30 Years After the Great Storm - a ripple of disturbance

admin
, 20 October 2017
30 Years After the Great Storm - a ripple of disturbance
beech / Richard Cobden

By Dr Tony Whitbread

Chief Executive

There may be a belief that nature is best when it is undisturbed. Leave nature alone, prevent disturbance, keep it calm and peaceful and it will thrive. This is not true!

High levels of disturbance may create one sort of habitat – a weed community - at the expense of others. So too much disturbance is a bad thing, and this is probably no surprise.

However, it is sometimes still not appreciated that too little disturbance is also damaging. Woods become dark and monotonous. They have a limited range of conditions within them and so support a limited range of species. Woods kept as undisturbed, dense, shaded places are not “natural”, they are probably best seen as unnaturally undisturbed! Without realising it we may have removed and prevented (or just cleared up) the agents of natural disturbance that create diversity in nature. Take away disturbance and you are not left with nature, you are left with abandonment.

As part of a greater matrix, “old-growth” undisturbed forest is a rare and valuable thing. It will contain species that are rare elsewhere, often species that are slow to colonise and prone to local extinction. Even this, however will have its own dynamic of natural disturbance and some species in old-growth areas rely on disturbed patches nearby for some stage in their life cycle. Insects are a good example – some may need old-growth for part of their life cycle, but also need nectar sources from the flowering shrubs in disturbed, open patches at other times.

Ecologists now recognise that an intermediate level of disturbance in a patchwork better explains the presence of our native species than provided either by heavy disturbance or no disturbance.

One thing has become clear over the 30 years that follow the storm, however. When I surveyed woods after 1987 I thought that the storm provided the answer – this is how forests are kept diverse and this explains the presence of our native species. On reflection, however, 30 years on we realise that this is not the case. The canopy gaps formed 30 years ago have now disappeared, they have become part of the forest and, whereas the diversity created can still be seen, these gaps have now become part of the forest canopy. One storm every 300 years is not enough! The storm gave us great insight, but it is only one form of natural disturbance. If we wish to understand nature then we need to look more broadly at all the different forms of natural disturbance.

So what can we learn from this? If our forests are unnaturally undisturbed and so poorer as a result, can we bring back natural disturbance, or can we manage forests in a way that has the same effect as natural disturbance?

Leave a comment
Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1783527852.22850 [906] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1783527852.25620.0277Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1783527852.25640.0002Server address: 216.73.216.55
1783527852.25640Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1783527852.25650Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/30-years-after-the-great-storm-a-ripple-of-disturbance
    [s] => 30-years-after-the-great-storm-a-ripple-of-disturbance
    [1] => 30-years-after-the-great-storm-a-ripple-of-disturbance
)
1783527852.25680.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783527852.2580.0012 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1783527852.25980.0019 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22788730
1783527852.26050.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22788730
1783527852.26110.0006 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-07-08 16:24:00' AND saleTo>'2026-07-08 16:24:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1783527852.26260.0014 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='30-years-after-the-great-storm-a-ripple-of-disturbance')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-08 16:24:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1783527852.26490.0023 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1783527852.26550.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=1438 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-08 16:24:00'
1783527852.26630.0008 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1783527852.26710.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1783527852.26790.0009 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=56 LIMIT 1
1783527852.26860.0006Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783527852.26880.0003 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1783527852.26980.001 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-08 16:24:00' AND postSlug='30-years-after-the-great-storm-a-ripple-of-disturbance'
1783527852.29120.0215Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783527852.29180.0006 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1783527852.29340.0016Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1783527852.29380.0003 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1783527852.29470.0009 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE ((idx.regionID=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1783527852.29610.0015 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783527852.29930.0032 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783527852.29990.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783527852.30180.0019Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1783527852.30190.0001 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783527852.30280.0009 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783527852.30340.0007 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783527852.30620.0028 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783527852.30730.0011 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783527852.3080.0007 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1783527852.31110.0031 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783527852.3120.0009 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1783527852.31430.0022 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1783527852.31480.0005Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783527852.3150.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1783527852.3160.0009Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1783527852.31640.0004 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='30-years-after-the-great-storm-a-ripple-of-disturbance')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-08 16:24:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1783527852.31850.0021 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1783527852.31910.0007 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783527852.32160.0025Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1783527852.32260.001 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=1438 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1783527852.37190.0493 [0] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1783527852.37220.0003Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1783527852.37250.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1783527852.37330.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1783527852.37390.0007 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1783527852.37470.0007 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783527852.37690.0022 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783527852.37750.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783527852.37950.0019 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783527852.38050.0011 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1783527852.38110.0006 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1783527852.38150.0005 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783527852.38430.0028 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783527852.38490.0006 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783527852.3870.0021 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783527852.39070.0036 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1783527852.39170.001 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1783527852.39220.0005 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783527852.39450.0024 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783527852.3950.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783527852.39710.0021 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783527852.40050.0034 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1783527852.40130.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1783527852.40190.0007 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1783527852.40410.0022 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1783527852.40470.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1783527852.40640.0018 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1783527852.40810.0016Request time: 0.1813
1783527852.40810Process time: 0.1811
1783527852.40810Memory: 1.6246