16
by the animal life of an area. One organism
having a profound effect on the floral compo-
sition and structure of the areas is man
himself. Increasingly anthrogenic factors are
highly significant in the environment. Weald
Country Park has for hundreds of years been
managed by man and it still remains under his
control, although measures are now sympa-
thetically carried out. For example, the
meadow land is periodically mown, but the marsh
is left undisturbed. On the edge of the
deciduous woodland site many mature horse
chestnut trees were felled, where they were
dominating the area, essentially excluding most
other tree species. As a result, classic
woodland succession has begun, with a variety
of young saplings competing within the new
dense ground/shrub layers.
A range of other animals form an essential part
of these communities. No survey of animal
populations was attempted in this study. A
range of animals was discovered and recorded in
the general surveys of each habitat (Tables 2
and 3). This included some 26 species of
birds, 5 species of mammals, common lizards
bathing in the sunshine, 3 species of newt and
numerous invertebrates, including beetles,
grasshoppers, butterflies, dragonflies and
spiders.