A not so recent clearcut near study area. In Sweden it is the law that forest owners must replant the clearcuts with "baby" trees. I have noticed that this seems to be a problem since several years in a row the forest owner has had to have workers replant seedlings because of tree death from weevils, moose, rodents, and various diseases. I have also noticed that in natural forest clearings, or smaller man-made ones, that there are hundreds of healthy seedlings with apparently no insect or disease problems. It is a pity that forest companies must harvest many thousands of trees at a time for economical reasons when from the point of view of biodiversity and aesthetics it would be better to pluck out one old tree at a time and let surrounding trees provide seed for natural regeneration. Otherwise the forest company must hand-plant trees which often die and also there is the problem of limited genetic diversity of the planted trees and that they may not be as well adapted to the local environment compared to trees that may have evolved in the habitat.
Images © 1996 by John A. Byers, Chemical Ecology.