forest

—forestal, forestial /feuh res"cheuhl/, adj. —forested, adj. —forestless, adj. —forestlike, adj.

/fawr"ist, for"-/, n.

1. a large tract of land covered with trees and underbrush; woodland.

2. the trees on such a tract: to cut down a forest.

3. a tract of wooded grounds in England formerly belonging to the sovereign and set apart for game.

4. a thick cluster of vertical objects: a forest of church spires.

v.t.

5. to supply or cover with trees; convert into a forest.

[1250-1300; ME < OF < LL forestis (silva) an unenclosed wood (as opposed to a park), deriv. of L foris outside. Cf. FOREIGN]

Syn. 1. FOREST, GROVE, WOOD refer to an area covered with trees. A FOREST is an extensive area, preserving some or all of its primitive wildness and usually having game or wild animals in it: Sherwood Forest; the Black Forest. A GROVE is a group or cluster of trees, usually not very large in area and cleared of underbrush. It is usually tended or cultivated: a shady grove; a grove of pines; an orange grove; a walnut grove. WOODS (or a WOOD) resembles a forest but is a smaller tract of land, less wild in character, and generally closer to civilization: lost in the woods; a wood covering several acres.

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I

Complex ecosystem in which trees are the dominant life-form.

Tree-dominated forests can occur wherever the temperatures rise above 50 °F (10 °C) in the warmest months and the annual precipitation is more than 8 in. (200 mm). They can develop under various conditions within these limits, and the kind of soil, plant, and animal life differs according to the extremes of environmental influences. In cool, high-latitude subpolar regions, taiga (boreal) forests are dominated by hardy conifers. In more temperate high-latitude climates, mixed forests of both conifers and broad-leaved deciduous trees predominate. Broad-leaved deciduous forests develop in midlatitude climates. In humid equatorial climates, tropical rainforests develop. There heavy rainfall supports evergreens that have broad leaves instead of the needle leaves of cooler evergreen forests. Having extensive vertical layering, forests are among the most complex ecosystems. Conifer forests have the simplest structure: a tree layer, a shrub layer that is spotty or even absent, and a ground layer covered with lichens, mosses, and liverworts. Deciduous forests are more complex (the tree canopy is divided into an upper and lower story), and rainforest canopies are divided into at least three layers. Forest animals have highly developed hearing, and many are adapted for vertical movement through the environment. Because food other than ground plants is scarce, many ground-dwelling animals use forests only for shelter. The forest is nature's most efficient ecosystem, with a high rate of photosynthesis affecting both plant and animal systems in complex organic relationships.

II

(as used in expressions)

Forest of Ardennes

boreal forest

Belidor Bernard Forest de

Black Forest

Bohemian Forest

De Forest Lee

national forest

Petrified Forest National Park

Sherwood Forest

Teutoburg Forest

Vierwaldstättersee Lake of the Four Forest Cantons

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▪ county, Pennsylvania, United States

      county, northwestern Pennsylvania, U.S. It consists of a hilly region on the Allegheny Plateau drained by the Allegheny (Allegheny River) and Clarion (Clarion River) rivers and Tionesta, Salmon, and Spring creeks. Forest county contains portions of Allegheny National Forest and Cook Forest State Park.

      The county was formed in 1848, and Tionesta is the county seat. The main industries are manufacturing and services. One of Pennsylvania's seven completely rural counties, Forest is also one of the most sparsely populated. Area 428 square miles (1,109 square km). Pop. (2000) 4,946; (2007 est.) 6,955.

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