Ecology of Scots Pine in the Scottish Highlands

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Abstract
Formation of viable seeds by native pine forest (Pinus sylvestris ssp. scotica) in the Scottish Highlands is generally adequate. Seeds and seedlings are destroyed by a wide variety of animals but the present state of soil and vegetation is a more serious threat to regeneration. Burning and grazing have produced a vegetation dominated by raw-humus formers and a biologically inactive humus, thus adding acute N deficiency to the basic P deficiency of the substrata. Mineral deficient seedlings are more sensitive to shading, competition for nutrients and defoliation by animals. Thick moss and leaf litter layers lead to seedling desiccation in spring. Regeneration of pine in various forest communities and the success with which pine invades non-forest vegetation are described. The methods that have been used in encouraging natural regeneration and assisting it by seed sowing on prepared ground are outlined. It is concluded that the pure stands of the present day are largely artifacts, that they have a limited future as self-maintaining systems and that natural regeneration might be more successful in a forest of mixed species and age composition.

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