Pleased to see you keeping an open mind - I wish more could do that!
A couple of points, briefly: I doubt that we shall ever know the answer to the 'native/not' debate because the arguments tend to get rather circular - the only way we can date the presence of any tree is from pollen analysis - unfortunately we can't tell the difference between the
Acer pollens!
Anyway, my view is that it doesn't matter - organisms that got over before the Channel opened are rather a random selection ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by svenrufus  ..............
As far as the native/non-native debate, I have read various articles now suggesting that it might be native, particulalry in the NW, but I don't find them compelling, and there is at least as much (more?) research with very good evidence about it's recent arrival, albeit disagreement about exactly when.
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It would be interesting to see what would happen if a sycamore wood was left to mature, to see if other species find a place after a while as suggested with the ash/sycamore cycle hypothesis, but I won't be around to argue about the results, so where's the fun in that? Meanwhile, whatever the merits of the sycamore for whatever invertebrate species it supports, I will follow my instinct (prejudice?) and looking at the evidence from woods I know, and others I visit and survey.
On balance, I'm still for removal wherever an option. I am now looking at things with more of an open mind though, and my position may change with time. |
It would, indeed be interesting - indeed in northern woods there is no evidence that
in the long term sycamore takes over a wood, any more than ash, oak or beech.... but that needs someone to monitor it regularly for a couple of centuries .... I would but ....
Cheers, Paul