人类聚居地的古树:分布格局、驱动因素与保护实践.

Large old trees are recognized as keystone ecological entities in human dominated landscapes, often bestowing high socio-cultural and ecological values. Large old trees are in decline globally mainly due to negative anthropogenic factors and climate change. The conservation of large old trees and their socio-cultural and ecological values have attracted the attention of scientists and forestry practitioners. Although there were a certain number of research papers fucusing on large old trees have been published around the world, a comprehensive summary of the research status and viewpoints about large old trees in human settlements is still limited. In this review, we summarized the current research status and viewpoints of large old trees in hunan settlements in the aspects of their socio-cultural and ecological values, distribution patterns and drivers, cultural imperatives of protection and management practices, and the challenges for large old trees preservation. We hope that this review will provide some inspiration for the future studies, and provide valuable references for the sustainable protection of large old trees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]