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. (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,
Wisconsin, and elsewhere in the
Midwest.
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 or under high, respectively. This contrasts with forests, which have more than 30% of their area covered by trees. ==Woodland ecoregions==