QUOTE : Despite all this, I am not anxious when I think about the future of our forests. For on large continents (and the Eurasian continent is the largest one of all) species have to come to grips with new arrivals all the time. Migrating birds bring small animals, fungal spores, or the seeds of new species of trees tucked in their feathers, or these organisms are blown in by turbulent storms. A five-hundred-year-old tree has surely had a few surprises in its life. And thanks to the great genetic diversity in a single species of tree, there is always a sufficient number of individuals that can rise to a new challenge.