Woodland facts for kids

Woodland is a low-density forest with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. It forms an open habitat.

Woodlands have an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodlands grade into shrubland in drier conditions or in early stages of plant succession. Higher densities and areas of trees, with largely closed canopy, and nearly continuous shade and are often called forests.

Woodland in British forestry means any smaller area covered in trees, however dense. Forest in the British Isles means extensive wooded areas, regardless of density. Royal forests may not be wooded at all. The term ancient woodland is used in British conservation to mean any wooded land that has existed for a very long time (equivalent to the American term old growth forest).

Conservationist work hard to preserve woodlands. The woodlands in Northwest Indiana have been preserved as part of the Indiana Dunes.

Woodland ecoregions

Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

Miombo woodland in Malawi

• Afrotropical realm
  • Angolan miombo woodlands (Angola)
  • Angolan mopane woodlands (Angola, Namibia)
  • Central Zambezian miombo woodlands (Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia)
  • Eastern miombo woodlands (Mozambique, Tanzania)
  • Kalahari Acacia-Baikiaea woodlands (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe)
  • Zambezian and mopane woodlands (Botswana, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe)
  • Zambezian Baikiaea woodlands (Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe)
• Nearctic realm
  • Madrean pine–oak woodlands (Mexico)
• Neotropical realm
  • Cerrado woodlands and savannas (Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay)

Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

A dry sclerophyll woodland in western Sydney.

An open woodland in Northern Illinois supporting an herbaceous understory of forbs and grasses

• Afrotropical realm
  • Al Hajar montane woodlands (Oman)
• Australasian realm
  • Central Hunter Valley eucalypt forest and woodland (Australia)
  • Cumberland Plain Woodland (Australia)
  • Gippsland Plains Grassy Woodland (Australia)
  • Grey Box Grassy Woodlands (Australia)
  • Lowland Grassy Woodland (Australia)
  • New England Peppermint Grassy Woodland (Australia)
• Nearctic realm
  • Central forest–grasslands transition (United States)
  • Upper Midwest forest–savanna transition (United States)
• Palearctic realm
  • Gissaro-Alai open woodlands (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan)

Montane grasslands and shrublands

Limber Pine woodland in the Toiyabe Range of central Nevada

• Afrotropical realm
  • Angolan Scarp savanna and woodlands (Angola)
  • Drakensberg alti-montane grasslands and woodlands (Lesotho, South Africa)
  • Drakensberg montane grasslands, woodlands and forests (Eswatini, Lesotho, South Africa)
  • East African montane moorlands (Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda)
  • Ethiopian montane grasslands and woodlands (Ethiopia)
• Nearctic realm
  • Pinyon–juniper woodland (United States)
• Palearctic realm
  • Kopet Dag woodlands and forest steppe (Iran, Turkmenistan)

Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub

Mallee woodland with eucalyptuses and melaleucas in Esperance, Western Australia

• Australasian realm
  • Banksia Woodlands of the Swan Coastal Plain (Australia)
  • Coolgardie woodlands (Australia)
  • Mount Lofty woodlands (Australia)
  • Murray-Darling woodlands and mallee (Australia)
  • Naracoorte woodlands (Australia)
  • Southwest Australia woodlands (Australia)
  • Swan Coastal Plain Shrublands and Woodlands (Australia)
• Nearctic realm
  • California chaparral and woodlands (United States)
  • California montane chaparral and woodlands (United States)
  • California interior chaparral and woodlands (United States)

A cedar woodland in Bsharri, Lebanon

• Palearctic realm
  • Canary Islands dry woodlands and forests (Spain)
  • Eastern Mediterranean conifer–sclerophyllous–broadleaf forests (Turkey, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon)
  • Mediterranean acacia-argania dry woodlands and succulent thickets (Morocco, Canary Islands)
  • Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia)
  • Mediterranean woodlands and forests (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia)
  • Southeastern Iberian shrubs and woodlands (Spain)

Deserts and xeric shrublands

Sahel woodland in Mali

• Afrotropical realm
  • East Saharan montane xeric woodlands (Chad, Sudan)
  • Madagascar succulent woodlands (Madagascar)
  • Somali montane xeric woodlands (Somalia)
  • Southwestern Arabian montane woodlands (Saudi Arabia, Yemen)
• Palearctic realm
  • Baluchistan xeric woodlands (Afghanistan, Pakistan)
  • Central Afghan Mountains xeric woodlands (Afghanistan)
  • Central Asian riparian woodlands (Kazakhstan)
  • North Saharan steppe and woodlands (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara)
  • Paropamisus xeric woodlands (Afghanistan)
  • South Saharan steppe and woodlands (Algeria, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Sudan)
  • Tibesti-Jebel Uweinat montane xeric woodlands (Chad, Egypt, Libya, Sudan)
  • West Saharan montane xeric woodlands (Algeria, Mali, Mauritania, Niger)

See also

Images for kids

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  Woodland in Belianske Tatras in Slovakia

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  A woodland ecosystem at Morton Arboretum in Illinois

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  Mediterranean eucalypt forest in Australia