Trees and Forests Glossary

Abiotic: The non-living components of an environment. (i.e. the sunlight, water, wind and soil).

Adaptation: Modification of an organism so that it adjusts to a new or altered environment

Allowable Cut: The amount of trees which can be taken from the forest annually without significantly altering the balance.

Bark: The visible outer covering of a tree which protects the inside.

Biodiversity: Many different species living in balance with their environment.

Biotic: Living components of an environment.

Cambium: The growing part of the tree where cells form wood.

Canopy: The top branches and leaves of the trees in a forest.

Biotic: Living components of an environment.

Carbon Dioxide: A gas composed of carbon and oxygen, produced during respiration.

Carnivore: A meat eating organism.

Cellular Respiration: The chemical process of releasing energy from sugar and other (aerobic): organic molecules by combining it with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water as wastes.

Chlorophyll: Green substance in the leaves of plants that traps light energy used in photosynthesis.

Clearcutting: A method of harvesting trees where all standing trees are removed from a section of forest at one time.

Cones: The small, woody structure of coniferous trees which produce the seeds.

Conifer: A tree which bears cones and has needles or scale-like leaves.
Examples are pine, spruce, fir or cedars. Often referred to as evergreens or softwoods.

Consumer: An organism which feeds on other organisms in an ecosystem.
Herbivores, carnivores and omnivores are consumers.

Crown: The top of a tree which forms the canopy.

Deciduous: Trees and plants which lose their leaves annually every autumn.

Decomposer: An organism which breaks down material and litter.

Direct Seeding: Putting seeds directly into the forest floor rather than planting seedlings.

Ecosystem: An area of living and non-living components which form an environment.

Evergreen Tree: A tree which does not lose its leaves.

Food Chain: A representation of "who eats who" in an ecosystem (these do not really exist but serve as a simplistic view of a part of a food web).

Food Web: Feeding relationships in an ecosystem, the transfer of energy throughout an ecosystem. It is an inter-related network of food chains.

Forest: A group of trees.

Forest Floor: The area around the base of the trees, usually covered with leaves moss and other plants.

Forest Management: The care and use of forests. Forest management works to protect the forests with a plan to harvest the trees from it over a long period of time.

Forest Products: Products produced from trees.

Forestry: The practice of managing, conserving and creating forests.

Growth Ring: Rings which are present on a cross-section of a tree trunk which represent and determine the age of a tree.

Habitat: A preferred place where an animal or plant lives.

Hardwood: Wood made by broad-leafed, deciduous trees (aspen, birch and poplar).

Harvesting: The removal of trees for a variety of uses.

Heartwood: The non-living wood making up most of a tree stem which gives the stem strength.

Herbivore: A plant eating organism.

Inner Bark: The inner layer which serves to take food from the leaves to parts of the tree.

Interdependence: The state of being dependent upon each other; interconnected.

Lichens: The organism resulting from the relationship between an alga and a fungus.

Log: The stem of the tree after it has been felled.

Logging: The cutting and transporting of trees to the mill to make products.

See how they logged by RAIL in Algonquin Park (Ontario) in the early 1900's

Omnivore: An organism which eats both plants and animals.

Park: Forested area created to provide for both preservation and recreation.

Phloem: The inner bark tissue that transports nutrients down to the roots and back up.

Photosynthesis: The process by which a tree produces its own food (sugar).

Preservation: The policies and outward actions that provide protection for and then maintainenance of a wilderness area - keeping it in its original and natural state

Producer: Any organism which uses energy from the sun to produce its own food.

Pulp: The soft, moist, soupy mass of wood fibres, which paper is made from.

Recreation: Activities which are done for leisure.

Reforestation: The building of a new forest by planting or reseeding.

Regeneration: The process of growing back what has been lost. Forests regenerate after a fire with growth of new seedlings.

Respiration: The process of exchanging gases with the environment.

Sap: The fluid part of a plant rich in sugar and starch which moves up and down the plant in the phloem tissue of the bark.

Sapling: A young tree.

Sapwood: The softer outer layer of the wood in the stem between the cambium and heartwood, responsible for the nutrient transportation.

Seedling: A very young tree.

Seedtree Method: Method of harvesting forests where a few scattered trees are left standing in order to seed new trees.

Selective Harvesting: A method of harvesting where certain trees are selected for cutting. Only these trees are taken.

Shrub: A low growing perennial plant.

Snag: A standing tree which has begun to decay OR a tree which has been felled but has caught itself on the way down.

Stand: A group of trees in a given area.

Stomata: Little holes on the underside of leaves which allow gases to pass.

Strip-cutting: Method of harvesting forest in strip like sections with intentional trees left standing.

Transpiration: The loss of water through the pores (stomata) in the leaves.

Tree: A perennial woody plant having a well-defined stem at least 3 m high.

Xylem: Microscopic tubes running the length of a plant's trunk that conducts water and minerals upward from the roots. Xylem makes up the wood of the stem.

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