| | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
-A-
Access - Means of gaining entry to a tract of timber.
Aerobic
1. Having molecular oxygen as a part of the environment.
2. Growing only in the presence of molecular oxygen, such as aerobic organisms.
3. Occurring only in the presence of molecular oxygen, as applied to certain chemical or biochemical processes such as aerobic decomposition.
Afforestation - The establishment of a tree crop on an area from which it has always or for very long been absent. Where such establishment fails and is repeated, the latter may properly be termed "reafforestation."
Age - Age of the trees comprising a forest, crop, or stand. In forests, the mean age of dominant (and sometimes co-dominant) trees is taken. The plantation age is generally taken from the year the plantation was begun, without adding the age of the nursery stock.
-of a tree.The time elapsed since the germination of the seed or the budding of the sprout or cutting from which the tree developed.
Age class - A distinct group of tress or portion of growing stock recognized on the basis of age.
Anaerobic - Having no molecular oxygen in the environment. Growing in the absence of molecular oxygen, such as anaerobic bacteria. Occurring in the absence of molecular oxygen, as in a biochemical process.
Annual growth - Average annual increase in the biomass of growing-stock trees of a specified area.
Artificial regeneration - Establishing a new forest by planting seedlings or by direct seeding (as opposed to natural regeneration).
Available nutrients - The amount of soil nutrient in chemical forms accessible to plant roots or compounds likely to be convertible to such forms during the growing season.
Available water - The portion of water held in a soil that can be readily absorbed by plant roots, corresponding to a pressure of approximately 15 bars. See also field capacity moisture tension, soil.
-B-
Biodiversity (biological diversity) - Refers to the variety of life on three different levels: the variety of ecosystems (ecosystem diversity), the variety of species (species diversity) and the variety within species (genetic diversity).
Boreal forest - One of three main forest zones in the world; it is located in northern regions and is characterized by the predominance of conifer trees.
Browse - Buds, shoots, and leaves of woody plants that can be eaten by livestock or wild animals.
Brush - Growth of small trees and shrubs
Buffer - A protected strip of vegetated land beside roads, watercourses, mineral licks or other important features.
-C-
Canopy - The more-or-less continuous cover of branches and foliage formed by the crown of adjacent trees.
Clay - As a particle-size term: a size fraction less than 0.002 mm in equivalent diameter.
Clay (textural class) - Soil material that contains 40% or more clay, less than 45% sand, and less than 40% silt.
Clay loam - Soil material that contains 27 to 40% clay and 20 to 45% sand.
Clearcutting - A forest management method that involves the complete felling and removal of a stand of trees. Clearcutting may be done in blocks, strips or patches.
Climate - The average weather conditions experienced at a particular place over a long period, usually more than 70 years.
Clone - A group of plants reproduced from a common ancestor and is genetically identical.
Commercial forest - Forestland that is able to grow commercial timber within an acceptable time frame. Forest areas where resource use is the prime focus for management.
Coniferous - Refers to a forest stand or category of trees or bush that is popularly called "evergreen." The wood of conifers is commercially known as "softwood."
Conservation - The sustainable use of forest resources in a manner that does not degrade the collective resource values of a region over the long term.
Coarse sand - 25% or more very coarse and coarse sand, and less than 50% any other one grade of sand.
Coarse sandy loam - 25% or more very coarse and coarse sand and less than 50% any other one grade of sand.
Coarse texture - The texture exhibited by sands, loamy sands, and sandy loams except very fine sandy loam. A soil containing large quantities of these textural classes.
Cover type - This term is used to describe the general tree species composition of the forest stand to which it is applied.
Crown class - The relative position of the tree or shrub crown with respect to the competing vegetation surrounding the tree or shrub. The crown class for each tree or shrub is judged in the context of its immediate environment, that is, those trees or shrubs that are competing for sunlight with the subject tree. Crown class is essentially a classification of competition for light and is aimed at separating trees that are growing freely from those that are not. It designates trees or shrubs with crowns of similar development and occupying similar positions in the crown canopy. Five crown classes are commonly recognized: dominant, co-dominant, intermediate, overtopped (suppressed) and open grown trees.
Dominant trees - Trees or shrubs with crowns receiving full light from above and partly from the side; usually larger than the average trees or shrubs in the stand, with crowns that extend above the general level of the canopy and that are well developed but possibly somewhat crowded on the sides. A dominant tree is one that generally stands head and shoulders above all other trees in its vicinity.
Co-dominant trees - Trees with crowns forming the general level of the main canopy in even-aged groups of trees and receiving full light from above and partial light from the sides.
Intermediate trees - Tree with crowns extending into the lower portion of the main canopy of even-aged groups of trees, but shorter in height then the co-dominants; receiving little direct light from above and none from the sides, usually with small crowns that are crowded on the sides.
Suppressed trees - Trees with crowns entirely below the general level of the canopy of even-aged groups of trees, receiving no direct light either from above or from sides.
Open grown trees - Trees with crowns receiving full light from all sides due to the openness of the canopy.
Crown closure - The percentage of the ground covered by shade from the natural spread of the foliage of plants. This is usually expressed as percentage.
Crown land - Public land that is managed by the federal or provincial/territorial government.
Cropland - Agricultural land cultivated for the production of crops. It may also include fallow land, feedlots, orchards, vineyards and nurseries.
Cutblock - A specified area of merchantable timber with defined boundaries designated for harvest.
-D-
Defoliation - The loss of leaves or needles on a plant or tree.
Defoliator - An insect or other agent that consumes foliage.
Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) - The stem diameter of a tree measured at breast height above ground level, or 1.3 m.
-E-
Early forest succession - The biotic (or life) community that develops immediately following the removal or destruction of vegetation in an area. For instance, grasses may be the first plants to grow in an area that was burned.
Ecodistrict - A part of an ecoregion characterized by distinctive geologic, soil, water, fauna and land use.
Ecology - The science that deals with the interaction of plants, animals, and their environment.
Ecological land classification - A process of delineating and classifying ecologically distinctive areas based on geologic, landform, soil, vegetative, climatic, wildlife, water and human factors. This holistic approach to land classification can be applied incrementally, from site-specific ecosystems to very broad ecosystems. This system provides for seven levels of generalization: ecozones, ecoprovinces, ecoregions, ecodistricts, ecosections, ecosites and ecoelements.
Ecoregion - A part of a province characterized by distinctive regional ecological factors, including climate, physical geography, vegetation, soil, water, fauna and land use.
Ecosite - Ecological units that develop under similar environmental influences (climate, moisture, and nutrient regime).
Ecosite phase - A subdivision of the ecosite based on the dominant tree species in the canopy.
Ecosystem - A dynamic system of plants, animals and other organisms, together with the non-living components of the environment, functioning as an interdependent unit.
Ecosystem management - An ecological approach to natural resource management to assure productive, healthy ecosystems by blending social, economic, physical, and biological needs and values.
Ecozone - An area of the Earth's surface that is representative of a broad-scale ecological unit characterized by particular abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) factors.
Edge - The boundary between open land and woodland or two other ecological areas.
Edge effect - Where two habitats adjoin, there is more species diversity than in either one alone. Used most often to describe ecological effects caused by the environment of the forest edge where forest meets open land.
Endangered species - Species that are threatened with imminent extinction; includes species whose numbers or habitats have been reduced to critical levels.
Erosion - The wearing away of the land surface by running water, wind, ice, or other geological agents, including such processes as gravitational creep. Erosion can also involve the detachment and movement of soil or rock by water, wind, ice, or gravity.
Even-aged forest - A forest stand or type in which relatively small age differences (10-20 years) exist between individual trees.
Extirpated species / extirpation - Refers to the local extinction of a species that is no longer found in a locality or country, but exists elsewhere in the world.
-F-
Forbs - Broad-leaved, non-woody plants that die back to ground level after each growing season (perennial). Ferns and fern allies are considered forbs.
Forest management plan (FMP) - A plan prepared for a forest management unit that describes how the timber or other resources will be managed.
Forest soil - A soil developed under forest vegetation.
Forest type - A group of forest areas or stands whose similar composition (i.e., species, age, height and density) differentiates it from other such groups.
Fragmentation - The splitting or isolating of patches of similar habitat, typically forest or prairie plant communities, but including other types of habitat. Habitat can be fragmented naturally or from land management activities, such as clearcut logging or cultivation.
-G-
Geographic information system (GIS) - An organized collection of computer hardware, software, geographic data, and personal designed to efficiently capture, store, update, manipulate, analyze, and display all forms of geographically referenced information.
A computer system capable of holding and using data describing places on the earth’s surface.
Grassland - Ground covered by vegetation that is dominated by grasses. Grassland constitutes a major world vegetation type and occurs where there is sufficient moisture for grass growth, but where the environmental conditions prevent tree growth. The extensive mid-latitude grassland is known as steppe or prairie, whereas the corresponding tropical vegetation is called savannah.
Ground cover - A ground cover is any low-growing plant that shades an area in the landscape.
-H-
Habitat - The area that provides an organism with adequate food, water, shelter, and living space, and/or the conditions of that environment including the soil, vegetation, water, and food.
Hardwood(s) - Trees that lose their leaves in autumn, also refers to the wood produced by these trees. Hardwoods belong to the botanical group angiospermae and are the dominant type of tree in deciduous forests.
Humus - The fraction of the soil organic matter that remains after most of the added plant and animal residues have decomposed. It is usually dark colored. Humus is also used in a broader sense to designate the humus forms referred to as forest humus. They principally include mor, moder, and mull type humus forms. (Also see organic matter, soil, mor, moder, mull, and horizon, soil). All the dead organic material on and in the soil that undergoes continuous breakdown, change, and synthesis.
-I-
Inventory (forest) - A survey of a forest area to collect data about the area. It usually includes specific data about the resources of the area (timber, wildlife, water, etc,) the types, condition and distribution of ecosystem types on the landbase, specific species, etc. for a specific purpose, such as planning, purchasing, evaluating, managing or harvesting.
-L-
Landscape - A large land area composed of interacting ecosystems that are repeated due to factors such as geology, soils, climate, and human impacts. Landscapes are often used for coarse grain analysis.
L-F-H layers - Organic layers developed primarily from leaves, twigs, and woody materials, with a minor component of mosses.
L: The original structures of the organic material are easily recognized.
F: The accumulated organic material is partly decomposed.
H: The original structures of the organic material are unrecognizable
-M-
Mean annual increment - Total incremental growth up to a given age divided by that age. Average growth per year.
Management plan - A detailed long-term plan for managing a landbase area. It usually includes data about the landbase and prescribes management activities designed to provide an optimum sustainable supply of resources according to the landowner’s/steward’s goals.
Mature/overmature stands - Stands that have reached rotation age or have a reduced growth rate due to advanced age. Such stands normally have large mature or overmature trees, an abundance of large live trees with heart rot, numerous snags, stubs and high stumps and an abundance of large downed woody debris.
Microsite - The specific spot occupied by an individual organism. Also, the more or less specialized relationships existing between an organism and its environment
Microclimate - The climate of a small area resulting from the modification of the general climate by local differences in elevation or exposure. The sequence of atmospheric changes within a very small region.
Mitigation - A process of minimizing or compensating for damages to natural habitats. To decrease the degree of damage to an ecosystem. They may include restoration, enhancement, or creation. According to the Clean Water Act, mitigation is a sequential process that includes avoiding impacts, then minimizing impacts, and lastly, compensating for impacts.
Mixedwood stands - Stands containing both deciduous and coniferous species.
Moisture regime - Represents the available moisture supply for plant growth on a relative scale. It is assessed through an integration of species composition and soil and site characteristics. Moisture regime ranges from very xeric to hydric.
-N-
Natural regeneration - Renewal of a tree crop by natural seeding, sprouting, suckering or layering.
Nutrient - Elements or compounds essential as raw materials for organism growth and development.
-O-
Old growth - A forest of mature or overmature timber that is beyond its peak growing period.
Open grown - Trees with crowns receiving full light from all sides due to the openness of the canopy
Organic - An order of soils that have developed dominantly from organic deposits. The majority of organic soils are saturated for most of the year, unless artificially drained, but some of them are not usually saturated for more than a few days. They contain 17% or more organic carbon.
Overmature -Trees or stands past the mature stage, where growth rates or value are declining.
-P-
Pest - An organism capable of causing material damage. Forest pests include insects, tree diseases and noxious fungi.
Pioneer - A plant capable of invading newly exposed surface soil and persisting there until supplanted by successor species. A species that can serve as a nurse crop because it will tolerate planting on a bare site where it can prepare the site for successor species
Protected area - An area protected by legislation, regulation or land-use policy to control the level of human occupancy or activities. Categories of protected areas include protected landscapes, national parks, multiple-use management areas, and nature (wildlife) reserves.
Pulp - Wood chips that have been ground mechanically into fibres and are used for the production of inexpensive paper, such as newsprint, or that have been chemically treated to remove the lignin and are used to manufacture higher quality papers.
-R-
Reforestation - The reestablishment of trees on denuded forestland by natural or artificial means, such as planting and seeding.
Regeneration - The continuous renewal of forests. Natural regeneration occurs gradually with seeds from adjacent stands or with seeds brought in by wind, birds or animals. Artificial regeneration involves direct seeding or planting.
Release - Freeing a tree or group of trees from more immediate competition by cutting or otherwise eliminating growth that is overtopping or closely surrounding them.
Relief - Elevations or inequalities of a land surface, considered collectively. Land having no unevenness or differences of elevation is called level, gentle relief is called undulating, strong relief, rolling, and very strong relief, hilly.
Riparian area - An area of streamside vegetation including the stream bank and adjoining floodplain, which is distinguishable from upland areas in terms of vegetation, soils, and topography.
Rotation - Period of years between establishment of a stand of timber and the time when it is considered ready for final harvest and regeneration. Planned number of years between the regeneration of a timber stand and its final cutting.
Runoff - The portion of the total precipitation on an area that flows away through stream channels. Surface runoff does not enter the soil. Groundwater runoff or seepage flow from groundwater enters the soil before reaching the stream.
-S-
Selection cutting - Annual or periodic cutting of trees in a stand in which the trees vary markedly in age. The objective is to recover the yield and maintain an uneven-aged stand structure, while creating the conditions necessary for tree growth and seedling establishment.
Seeding - The sowing of seeds over an area on which a forest stand is to be raised
Seedling - A small tree grown from seed. Usually the term is restricted to trees less then 2 cm dbh.
Selection harvest - An uneven-aged silvicultural system in which selected trees are harvested individually or in small groups at periodic intervals throughout a rotation; the objective is to improve the timber condition, composition, structure and value.
Selective cutting - A harvest practice in which only trees of a certain species with a specified diameter and/or value are harvested.
Seral stage - The series of changes occurring in the ecological succession of plants. (e.g. - pioneer stage, or climax stage).
Shelterwood systems - A method of harvesting that involves two cuts: the first cut leaves trees at intervals to provide the canopy and species required for natural regeneration; the second cut harvests the resulting new crop of trees (which are fairly even-aged).
Silviculture - The theory and practice of controlling the establishment, composition, growth and quality of forest stands. Can include basic silviculture (e.g., planting and seeding) and intensive silviculture (e.g., site rehabilitation, spacing and fertilization).
Silvicultural systems - Systems that follow accepted silvicultural principles, whereby the tree crops are tended, harvested and replaced to produce a crop of a desired form. This includes even-aged (i.e., clearcutting, shelterwood or seed tree cutting) or uneven-aged (i.e., selection cutting) systems.
Site - A land area based on its climatic, physical, biological and other factors that determine its suitability and productivity for particular species and silvicultural alternatives.
Site class - Classification based on ecological factors and the potential production capacity of an area; a measure of the relative production capacity of a site.
Site index - Measure of forest productivity generally expressed as the height in meters of dominant and co-dominant tree species at a specific index age such as 25,50, or 100 years. Site indexes are normally grouped by site classes.
Site preparation - A mechanical, fire, chemical, or hand treatment that modifies the site to provide favourable conditions for artificial regeneration.
Slash - The residue left on the ground after timber cutting or left after a storm, fire, or other disturbance event. Slash includes unused logs, uprooted stumps, broken or uprooted stems, branches, bark, etc.
Snag tree - A dead standing tree at least 6m in height that may provide roosting or cavity nesting/denning opportunities for wildlife.
Soil - The naturally occurring unconsolidated material on the surface of the earth that has been influenced by parent material, climate (including the effects of moisture and temperature), macro and micro-organisms, and relief, all acting over a period of time to produce soil that may differ from the material from which it was derived in many physical, chemical, mineralogical, biological, and morphological properties.
Soil class - A group of soils having a definite range in a particular property such as acidity, degree of slope, texture, structure, land-use capability, degree of erosion, or drainage.
Soil classification - The systematic arrangement of soils into groups or categories on the basis of their characteristics. Broad groupings are made on the basis of general characteristics and subdivisions on the basis of more detailed differences in specific properties.
Soil horizon - A layer of soil or soil material approximately parallel to the land surface; it differs from adjacent genetically related layers in properties such as color, structure, texture, consistence, and chemical, biological, and mineralogical composition.
Soil order - A category in the Canadian system of soil classification. All the soils of Canada have been divided into nine orders: Chernozemic, Cryosolic, Solonetzic, Luvisolic, Podzolic, Brunisolic, Regosolic, Gleysolic, and Organic. All the soils within an order have one or more characteristics in common.
Soil productivity - The capacity of a soil, in its normal environment, to produce a specified plant or sequence of plants under a specified system of management. The "specified" limitations are needed because no soil can produce all crops with equal success and a single system of management cannot produce the same effect on all soils. Productivity means the capacity of soil to produce crops and is expressed in terms of yields.
Soil texture - The relative proportions of various sized soil particles separated from soil.
Softwood(s) - Cone-bearing trees with needles or scale-like leaves; also refers to the wood produced by these trees. Softwoods belong to the botanical group gymnospermae and are the predominant tree type in coniferous forests.
Stand - A community of trees sufficiently uniform in species, age, arrangement or condition so as to be distinguishable as a group in the forest or other growth in the area.
Stand density - A quantitative measurement of a forest stand often expressed as number of stems, volume or basal area per unit area.
Succession - The replacement of one plant community by another in progressive development toward climax vegetation.
Sucker - A sprout from the lower portion of a stem, especially from the root.
-T-
Thinning - A partial cutting or spacing operation made in an immature forest stand to accelerate the growth of the remaining trees.
Threatened species - A species that is likely to become endangered if certain pressures are not reversed.
Timber operations - Includes all activities related to timber harvesting including site assessments, planning, road construction, harvesting, reclamation and reforestation.
Timber stand improvement - Intermediate thinning of a forest stand, prior to its reaching mature rotation age, generally for the purpose of improving growing conditions or controlling stand composition.
-U-
Understory - The trees and other vegetative species growing under the canopies of larger adjacent trees and other woody growth.
Uneven-aged - The term uneven-aged is used to describe stand of trees in which ages of the trees generally differ by more than 20 years. These forest stands are made up of tree species which have evolved a regeneration pattern which is tolerant of lower light conditions and competition from other species.
-V-
Volume table - A table showing gross volume of trees, based on given tree measurements.
Vulnerable species - A species that is considered at risk because it exists in low numbers or in restricted ranges, due to loss of habitat or other factors.
-W-
Watershed - An area of land that is drained by underground or surface streams into another stream or waterway.
Water table - The upper surface of groundwater or that level in the ground where the water is at atmospheric pressure.
Weeding - A release treatment in stands during the seedling stage that eliminates or suppresses undesirable vegetation regardless of crown position.
Wetlands - Those areas that are inundated by surface or ground water with a frequency sufficient to support, and under normal circumstances do or would support, a prevalence of vegetation or aquatic life that requires saturated soil conditions for growth and reproduction. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas such as sloughs, potholes, wet meadows, river overflows, mud flats, and natural ponds.
Wildlife habitat diversity - The distribution and abundance of different plant and animal communities and species within a specific area.
-X-
Xeric moisture regime - A xeric habitat is characterized by soils that are well to rapidly drained and low or deficient in moisture that is available for the support of plant life. |
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