FRM3: FOREST NURSERIES AND PLANTATION DEVELOPMENT

• Silvics


  The study of the life history and general characteristics of forest trees and stands within a locality
• Silvics

  • Concerned with the nature of the forest trees, how they grow, reproduce and respond to changes in their environment
  • The foundation of Silviculture
• Forest

  A plant association, predominantly of trees or other woody vegetations, occupying an extensive area of land with distinct ecological conditions
• For a collection of trees to be considered a forest

  • There must be a sufficient density of trees covering a large area of land
  • There must be a set of local climatic and ecological conditions, distinct from those of the outside
• Distinct parts of a Forest

  • Tree
  • Stand
  • Canopy
  • Understory
  • Ground cover
  • Forest floor
  • Forest litter
• Tree

  A woody plant having one well defined woody stem and crown that does not branch for at least three meters from the ground
• Stand

  An individual group of trees of similar age, composition and general appearance
• Canopy


  The upper layer of green vegetative crowns
• Understory

  Consists of the seedlings which are to replace failing veterans the stand
• Ground cover

  Layer of the forest consisting of the grasses, shrubs and herbs scattered in variable density and species composition. Its importance lies on providing conditions favorable for germination and early establishment or the seedlings
• Forest floor

  The ground under the trees devoid of living vegetation
• Forest litter

  The superficial layer of leaves, twigs and other forest debris deposited in the forest floor
• Major Forest Formations

  • Tropical hardwood
  • Temperate hardwoods
  • Coniferous forest
• Tropical hardwood

  An evergreen broadleaved forest that occurs in areas where temperature does not fall below 5 degrees centigrade anytime during the year, and where the annual rainfall is well distributed with an amount of at least 1,800 to 2,000 mm. Humidity is always high usually 80% or more
• Temperate hardwoods

  Differs from the tropical hardwood forest due to its typically one well defined canopy level, deciduous and with few lianas and epiphytes, this hardwood forest is characteristic of the warmer portion of the temperate zone, having well distributed rainfall in excess of about 600 mm per year
• Coniferous forest

  Typical of the colder parts of the northern hemisphere. In terms of usefulness and advances in forestry technology, the coniferous forest is the most important of all formations
• Forest Classification by Origin

  • High forest
  • Low forest
  • Coppice with standard
• High forest


  A forest that develops from seeds
• Low forest

  A forest that develops from vegetative origin
• Coppice with standard

  A forest that develops from both seeds and vegetative origin
• Forest Classification by Development

  • Virgin forest
  • Second growth forest
• Virgin forest

  A natural aboriginal forest in which no cutting has ever taken place. The name carries with it the connotation of maturity, large size and greater density
• Second growth forest

  A forest of younger stand and of smaller trees which have already been subjected to logging operations
• Forest Classification by Use

  • Protection forest
  • Commercial forest
  • Multiple use forest
• Forest composition refers to the homogeneity or heterogeneity of tree species that make up the forest