What were European forests like following the last ice age and before the advent of agriculture? The pollen record in Ireland provides a unique perspective from which to examine ideas on the question. The past may be a foreign country, and a pretty inaccessible one at that. But it does not deter people from exploring it. One of the objects of conservation is to retain or recreate primeval habitats, but this can only be achieved with sound knowledge of the structure and composition of past ecosystems, and the factors that sustained them.
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