Vol. 81 No. 2s (2026): Conference Proceedings Old-Growth Forests and Ancient Trees: A Treasure of Nature, Life and Culture, Firenze 1 October 2025 / Vallombrosa 2-3 October 2025
Reviews

Ancient trees and the protection of biodiversity and cultural heritage

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  • David Lindenmayer
David Lindenmayer
Fenner School of Environment and Society, Th e Australian National University; Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/ifm-1217

Published 2026-10-06

Keywords

  • Large old trees,
  • conservation,
  • long-term protection

How to Cite

Lindenmayer, D. (2026). Ancient trees and the protection of biodiversity and cultural heritage. L’Italia Forestale E Montana, 81(2s), 15–18. https://doi.org/10.36253/ifm-1217

Copyright (c) 2026 David Lindenmayer

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Abstract

ncient large trees are keystone structures and organisms in many ecosystems globally. They have numerous critical ecological roles and often an important part of human culture and religious practice. Despite the ecological and cultural importance of large old trees, populations of them are declining in many ecosystems - both in natural environments and human-modified environments. In some cases, young individuals of a given species that may eventually become large and old might be common, but the large old life stage of that species might be rare and declining. Given that some species of large old trees can live for more than 1000 years, novel and often highly targeted conservation strategies are needed to better protect them. Approaches to achieve such ambitious long-term conservation strategies will demand a robust and enduring combination of monitoring programs, focused actions from the scientific and citizen science communities, and strong legislation for effective protection and conservation. The combination of strategies is critical not only for the protection of existing large old trees, but also to ensure the recruitment of new cohorts of such trees in the future.

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