Cow bush

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As Kuhbusch or footmuff in German the deformation of a bush or young tree is browsing designated. Grazing leads to repeated mechanical removal of side shoots by herbivores .

A red beech as a typical cow bush in the transition stage to a classic willow beech. While the heavy grazing to which the tree was exposed in its youth can still be seen at the base, the top now grows undisturbed. Due to the browsing, the tree has lost its main shoot, instead a broad crown consisting of several main branches forms.

Typical cow bushes have a very dense, hardly penetrable vegetation in the lower trunk area, from which a new, strong shoot grows above, outside the area accessible to herbivores. A wide variety of tree and shrub species can develop into cow bushes, for example red beech , spruce , sloe , double-fluted hawthorn and common hawthorn .

Significance for biotope developments

Through their hard impenetrable for herbivores growth Kuhbüsche are loud Megaherbivorenhypothese effective protection of that woody plant before Befraß and also have a great importance as "nurseries" of larger trees in heavily grazed areas, particularly for stalk and sessile oak , which can develop in their protection . Willow beeches , hat trees and similar trees often arise from a self-designed young growth or benefit from it.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ M. Bunzel-Drücke, C. Böhm, P. Finck, G. Kämmer, R. Luick, E. Reisinger, U. Riecken, J. Riedl, M. Scharf & O. Zimball: Wilde Weiden: Guide for year-round grazing in Nature conservation and landscape management. In: PDF. March 17, 2008, accessed April 22, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Angelika Schwabe, Anselm Kratochwil: Weidbuchen in the Black Forest and their formation through browsing by forest cattle: Distribution, history and possibilities of regeneration . (= Volume 49, supplements to the publications for nature conservation and landscape management in Baden-Württemberg), State Institute for Environmental Protection Baden-Württemberg, Institute for Ecology and Nature Conservation, 1987, p. 38, 44
  3. ^ Johannes Hoops: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde . Walter de Gruyter, 1998, ISBN 978-3-11-015102-2 ( google.de [accessed February 7, 2019]).
  4. ↑ Dr. Carsten B. Böhm: Quercusgedanken _-_ On the management of oak forests. In: PDF. May 5, 2018, accessed February 17, 2019 (d).