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Abstract
According to fossil records from coal beds, primeval forests of the South eons ago were complex forests of club moss trees and ferns (Burdette 1995). Since that time forest composition and distribution have changed in response to natural phenomena and later, to the influences of man. Over a long period of time primeval forests evolved from club mosses and ferns to gymnosperms, related to our present-clay pines. and then later to mixed gymnosperms and angiosperm (deciduous) forests. During the glacial period. tree species migrated north and south and forest composition changed as a result of climatic shifts (Burdette 1995). For example, about 20,000 years ago the northern boreal coniferous forest extended deep into the South.
Citation
Dickson, James G. 2003. Wildlife of southern forests habitat & management (Chapter 2): Early History. In: Dickson, James G., comp. ed. Wildlife of southern forests habitat & management. Blaine, WA. Chapter 2. Hancock House Publishers: 20-30
