Australia’s forests and forestry glossary

Organism without a backbone, and of sufficient size to be seen without the aid of a microscope; examples are insects, shellfish and crustaceans.

See Mean annual increment (MAI).

1. A woody plant, usually a eucalypt, that is multi-stemmed from ground level.

2. A forest structural type dominated by mallee species.

See Eucalypt.

A pooled investment scheme that satisfies the definition of ‘managed investment scheme’ in Section 9 of the Commonwealth Corporations Act 2001 and fulfils associated regulatory requirements; describes a wide range of investments in financial products, real estate, agriculture and plantation forestry.

Losses of carbon directly from forests to the atmosphere that are associated with the management of forests, for example prescribed burns or post-harvest burns.

Component of the CAR reserve system on public production forests, in which protection of values is prescribed through management prescriptions in codes of practice or management plans. Examples include values that are not mappable in advance of their detection, and/or where inclusion in dedicated or informal reserves is impractical, such as riparian vegetation or rare, dispersed or fragmented values.

See CAR reserve system, Code of forest practice, Forest management plan, Formal reserve, Informal reserve.

A measure of how well an area, such as protected area or system of protected areas, is being managed in terms of protecting values and achieving goals and objectives, based on an audit process or evaluation.

1. A tree or shrub that normally grows above mean sea level in the intertidal zone of coastal environments and estuarine margins.

2. The intertidal habitat comprising a forested wetland of mangrove trees and shrubs.

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

See Mangrove, Native forest type. 

The practice of placing small (less than 5 centimetres in diameter) woody material on extraction tracks before wood harvesting, to protect soil against heavy vehicle traffic and to minimise soil erosion.

See Cording.

1. A native forest growth stage in which trees are at maximum height with crowns at full lateral development.

2. A native forest growth stage, generally taken as 80 or more years since disturbance. One of four growth stages used at the national level to describe the age of trees and stands of trees.

See Disturbance, Growth stage, Regeneration, Regrowth, Senescent.

The average growth per year of a tree (or stand of trees) to a specified age. Commonly expressed as cubic metres per hectare per year, and can be restricted to sawlog volume only.

See Fibreboard.

A genus of shrubs and trees, most of which are endemic to Australia, and commonly referred to as tea-trees or paperbarks.

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

See Melaleuca, Native forest type.

With respect to a tree or tree species, suitability for production of commercial wood products. An emphasis is placed on commercial production of sawlogs or high-value equivalents.

See Commerciality.

A tree species with known commercial uses for wood products, based on standards, technology or market conditions.

See Non-merchantable tree species.

A remote-sensing technology carried on two polar-orbiting satellites, capturing data covering the visual and infrared spectrum and imaging the entire surface of the Earth. MODIS data provide information on vegetation cover and vegetation change (e.g. after fire).

See Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).

The periodic and systematic measurement and assessment of a value, attribute or indicator.

A group of angiosperms that produce seeds with one embryonic leaf (cotyledon).

See Angiosperm, Dicotyledons (dicots).

The cultivation or growing of a single crop plant species on an area of agricultural or forest land. Most plantations are monocultures.

Ecosystems associated with mountain landscapes, alpine environments or higher elevations.

An initiative of the 12 countries, including Australia, that are members of the Montreal Process Working Group on Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests. Comprises development and implementation of a comprehensive set of criteria and indicators for the conservation and sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests.

See Criterion, Indicator, Sustainable Forest Management (SFM).

Vegetation composed of patches of different types, arising from differences in soil or landform or disturbance history (such as through fire or wood harvesting).

A condition in trees where the apical dominance of the shoot at the top of the plant is lost, allowing lateral buds to grow into two or more stems or leaders.

See Apical dominance.

With respect to mapping forests, compilation of data from a range of different sources, followed by assessment and validation to arrive at a best-possible dataset for the attribute being mapped.

Publicly owned state forest, timber reserves and other land on which a range of forest values are managed by state and territory government agencies in accordance with relevant Acts and regulations. The forest values can include provision of wood for harvest, supply of water, conservation of biodiversity, recreation, and environmental protection.

One of six land tenure classes used to classify land in the National Forest Inventory.

See Land tenure, National Forest Inventory.

A disease caused by a strain of guava or eucalypt rust (Austropuccinia psidii) that damages or kills species in the Myrtaceae family of plants.