Australia’s forests and forestry glossary

The non-biological components of the environment (e.g. climate).

All living biomass above the soil, including stump, stem, bark, branches and foliage, and attached material such as dead branches.

See Below-ground living biomass, Biomass.

Australia’s largest genus of flowering plants, commonly referred to as wattles.

As a national native forest type used by the National Forest Inventory, forest dominated by trees of the genus Acacia.

See Acacia, Native forest type.

Increasing levels of acidity that can damage soil and vegetation.

A remote-sensing technology carried on two polar-orbiting satellites each with a multi-spectral scanning radiometer providing imaging information of the Earth’s entire surface at a resolution of 1.1 kilometre. AVHRR data provide information on vegetation cover and vegetation change (e.g. after fire).

Establishment of forest on land not previously forested. The Kyoto Protocol and various carbon emission reduction initiatives use specific definitions of afforestation.

See Deforestation, Reforestation.

A group of trees of a similar age, such as a cohort of native forest trees regenerating after a disturbance event, or stands of plantation forest established in a given time-period.

A native forest silvicultural system in which clumps or clusters of trees (aggregates) are retained when forest stands are harvested for wood. A form of variable retention.

See Harvesting, Silvicultural system, Variable retention.

1. Establishment or management of trees or forest stands on private agricultural land, generally for commercial benefit including wood production but also for farm management, environmental or aesthetic reasons.

2. A land-use system that integrates trees with agricultural crops or animals in the same land management unit.

Sometimes refers specifically to planted trees, and sometimes includes areas of native forest.

Also known as farm forestry.

See Environmental planting, Other forest, Plantation.

A genus of trees closely related to the genus Casuarina, both of which are commonly referred to as she-oaks.

See Casuarina, Casuarina forest.

The average quantity of wood, usually prescribed in a legislative instrument or an approved management plan, permitted to be harvested from a forest management planning unit or region, annually or periodically, under management for sustained yield.

See Sustainable yield, Sustained yield.

A flowering plant, in which the seeds are enclosed within an ovary. Angiosperms are traditionally divided into two classes, monocotyledons and dicotyledons.

See Dicotyledons (dicots), Monocotyledons (monocots).

Growth habit of a shoot whereby growth and development of lateral buds are suppressed.

See Multi-leaders (of trees).

A collection of trees planted and grown at a single site, at least partly for long-term observation and scientific study. Plural: arboreta.

Logs produced (arising) as a result of the harvest of logs of other species or of other grades, but that do not meet the size or quality specifications for those other species or grades.

See Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR).