberg (Sq), Sandhammaren (Sq); Netherlands: Anloër Strubben, Mantingerbos, Kremboong, Hoge Veluwe (all nature reserves).
of characteristic substitute communities worthy of protection
Great Britain: above all Corynephorion vegetation, Ulicion and Genisto-Callunion heaths; Belgium: state reserve of the Kalmptoutse heath in the north of Antwerpen; Germany: nature reserve/primeval forest reserve Ehrhorner Dünen, nature reserve Hollesand, nature reserve Voßberge, (Lower Saxony), Wisseler Dünen (North Rhine-Westphalia); Netherlands: many areas with Genisto-Callunion heaths and/or Corynephorion vegetation, e. g. Loonse en Drunense Duinen, Hulshorster Zand.
Most important references (author, year)
Bjørnstad 1971; Diekmann 1994; Gram, Jørgensen & Køie 1944; Härdtle, Heinken, Pallas & Welss 1997; Hommel, Dort van & Schaminée 1999; Hopkinson 1927; Kielland-Lund 1973; Klötzli 1970; Krause & Schröder 1979; Moss 1911b; Moss 1913; Moss, Rankin & Tansley 1910; Noirfalise 1984; Oberdorfer 1957; Olsen 1938; Olsson 1974a; Påhlsson (Ed.) 1994; Pallas 2000; Passarge 1966a; Passarge & Hofmann 1968; Peterken 1981; Pigott 1955; Rackham 1980; Rodwell (Ed.) 1991a; Scurfield 1953; Sissingh 1970; Tansley (Ed.) 1911; Traets 1959; Traets 1968; Trautmann (Red.) 1973; Tüxen 1930; Tüxen 1937; Tüxen 1951; Werf van der 1991
Compiled by
A. Noirfalise; J.S. Rodwell; P. Vestergaard, completed by L. Påhlsson, U. Bohn, O. Vevle, R. Haveman; revised by J.R. Cross, J. Pallas, U. Bohn
