My son just asked me whats the difference between a forest and a woods?

Question

we live opposite a woodland area and i couldnt answer him as to what the difference was between a woods and a forest!Is it the type of trees or the size of the area?

Answer 1

According to wikipedia, there IS a difference between woodlands and forest. This is one of the better definitions to show the differences:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodland

"For other uses, see Woodland (disambiguation).
Biologically a woodland is a treed area differentiated from a forest. In these terms, a forest has a largely-closed canopy; the branches and foliage of trees interlock overhead to provide extensive and nearly continuous shade. A woodland, on the other hand, allows sunlight to penetrate between the trees, limiting shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs, herbs, or grasses. Woodlands may transition to savannas or shrublands under drier conditions".

For forest see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest
"A forest is an area with a high density of trees (or, historically, a wooded area set aside for hunting). There are many definitions of a forest, based on various criteria [1]. "

Answer 2

There is a distinct difference between a forest and a woodland - and it is all to do with the density of the tree canopy.

A woodland (found across northern Europe, for instance) has up to 40% canopy cover, which means that quite a lot of light still reaches the ground beneath the canopy. This means that grass, heath or scrub communities are able to develop beneath.

In a forest, however, the trees grow much closer together, creating a canopy cover of anything from 60% to 100%. Very little light is able to reach the forest floor, so that the forest floor does not have much vegetation, and seeds lay dormant waiting for a tree to fall and create a gap in the canopy. A good example of a forest is a rainforest, and while northern Europe has a significant amount of deciduous woodland, it does not have any forest.

Also, in case your son comes with a follow up question - a 'jungle' is a tropical rainforest (there are temperate rainforests, which while technically forests, are not 'jungles')

Answer 3

There's no difference traditionally but today we accept that a wood tends to refer to a smaller area.

Sherwood forest for instance is called a forest, but the name Sherwood means 'Shire Wood' so originally the whole area was called a wood and not a forest. So the english, from where the word comes from, once used wood to refer to very large areas of what we would now call forest.
If you want to confuse your son further, send him to a country like New Zealand where 'the bush' and place names like Murphy's Bush refer to native forests/woodland.

Answer 4

A forest is defined as an area of woodland formerly owned by the crown for the purpose of hunting game. A wood is an area of woodland larger than a grove but smaller than a forest and comes from the middle-English "wode". Basically it comes down to the original ownership of the wooded area and its useage.

Answer 5

The term 'forest' is now seen to represent a very large wooded area but originally in England it just meant wooded area belonging to the 'Crown' and set aside for hunting.

Answer 6

A forest is a vast wooded area, usually dense, with thick underbrush and much native wildlife.

Woods can be fairly dense, but cover a smaller area of land, and are usually closer to civilization.

Answer 7

a forest covers a larger area and has many different species of tree than a wood which covers a smaller area and doesnt have as many species of tree

Answer 8

Differentiate Woodland From Shrubland

Answer 9

Usually accepted as size. A forest is basically a large wood.I don't think the type of trees or whether conifers or deciduous makes any difference.A small wood is a copse or spinney.

Answer 10

Well... sometimes when you see someone really attractive... you know you get the woods sometimes. A forest... well that's just what happens when you don't take care "down there" so yeah... there is a big difference i think.