Wilderness by Thomas Riess

About "Wilderness"

by Thomas Riess

About the artwork

Alluvial forest refers to a natural plant community along streams and rivers (see also floodplain). Alluvial forests are azonal forest communities that are strongly influenced by flooding and high groundwater levels. This distinguishes riparian forests from permanently wet, marshy swamp forests and from swamp forests that sometimes dry out. Alluvial forests occur worldwide in all climates suitable for forests. Due to the constant change of the formative environmental factors, they harbour a large number of ecological niches in a very small area, so that their biological diversity is generally much greater than in the neighbouring terrestrial biotopes or in the vegetation zone in which they are located. In Central Europe, where they naturally cover around 5 % of the land area, they are often the last refuges for endangered species. The growing conditions in riparian forests are better than in other habitats due to the permanent supply of water (see also the "optimal principle" of vegetation). In floodplains in cool temperate latitudes, this can already be recognised by the structural features, which are reminiscent of rainforests: With their closely interlocking mosaic of water bodies, swamps and seasonal flooding zones, they exhibit high biomass productivity, have many liana-like climbing plants (such as common clematis and ivy) and some tree species form buttress roots (fluttering elm and black poplar with board roots; black alder and silver willow with stilt roots) or tower 30 to 40 metres above the actual canopy of the forest as individual emergents (e.g. ash, English oak, fluttering elm).