Forest ecology is the scientific study of patterns and processes in forests. It is one branch of a biotically-oriented classification of types of ecological study (as opposed to a classification based on organizational level or complexity (e.g population or community ecology)). Thus, forests can be, and are, studied at any number of organizational levels, from the individual organism to the ecosystem. However, as the term forest connotes an area inhabited by more than one organism, forest ecology most often concentrates on the level of the population, community or ecosystem. Logically, trees are an important component of forest research, but the wide variety of other life forms and abiotic components in most forests means that other elements, such as wildlife or soil nutrients, are often the focal point. Thus, forest ecology is a highly diverse and important branch of ecological study. This article is about forests as a massing of trees. ... Classification may refer to: Taxonomic classification Statistical classification Hint: Language use may refer to a taxonomic classification that is used for statistical purposes also as a statistical classification (like International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems). ... Community ecology is the study of the distribution, abundance, demography, and interactions between populations coexisting species. ... A dense growth of softwoods (a forest) in the Sierra Nevada Range of Northern California A forest is an area with a high density of trees (or, historically, an area set aside for hunting). ... In ecology, an ecosystem is a naturally occurring assemblage of organisms (plant, animal and other living organisms—also referred to as a biotic community or biocoenosis) living together with their environment (or biotope), functioning as a unit of sorts. ...

Forest ecology studies share characteristics and methodological approaches with other areas of terrestrial plant ecology. However, the presence of trees makes forest ecosystems and their study unique in at least three ways. First, since trees grow to much larger sizes than other plant life-forms, there is the potential for a wide variety of forest structures (or physiognomies). The infinite number of possible spatial arrangements of trees of varying size and species makes for a highly intricate and diverse micro-environment in which environmental variables such as solar radiation, temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed can vary greatly over large and small distances. In addition, an important proportion of a forest ecosystem's biomass is often underground, where variations in soil structure, water quality and quantity, and levels of various soil nutrients can vary greatly. Thus, forests are often highly heterogeneous environments compared to other terrestrial plant communities. This heterogeneity in turn greatly affects how forest studies are designed and executed. It also affects the design of forest inventory sampling strategies, the results of which are sometimes used in ecological studies.

Second, forests accumulate large amounts of standing biomass, and many are capable of accumulating it at high rates, i.e. they are highly productive. Such high levels of biomass and tall vertical structures represent large stores of potential energy that can be converted to kinetic energy under the right circumstances. Two such conversions of great importance are fires and treefalls, both of which radically alter the biota and the physical environment where they occur. Also, in forests of high productivity, the rapid growth of the trees themselves induces biotic and environmental changes, although at a slower rate and lower intensity than relatively instantaneous disturbances such as fires. Biomass is organic non-fossil material, collectively. ... Potential energy (U, or Ep), a kind of scalar potential, is energy by virtue of matter being able to move to a lower-energy state, releasing energy in some form. ... Kinetic energy (also called vis viva, or living force) is energy possessed by a body by virtue of its motion. ... Biota can refer to several things: The plant and animal life of a region; see biota (ecology) A municipality in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain; see Biota (municipality) A superdomain in taxonomy; see Biota (taxonomy) Biota Holdings, the Australian biotech company This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other...

Third, the woody materials in many forests decay relatively slowly in comparison to most other organic materials, due to a combination of environmental factors and wood chemistry (see lignin). Trees growing in arid and/or cold environments do so especially slowly. Thus, tree trunks and branches can remain on the forest floor for long periods, affecting such things as wildlife habitat, fire behavior and tree regeneration processes. This is also an important factor in the science of dendrochronology. Lignin is a chemical compound that is an integral part of the cell walls of some cells, eg tracheids, xylary fibres and sclereids of plants. ... Pinus taeda Cross section showing annual rings, Cheraw, South Carolina Pine stump showing growth rings Dendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the method of scientific dating based on the analysis of tree ring patterns. ...

Lastly, forest trees store large amounts of water because of their large size and anatomical/physiological characteristics. They are therefore important regulators of hydrological processes, especially those involving groundwater hydrology and local evaporation and rainfall/snowfall patterns. Thus, forest ecological studies are sometimes closely aligned with meteorological and hydrological studies in regional ecosystem or resource planning studies. Water covers 70% of the Earths surface. ...