Australia’s forests and forestry glossary

A tree and/or shrub that sheds its leaves seasonally or annually.

See Evergreen.

1. Area of forest under management control of an agency, private organisation or individual.

2. In relation to certification, the area of forest managed under, and complying with, the requirements of a credible and recognised forest management standard that has been certified by an accredited, independent third party.

3. In relation to the Australian Standard for Sustainable Forest Management (AS 4708), the area of forest (including land and water) to which the requirements of the standard are applied and over which a forest manager can demonstrate management control, which allows them to achieve the requirements of that standard.

See Certification, Forest estate.

A type of land clearing involving the permanent removal of forest cover. The Kyoto Protocol and various carbon emission reduction initiatives use specific definitions of deforestation.

See Afforestation, Forest, Reforestation.

1. Loss of specific aspects of a forest ecosystem, such as tree cover, structural features or species, or of habitat characteristics that support the requirements of species or communities, short of being defined as deforestation.

2. Reduction in the capacity of a forest to provide a range of goods and services, including ecosystem services.

3. Any process that lowers the value of the wood in timber and other wood products.

A measure of the diameter of the trunk or bole of a standing tree at a standard height (usually 1.3 metres).

A group or groups of angiosperms that produce seeds with two embryonic leaves (cotyledons).

See Angiosperm, Monocotyledons (monocots).

A symptom of disease agents or environmental factors in which foliage dies progressively from the extremities and trees exhibit loss of vigour. Used in reference to native forests affected by one or more of salinity, drought, pest load (including as a result of abundant Bell Miner birds), disease (such as Phytophthora), or changed nutrient, water or fire regimes; or in reference to trees on land subjected to overgrazing.

See Phytophthora.

The number of jobs in public and private agencies and firms relating directly to the process of producing goods or providing a service. Any secondary economic activity resulting from the primary activity is referred to as indirect employment.

See Indirect employment.

A natural or human-caused event that damages, destroys or removes some or all of the trees or other vegetation from an area of land. Disturbance can include planned and unplanned fire, wind, hail, snow, flood, pests and diseases, and forestry operations such as wood harvesting and thinning. Disturbance can also impact on the structure or physical properties of soil, or expose soil to erosion.

See Dieback, Harvesting, Planned fire, Thinning, Unplanned fire, Windthrow.

Typically, eucalypt-dominated sclerophyll forest associated with water-limited or nutrient-limited conditions, and with an understorey (if present) of sclerophyll trees or shrubs. Ground cover can be bare, litter, grassy or heathy.

See Eucalypt, Sclerophyll, Wet forest/wet sclerophyll forest.