Stands with E. regnans had a lesser tendency towards multi-cohortness than stands lacking this species, although most old-growth stands, including those dominated by E. regnans, were multi-cohort.
Old trees, needed for the wooden beams, are nowadays rare, as most old-growth forests in Europe were cut down and replaced with monocultures of fast-growing spruce trees.
It is home to the world's southern-most old-growth forests, Chile's largest population of the llama-like guanaco and significant marine life.
Here in the Lake District, most of the old growth was logged off fifty years ago.
"In most forests, the old growth is dominated by decomposers in terms of species number and complexity," he says.
While few of these remaining old forests qualify as actual old growth (most have been selectively cut over the last several centuries), they maintain vitally important characteristics, like massive amounts of dead wood and landscapes that are key for rare species survival.
Among the major forest regions (Rowe 1972) in Canada, it was recognized that old growth is most easily defined for the temperate-zone forests such as Acadian Forest, Deciduous Forest, Great Lakes-St.
It is one of the most valuable old-growth forests in Europe and recognised as an UNESCO World Heritage site and Natura 2000 area.
They may not be enough to restore fully the living communities that once thrived in one of the world's biggest grasslands and most complex old-growth forests, biologists say.
"For most of us," he wrote in an article on southern New England forests, "old growth implies a multi-aged forest shaped by natural events over several centuries".
