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Canopy (forest)

 
Canopy (forest)

 
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Canopy (forest)
 
 
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Canopy refers to the aboveground portion of a plant community or crop
Crop

Crop may refer to:* Crop, a plant grown and harvested for agricultural use* Crop , a plant cultivated and harvested on an annual basis considered as personal property as opposed to real property....
, formed by plant crowns
Crown (botany)

The crown of a plant refers to the totality of the plant's aboveground parts, including Plant stem, leaves, and Plant morphology. The crown of woody plants is the branches, twigs and leaves extending from the trunk or main stems....
.

Canopy is also the term for the upper layer or zone of a forest
Forest

File:Stara planina suma.jpgA forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on various criteria....
, formed by tree crowns
Crown (botany)

The crown of a plant refers to the totality of the plant's aboveground parts, including Plant stem, leaves, and Plant morphology. The crown of woody plants is the branches, twigs and leaves extending from the trunk or main stems....
 and including other biological organisms (epiphytes, lianas, arboreal animals
Arboreal

Arboreal is a word meaning "related to or resembling trees". Its meaning comes from the Latin arbor, meaning tree.In biology, an arboreal animal is one which inhabits or spends large amounts of time in trees or Shrubes....
, etc.). Canopy trees are the trees that form the canopy layer.






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Canopy
Canopy refers to the aboveground portion of a plant community or crop
Crop

Crop may refer to:* Crop, a plant grown and harvested for agricultural use* Crop , a plant cultivated and harvested on an annual basis considered as personal property as opposed to real property....
, formed by plant crowns
Crown (botany)

The crown of a plant refers to the totality of the plant's aboveground parts, including Plant stem, leaves, and Plant morphology. The crown of woody plants is the branches, twigs and leaves extending from the trunk or main stems....
.

Canopy is also the term for the upper layer or zone of a forest
Forest

File:Stara planina suma.jpgA forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on various criteria....
, formed by tree crowns
Crown (botany)

The crown of a plant refers to the totality of the plant's aboveground parts, including Plant stem, leaves, and Plant morphology. The crown of woody plants is the branches, twigs and leaves extending from the trunk or main stems....
 and including other biological organisms (epiphytes, lianas, arboreal animals
Arboreal

Arboreal is a word meaning "related to or resembling trees". Its meaning comes from the Latin arbor, meaning tree.In biology, an arboreal animal is one which inhabits or spends large amounts of time in trees or Shrubes....
, etc.). Canopy trees are the trees that form the canopy layer. The uneven layer of the canopy is formed by both dominant and co-dominant trees. Trees in the canopy are able to photosynthesize
Photosynthesis

File:Seawifs global biosphere.jpgPhotosynthesis is a metabolic pathway that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight....
 relatively rapidly due to abundant light, so it supports the majority of primary productivity in forests. The canopy provides protection from strong winds and storms, while also intercepting sunlight and precipitation, leading to a relatively sparsely vegetated understory
Understory

Understory is the term for the area of a forest which grows in the shade of the emergent or Canopy . Plants in the understory consist of a mixture of seedlings and saplings of canopy trees together with understory shrubs and herbs....
 layer.

Forest canopies are home to unique flora and fauna not found in other layers of forests. The highest terrestrial biodiversity
Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth. Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems....
 resides in the canopy of tropical rainforests. Many rainforest animals have evolved to live solely in the canopy, and never touch the ground.

Leaf Area Index
Leaf Area Index

Leaf Area Index or LAI is the ratio of total upper leaf surface of vegetation divided by the surface area of the land on which the vegetation grows....
 can be used to measure the density of the canopy.

The term canopy has also been adopted by the permaculture
Permaculture

Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and perennial agriculture systems that mimic the relationships found in the natural Ecology....
 and forest gardening
Forest gardening

Forest gardening is a food production and land management system based on replicating woodland ecosystems, but substituting trees , bushes, shrubs, herbs and vegetables which have ecological yield directly useful to humans....
 community, who distinguish between canopy and secondary trees in their seven layer design system.

Sometimes the term canopy is used to refer to the extent of the outer layer of leaves of an individual tree
TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
. Shade trees
Shade tree

A shade tree is any tree grown specifically for its shade. This term usually applies to large trees with spreading canopy . Shade trees are effective in reducing the energy used in cooling homes....
 normally have a dense canopy blocking out the light from lower growing plants.

Tropical rainforest canopies


The canopy of a rainforest
Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750?2000 mm . The monsoon trough, alternately known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating Earth's tropical rain forests....
 is typically about 10m thick, and intercepts around 95% of sunlight. The canopy is below the emergent layer
Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750?2000 mm . The monsoon trough, alternately known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating Earth's tropical rain forests....
, a sparse layer of very tall trees, typically one or two per hectare
Hectare

A hectare is a unit of area equal to , or one square hectometre , and commonly used for surveying.The hectare is used in most countries around the world, especially in domains concerned with land ownership, land planning, and land management, including law , agriculture, forestry, and town planning....
. With an abundance of water and a near ideal temperature in rainforests, light and nutrients are two factors that limit tree growth from the understory to the canopy.

See also

  • Canopy gap
    Gap (ecology)

    In ecology, a gap or canopy gap is an opening in the forest canopy structure devoid of large trees. Gaps are formed after large trees die and fall and allows the regrowth trees and other plants as the shade is removed....
  • Canopy research
    Canopy research

    Canopy research is the field of scientific research based upon data collected in the canopy of trees....
  • Canopy walkway
    Canopy walkway

    Canopy walkways are bridges between and in the canopy of a forest; mostly linked up with platforms inside or around the trees. They were originally intended as access to the upper regions of ancient forests for scientist who conduct canopy research....
  • Hemispherical photography
    Hemispherical photography

    Hemispherical photography, also known as fisheye lens or forest canopy photography, is a technique to estimate solar radiation and characterize plant canopy geometry using photographs taken looking upward through an extreme wide-angle lens ....
  • Leaf area index
    Leaf Area Index

    Leaf Area Index or LAI is the ratio of total upper leaf surface of vegetation divided by the surface area of the land on which the vegetation grows....
  • Rainforest
    Rainforest

    Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750?2000 mm . The monsoon trough, alternately known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating Earth's tropical rain forests....
  • Understory
    Understory

    Understory is the term for the area of a forest which grows in the shade of the emergent or Canopy . Plants in the understory consist of a mixture of seedlings and saplings of canopy trees together with understory shrubs and herbs....


External links



Further reading


Lowman, M.D., and H.B. Rinker (editors). 2004. Forest Canopies (Second edition). Academic Press. ISBN 0124575536, ISBN 9780124575530

Moffett, M. W. 1994. The High Frontier: Exploring the Tropical Rainforest Canopy. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Russell, G., B. Marshall, and P.G. Jarvis (editors). 1990. Plant Canopies: Their Growth, Form and Function. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521395631, ISBN 9780521395632