Glossary
Agroforestry - Agroforestry is the interaction of agriculture and trees, including the agricultural use of trees. This comprises trees on farms and in agricultural landscapes, farming in forests and along forest margins and tree-crop production.
Interactions between trees and other components of agriculture may be important at a range of scales: in fields (where trees and crops are grown together), on farms (where trees may provide fodder for livestock, fuel, food, shelter or income from products including timber) and landscapes (where agricultural and forest land uses combine in determining the provision of ecosystem services).
Anthropology - The science of human beings. The study of human beings and their ancestors through time and space and in relation to physical character, environmental and social relations, and culture2.
Biochar - Residue of carbon and ashes that remains after the pyrolysis of biomass. Biochar is a stable solid that is rich in pyrogenic carbon and can endure in soil for thousands of years. Biochar's resistance to decomposition leads to the concept of carbon sequestration in the form of biochar which may be a means to mitigate climate change. Biochar may increase the soil fertility of acidic soils and increase agricultural productivity 3.
Biodiversity - a term to describe the variety of life. It may be used to define the species of an area of ecosystem. Biodiversity includes all living things from plants to animals and fungi to humans.
Coppice - A technique in which a tree or shrub is cut to ground level to encourage new growth. This technique has fallen out of fashion but was, in the past, used to produce fuel, specialist wood products as well as to lay hedges.
Dendrology - The study of woody plants and shrubs.
Epicormic growth - Shoots that grow from dormant buds along the branches or trunk of a tree. They are thought to emerge when the tree is under stress and in need of additional nutrients from enhanced photosynthesis. Removing them stresses the tree further and stimulates additional epicormic growth.
Guying - The process of supporting transplanted trees or of straightening trees, with ropes or straps.
Heartwood - The central part of the tree trunk that provides strength and is resistant to decay.
Hyphae - Long, nutrient absorbing and transporting filaments of fungi that together form mycellium.
Inosculation - The phenomenon by which two branches of the same or different trees grow together. This is caused by a shared connection of the cambium where the bark has been removed or eroded 12.
Soil dynamics: the forces or properties which stimulate growth, development, or change within a system or process.