Woodland

A woodland (/wʊdlənd/ ^ⓘ) is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs),^[1]^[2] or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the plurale tantum woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see differences between British, American and Australian English explained below). Some savannas may also be woodlands, such as savanna woodland, where trees and shrubs form a light canopy.^[3]

Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of primary or secondary succession. Higher-density areas of trees with a largely closed canopy that provides extensive and nearly continuous shade are often referred to as forests.

Extensive efforts by conservationist groups have been made to preserve woodlands from urbanization and agriculture. For example, the woodlands of Northwest Indiana have been preserved as part of the Indiana Dunes.^[4]^[5]^[6]

Definitions

United Kingdom

Woodland is used in British woodland management to mean tree-covered areas which arose naturally and which are then managed. At the same time, forest is usually used in the British Isles to describe plantations, usually more extensive, or hunting forests, which are a land use with a legal definition and may not be wooded at all.^[7] The term ancient woodland is used in British nature conservation to refer to any wooded land that has existed since 1600, and often (though not always) for thousands of years, since the last Ice Age^[7] (equivalent to the American term old-growth forest)

North America

In ecosystem conservation, the term woodland refers to the plants, animals, and other biota that live in and under scattered trees that are spaced so that they produce more shade than a savanna but less than a forest. In central North America, the most numerous woodland trees are oaks. Woodlands typically require regular fire to maintain their biodiversity. Woodlands were historically among the most widespread ecosystem types but now are restricted to sites that receive regular prescribed burns or persist on very poor or dry soils. Details differ, as seen in definitions and examples given for Illinois,^[8] Wisconsin,^[9] and elsewhere in the Midwest.^[10]

Woodlot is a closely related term in American forest management, which refers to a stand of trees generally used for firewood. While woodlots often technically have closed canopies, they are so small that light penetration from the edge makes them ecologically closer to woodland than forest. North American forests vary widely in their ecology and are greatly dependent on abiotic factors such as climate and elevation. Much of the old-growth deciduous and pine-dominated forests of the eastern United States was harvested for lumber, paper pulp, telephone poles, creosote, pitch, and tar.

Australia

In Australia, a woodland is defined as an area with a sparse (10–30%) cover of trees, and an open woodland has a very sparse (<10%) cover. Woodlands are also subdivided into tall woodlands or low woodlands if their trees are over 30 m (98 ft) or under 10 m (33 ft) high, respectively. This contrasts with forests, which have more than 30% of their area covered by trees.^[11]

Woodland ecoregions

Definitions

United Kingdom

North America

Australia

Woodland ecoregions

Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrub lands

Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

Montane grasslands and shrublands

Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub

Deserts and xeric shrublands

See also

References

External links

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