Forest trees grow in well defined associations. Reasons for this are not fully understood, although site characteristics, especially shade and soil moisture, are clearly very important. Species which thrive under similar conditions tend to occur together. Many individual trees, however, grow in other sites and with species other than their usual association.

The recognition of forest-cover type groups is best regarded as a generality, a way of distinguishing the elements of the forest in order to understand it. Once these groupings are recognized, they can be used to understand the forest's evolution, its relationship to physical characteristics, to floral-faunal elements and to natural and human-induced disturbances.

This Document Includes:

Natural Forest Stand Development
Old Forests
Forest Habitats and Associations

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Additional Keywords:
initiation, stem exclusion, understory initiation, old growth, hardwood, softwood, mixedwood, stand, succession