VOCABULARY - A
Abandon - to leave behind or give up.Abiotic - refers to nonliving things.
Abiotic Factors - nonliving elements that impact the growth, composition, and structure of the forest (e.g., soil, climate, topography).
Acre - unit of land equal to 43,560 square feet or about 1 football field.
Adaptation - a physical or behavioral trait that helps a plant or animal survive in its habitat.
Aerial Photographs - photographs taken from an airplane looking directly down at the ground below.
Aesthetic Value - the worth of a forest in terms of its natural beauty.
All-aged Management - a forest management technique used to maintain a stand with trees of all ages from seedling to mature. Also known as uneven-aged management.
Allelopathy - a survival strategy used by certain plants in which they release chemical inhibitors, causing the suppression of germination and growth of other nearby plants.
Alter - to change the composition or structure of a forest.
Alternate - the way branches can be arranged. One slightly above another and on the opposite side of the stick. Leaves can also be alternate.
Alternate Branching - a branching pattern where branches, leaves, and leaf scars do not grow directly across from each other.
Angiosperm - vascular flowering plant that produces seeds enclosed in an ovary. Includes monocotyledons (grasses and palms) and dicotyledons (herbaceous and woody plants).
Annual - a plant which only survives one growing season.
Apical Meristem - a rapidly dividing mass of cells located on the ends of stems and roots, responsible for plants vertical plant growth.
Arborist - a person who takes care of individual trees by pruning, removing, or treating them.
Artificial Regeneration - directly seeding or planting young trees.
Asexual Reproduction - (the process of reproduction without fertilization) propagation of a plant or other organism from its parts, such as seedling production from leaf, root, or stem tissue.
Aspect - the direction a slope faces (north, south, etc.).