History of Forest Ecology 



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phases of plant ecology there is no reason why the methods and 

 principles of plant ecology cannot be applied in toto in pursuing its 

 most important branch. Plant ecology will also have the tendency to 

 make forest ecology, which previously existed only for applied reasons, 

 more purely scientific. In the organization of the work of the forest 

 experiment stations in the United States the principles and methods 

 of plant ecology were employed with the result that forest ecology 

 was put upon a more scientific basis. The forest investigator's 

 viewpoint is apt to become narrowed by the applied nature of his 

 investigations. For this reason he does not always use those 

 methods that give the best results; hence, the necessity of plant 

 ecology which will give him the purely scientific point of view. 

 Present-day plant ecologists are usually scientists of attainment, 

 many of them well-known teachers of the subject and in a position 

 to be thoroughly in touch with the literature and progress of the 

 science. Foresters are largely field men; most of them very prac- 

 tical; a few with investigative ability. They have the advantage 

 of being near to Nature, but they are usually far removed from 

 academic influence, good libraries, and other facilities for carrying 

 on research. The investigator of forestry problems of the near 

 future must possess a combination of these qualities and oppor- 

 tunities. 



The following table shows in a comparative manner the three 

 great periods in the development of plant ecology and silviculture. 



Plant Ecology 



Before 1838. The era of plant 

 geography; a period dealing 

 with the study of vegetation 

 as a whole and with the 

 geographical distribution of 

 plants. 



1838-95. A period dealing with 

 the study of the plant forma- 

 tion; the plant formation rec- 

 ognized as the fundamental 

 unit of vegetation, thus laying 

 the cornerstone of plant ecol- 

 ogy; the division of vegeta- 

 tion into units; the beginning 

 of the study of plant succes- 

 sion. 



Silviculture 



1346-1758. Forestry practice 

 based upon empiricism; the 

 development of silviculture by 

 practice with little reference 

 to the fundamental natural 

 laws involved. 



1758-1870. The development of 

 the biological phases of forestry, 

 including forest botany, forest 

 pathology, morphology and 

 physiology of woody plants, 

 etc. The theory of light and 

 shade in the forest elaborated 

 by Heyer. 



