Old-Growth Forests - Properties Of Old-growth Forests, Species Dependent On Old-growth Forests, Dead Wood
ecosystems threatened trees
Old-growth forests are natural ecosystems dominated by large, old trees, usually of a mixed species composition, and with all ages present in the community. Old-growth forests also contain many scattered, dead trees, both standing and lying on the forest floor. In the tropics, these forests are threatened by conversion to agriculture and by other disturbances, while old-growth forests in the temperate zones are mostly threatened by forestry. Losses of these old-growth ecosystems are the most important of the modern threats to biodiversity because of the extinctions that are caused. The special values of old-growth forests are best preserved through the designation of large, landscape-scale, protected areas.
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Old-growth forests are an end-of-succession, climax ecosystem. They are dominated by trees of great age, but occurring within a mixed-species community with an uneven-aged population structure (that is, all tree ages are represented in the community). The physical structure of old-growth forests is very complex, and includes multiple horizontal layers, gaps of foliage within the canopy, great vari…
Old-growth forests provide a habitat with particular ecological qualities. These features are not present or as well developed in mature forests that are younger than old-growth forests. Some wildlife species require these specific habitat qualities, and therefore need extensive areas of old-growth forest as all or a major part of their range. Some well-known, North American examples of species co…
As was noted previously, important habitat requirements of many species of wildlife relate to the numbers of dead trees in the forest, occurring as standing snags or as logs lying on the ground. These features are especially critical to some birds, which use the deadwood for nesting in excavated or natural cavities, as perches for hunting, resting, and singing, and as a substrate on which to forag…
Because of their great quantities of large-dimension timber of desired tree species, old-growth forests are an extremely valuable natural resource. However, old-growth forests are rarely managed by foresters as a renewable, natural resource. Usually, these forests are mined by harvesting, followed by a conversion of the site to a younger, second-growth forest, which is only allowed to develop into…
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