{"id":489959,"date":"2026-05-18T02:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T02:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/489959\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T02:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T02:08:09","slug":"europe-was-never-a-giant-dark-forest-new-20-million-year-study-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/489959\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe Was Never a Giant Dark Forest, New 20-Million-Year Study Reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Artist<\/a>Artist\u2019s reconstruction of what landscapes in Central Europe may have looked like during the Early Late Miocene, according to the study: A semi-open woodland landscape with scattered trees, a flower-rich herb layer and diverse large herbivores such as early elephants, rhinoceroses and horses. Disturbances by herbivores and beavers help maintain a mosaic of woodlands and open habitats. Credit: M\u00e1rton Zsoldos<\/p>\n

A comprehensive new study shows that Europe\u2019s landscapes have been shaped by grasslands and open woodlands for more than 20 million years, suggesting that modern afforestation efforts go against this long-standing ecological pattern.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Imagine walking through untouched nature in central Europe 100,000 years ago, or even a million years ago. If you picture a dark, dense primeval forest where sunlight barely reaches the ground, you are likely imagining the wrong kind of past.<\/p>\n

You have not gone far enough back in time. That picture is closer to a modern production forest than to much of Europe\u2019s ancient landscape.<\/p>\n

A more accurate image would be open patches of woodland mixed with colorful, flower-rich meadows, alive with many kinds of birds and butterflies.<\/p>\n

From an ecological point of view, dense forests are a relatively recent development.<\/p>\n

A new comprehensive study led by Aarhus University finds that, for more than 20 million years, Europe\u2019s landscapes were usually mosaics made up of grasslands, scrub, and woodlands with varying tree cover. These were bright, flower-rich open woodlands shaped strongly by grazing animals as a major ecological force, rather than closed forests with dense canopies.<\/p>\n

The study has just been published in Biological Conservation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe study shows that current reforestation practices are on the wrong track \u2013 both here in Denmark, where subsidies are only granted for planting dense forests, and elsewhere in Europe. This will not only be harmful for biodiversity; it will be in direct contradiction to the type of ecosystems that Europe\u2019s species have evolved in over millions of years,\u201d says Professor Jens-Christian Svenning from the Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), Department of Biology at Aarhus University, senior author of the study.<\/p>\n

\"Artistic<\/a>Artistic palaeo-reconstructions of ecosystem states in Central Europe over the last 23 million years. The illustrations depict typical landscapes and key large herbivores from six time periods: the Neogene (evolutionary origins of many present taxa), the Pleistocene (pre-Homo sapiens baseline), and the Holocene (human-shaped ecosystems). Across most periods, landscapes are shown as tree-rich, flower-rich mosaics maintained by abundant large herbivores. Only in the recent Holocene do ecosystems become either densely wooded due to herbivore loss or strongly shaped by domestic livestock and agriculture. Credit: M\u00e1rton Zsoldos<\/p>\n

Svenning adds that the so-called \u201cclosed-forest paradigm\u201d has shaped nature management for decades, along with ideas about what should count as natural. This view holds that dense, closed canopy forests were Europe\u2019s baseline before major human influence.<\/p>\n

All available palaeoecological evidence<\/p>\n

The new study goes well beyond earlier work. While previous research has often looked mainly at more recent periods, the researchers brought together all available paleoecological evidence spanning the full interval from the Miocene epoch (which began around 23 million years ago) to the preindustrial period.<\/p>\n

The study draws on a large synthesis of independent evidence. The researchers reviewed paleoecological studies covering the past 23 million years and combined several scientific \u201cproxies\u201d that can reveal past vegetation structure and ecological processes. These included pollen records, plant macrofossils, charcoal particles from ancient fires, stable isotope analyses of herbivore teeth and bones, fossil insects and mammals, and ancient environmental DNA preserved in sediments.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach type of proxy offers its own perspective, but together they let us see whether the landscapes were covered by dense forests, open grasslands, or a mix of the two. By combining these datasets across time \u2013 from the Miocene to the pre-industrial era \u2013 we could trace long-term changes in vegetation and the role of large herbivores with much greater confidence than earlier studies that used only one method,\u201d explains the study\u2019s lead author, ECONOVO PhD student Szymon Czyzewski of Aarhus University.<\/p>\n

\"Artist<\/a>Artist\u2019s reconstruction of what landscapes in Central Europe may have looked like during the Early Holocene c. 11,700-7,000 years ago, according to the study: Following the loss of many large herbivores, woodlands locally became denser and competitive plants expanded. Human hunting and fires influenced ecosystem dynamics, while some light-demanding plants and open-habitat animals still persisted in the landscape. Credit: M\u00e1rton Zsoldos<\/p>\n

The conclusion is clear. Across this long span of time, Europe\u2019s typical landscape was a dynamic mosaic rich in trees and flowers. Large wild herbivores such as elephants, rhinoceroses, aurochs, and bison helped keep vegetation partly open and diverse. This pattern appeared in temperate climates similar to those found in Europe today, as well as in warmer and cooler climates.<\/p>\n

A continent without large grazers<\/p>\n

Another major finding is that present-day Europe is highly unusual from an ecological perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ecosystems we see in Europe today lack the large wild herbivores that not only shaped landscapes but also sustained its biodiversity for millions of years. The most dramatic shift has largely taken place within the last hundred years, when traditional extensive grazing disappeared from large parts of the landscape,\u201d says Czyzewski.<\/p>\n

\"Artist<\/a>Artist\u2019s reconstruction of what landscapes in Central Europe may have looked like during the pre-industrial Holocene c. 600 years ago, according to the study: A human-shaped cultural landscape with domestic herbivores such as horses, cattle, sheep and pigs. Grazing and agriculture created a mosaic of open habitats and scattered trees where many species from earlier open woodland systems could survive. Credit: M\u00e1rton Zsoldos<\/p>\n

The researchers also found that many species now seen as typical of cultural landscapes, including larks, jackdaws, and the European hamster, likely have evolutionary origins in the open woodland systems of the past. Wild poppies, now often associated with fields, once grew in disturbed areas within ancient woodlands where herbivores had shaped the ground.<\/p>\n

This points to a key problem in modern conservation. The sharp separation between \u201cforest\u201d and \u201copen habitats\u201d is likely a recent human framework rather than a reflection of Europe\u2019s long ecological history.<\/p>\n

Implications for afforestation and restoration<\/p>\n

The findings carry direct consequences for nature management and biodiversity across temperate Europe, especially at a time when tree planting is being promoted for climate mitigation and biodiversity goals.<\/p>\n

If the aim is to restore ecosystems similar to those in which Europe\u2019s species evolved and to which they remain adapted, the study indicates that uniform, dense forests are not the answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, restoration efforts should place greater emphasis on creating and maintaining mosaics of woodland and open habitats \u2013 not least through the restoration of natural-living large herbivores,\u201d Svenning concludes.<\/p>\n

The study adds to growing evidence from the same research environment that Europe\u2019s past was brighter, more varied, and more strongly shaped by large animals than long assumed.<\/p>\n

One might say that the image of the dark, dense primeval forest will not disappear overnight, but it loses yet another supporting trunk.<\/p>\n

Reference: \u201cRevisiting Europe\u2019s temperate forests: Palaeoecological evidence for an herbivory-driven woodland-grassland mosaic biome\u201d by Szymon Czy\u017cewski, Skjold Alsted S\u00f8ndergaard, \u00c1bel P\u00e9ter Moln\u00e1r, Matthew Roy Kerr, Jeppe Aagaard Kristensen, Joe Atkinson, Jonas Trepel, Maciej Sykut, Pawe\u0142 Radzikowski, Signe Sangill Termansen, Karol Wa\u0142ach, Elena A. Pearce, Sean E.H. Pang, Bart\u0142omiej Zaj\u0105c, Juraj Bergman, Emil Sloth Thomassen, Ninad Mungi, Camilla Fl\u00f8jgaard, Rasmus Ejrn\u00e6s, Robert Buitenwerf and Jens-Christian Svenning, 23 February 2026, Biological Conservation.
DOI: 10.1016\/j.biocon.2026.111749<\/a><\/p>\n

Funding: VILLUM FONDEN, Danish National Research Foundation, Independent Research Fund Denmark<\/p>\n

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