Key papers and reports

Credit Neil Benvie

Want to dive deeper into the science behind temperate rainforest restoration? We’ve curated a selection of key papers, reports, and guidance documents that underpin current best practice and highlight emerging research.

From ecological baselines to restoration techniques and monitoring methods, these resources are invaluable for anyone working in or studying rainforest conservation.

General

Alliance for Wales' Rainforests (2024) State of Wales' Rainforest. https://celticrainforests.wales/the-state-of-wales-rainforests-report.

Averis, B. (2023) A provisional definition of remperate rainforest in Britain and Ireland. http://www.benandalisonaveris.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/A-Provisional-Definition-of-Temperate-Rainforest-in-Britain-and-Ireland-Ben-Averis-2023-13-07-2023.pdf. 

DellaSala, D.A. (2011) Temperate and boreal rainforests of the world: Ecology and conservation. Island Press, Washington DC. https://link.springer.com/book/10.5822/978-1-61091-008-8

Murphy, T.R., Chernyuk, K., Roszkowski, M., Lewin, S., Lunt, P.H. & Buckley, J. (2025) State of Temperate Rainforest in SW England – mapping and report. University of Plymouth for South West Rainforest Alliance. https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/gees-research/1468/

Swetnam, R.D. (2025) The ‘other rainforest’: restoring Britain’s green gem. Geography, 110, 34–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/00167487.2025.2437949

Ambrose-Oji, B., Pearson, M., Spencer, K., Colley, E., Guy, M., & Watts, K. (2025). Tree planting, natural colonisation, hybrid approaches: Land manager decisions explored. People and Nature, 00, 1–12. https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pan3.70071#

Defra (2023) A plan to recover England's temperate rainforests. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/temperate-rainforest-strategy/a-plan-to-recover-englands-temperate-rainforests.

Martius, L.R., Fielding, D., Brown, P., Milligan, K., Turner, M. & Taylor, A.F.S. (2025) Nucleation in temperate woodland regeneration: dual mycorrhizal Salix facilitate ectomycorrhizal tree establishment. Oikos, 2025, e10974. https://nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/oik.10974

Norman, C., Spencer, J. & Büntgen, U. (2025) Towards an evidence‐based and research‐driven restoration strategy for Britain's temperate rainforests. Plants, People, Planet. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.70113

Risby, J. (2024) The Scottish Government’s strategic approach to restoring and expanding Scotland’s rainforest. Scottish Forestry, Scottish Government, https://www.forestry.gov.scot/sites/default/files/pub-documents/Strategic-approach-to-restoring-and-expanding-scotland%E2%80%99s-rainforest---final-2024.pdf 

Scottish Environment LINK (2023) Saving Scotland’s Rainforest: managing the impact of deer. Scottish Environment Link and Woodland Trust Scotland, https://www.scotlink.org/publication/saving-scotlands-rainforest-managing-the-impact-of-deer/.

Climate change

Arnell, N.W. (2025) Temperate rainforests in the UK and climate change: a pilot study. Research & Evidence Paper No 1. University of Reading research report to the Royal Society of Wildlife Trust. The Wildlife Trusts, Newark. https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/sites/default/files/2025-08/Evidence%20Paper%203%20-%20Arnell%202025%20FINAL.pdf

Ellis, C.J. (2013) A risk-based model of climate change threat: hazard, exposure, and vulnerability in the ecology of lichen epiphytes. Botany, 91, 1–11. https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjb-2012-0171

Ellis, C.J. & Eaton, S. (2016) Future non-analogue climates for Scotland’s temperate rainforest. Scottish Geographical Journal, 132, 257–268.  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14702541.2016.1197964

Ellis, C.J. & Eaton, S. (2021) Microclimates hold the key to spatial forest planning under climate change: Cyanolichens in temperate rainforest. Global Change Biology, 27, 1915–1926. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15514

Kirkpatrick Baird, F., Spray, D., Hall, J. & Stubbs Partridge, J. (2023) Projected increases in extreme drought frequency and duration by 2040 affect specialist habitats and species in Scotland. Ecological Solutions and Evidence, 4, e12256. https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2688-8319.12256

Silver, B., Spracklen, D.V., DellaSala, D.A. & Smith, C. (2024) Large Reductions in Temperate Rainforest Biome Due to Unmitigated Climate Change. Earth's Future, 12, e2024EF004812. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EF004812

Rhododendron

Edwards, C. (2006) Managing and controlling invasive rhododendron. Forestry Commission Practice Guide. Forestry Commission, Edinburgh. https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/publications/managing-and-controlling-invasive-rhododendron/

Forestry Commission Scotland (2017) An approach to prioritising control of rhododendron in Scotland. https://www.forestry.gov.scot/publications/approach-prioritising-control-rhododendron-scotland 

Gray Stephens, G. & Black, B. (2021) Rhododendron in the rainforest: Approaches to a growing problem. Woodland Trust Scotland. https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/media/51702/rhododendron-in-the-rainforest-policypaper.pdf

Long, D. & Williams, J. (2007) Rhododendron pontificum: impact on lower plants and fungi communities on the west coast of Scotland. Plantlife Scotland, Stirling.

Maclean, J.E., Mitchell, R.J., Burslem, D.F., Genney, D., Hall, J. & Pakeman, R.J. (2017) The epiphytic bryophyte community of Atlantic oak woodlands shows clear signs of recovery following the removal of invasive Rhododendron ponticum. Biological Conservation, 212, 96–104. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320717300150

Maclean, J.E., Mitchell, R.J., Burslem, D.F., Genney, D., Hall, J. & Pakeman, R.J. (2018a) Invasion by Rhododendron ponticum depletes the native seed bank with long-term impacts after its removal. Biological invasions, 20, 375–384. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10530-017-1538-6

Maclean, J.E., Mitchell, R.J., Burslem, D.F., Genney, D., Hall, J. & Pakeman, R.J. (2018b) Seed limitation, not soil legacy effects, prevents native understorey from establishing in oak woodlands in Scotland after removal of Rhododendron ponticum. Restoration Ecology, 26, 865–872.  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/rec.12664

Maclean, J.E., Mitchell, R.J., Burslem, D.F.R.P., Genney, D., Hall, J. & Pakeman, R.J. (2018c) Understorey plant community composition reflects invasion history decades after invasive Rhododendron has been removed. Journal of Applied Ecology, 55, 874–884. https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.12973

Maclean, J.E., Genney, D., Hall, J., Mitchell, R.J., Burslem, F.R.P. & Pakeman, R.J. (2019) The effect of clearing invasive Rhododendron ponticum on the native plant community of Atlantic oak woodland. Scottish Natural Heritage Research Report No. 1157. https://www.nature.scot/sites/default/files/2019-09/Publication%202019%20-%20SNH%20Research%20Report%201157%20-%20The%20effect%20of%20clearing%20invasive%20Rhododendron%20ponticum%20on%20the%20native%20plant%20community%20of%20Atlantic%20oak%20woodland.pdf

Parrott, J. & MacKenzie, N. (2013) A critical review of work undertaken to control invasive rhododendron in Scotland: a report comissioned by Forestry Commission Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage. Coille Alba. https://www.forestry.gov.scot/publications/critical-review-work-undertaken-control-invasive-rhododendron-scotland

Willoughby, I.H., Seier, M.K., Stokes, V.J., Thomas, S.E. & Varia, S. (2015) Synthetic herbicides were more effective than a bioherbicide based on Chondrostereum purpureum in reducing resprouting of Rhododendron ponticum, a host of Phytophthora ramorum in the UK. Forestry, 88, 336–344. https://academic.oup.com/forestry/article-abstract/88/3/336/678194?login=false

Lichens and bryophytes

Ellis, C.J. (2016) Oceanic and temperate rainforest climates and their epiphyte indicators in Britain. Ecological Indicators, 70, 125–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.06.002