epping forest ecosystem, UK

• epping forest is located to the east of london and is all that remains of a larger forest that colonised England at the end of the last ice age
• bogs and ponds in the forest have their own unique species, including 20 kinds of dragonfly
• for 1000 years, Epping forest has been managed in a variety of ways: as hunting grounds for royalty, a timber resource and nowadays as recreation
• biodiversity in the forest has remained naturally high, thanks to the careful management, so there is a complex food web composed of thousands of species
• epping forest is home to: a large number of native tree species, including oak, elm, ash and beech
• epping forest is home to a lower shrub layer of holly and hazel at five metres, overlying a field layer of grasses, brambles, moss, lichen, bracken, fern and flowering plants
• epping forest is home to many insect, mammal and bird species including nine amphibian and reptiles and 38 bird species
• at epping forest, studies have found 700 species of fungi
• the forests producers, consumers and decomposers are all interdependent