Mixed Forest

mixed forest

[′mikst ′fär·əst]
A forest consisting of two or more types of trees, with no more than 80% of the most common tree.

Mixed Forest


a forest consisting of coniferous and broad-leaved trees. Mixed forests are commonly found on the plains and in the low-mountain zones in humid temperate climatic regions of Eurasia and North America.

In Eurasia mixed forests are widespread in southern Scandinavia, the European USSR, the Far East, the Carpathians, the Caucasus, and the temperate mountain zone of Southeast Asia (above 3,500–3,800 m). The mountain forests of Southeast Asia are composed of yew, hemlock, fir, larch, spruce, linden, birch, and maple. A dense underbrush of mock orange, lilac, aralia, and rhododendron is also characteristic. Mixed forests cover a fairly large area in the European USSR. They contain spruce, oak, linden, maple, ash, elm, and apple; there is a distinct layer of shrub undergrowth, which is made up of filbert, honeysuckle, warty-bark euonymus, and viburnum. Broad grasses and ferns are dominant in the grass cover. Many varieties of trees and shrubs are found in Far Eastern mixed forests; they include Korean pine, Saian spruce, Khingan fir, Manchurian fir, Mongolian oak, Manchurian ash, large-leaved lime, and several hornbeam species. Lianas, including Amur grape and magnolia vine, entwine the trunks of the trees and shrubs.

In North America mixed forests occur in Appalachia, California, and the Great Lakes region and are distinguished by a great number of species. The mixed forests of Appalachia consist of sugar maple, balsam fir, American beech, American hornbeam, and many other species. California forests include sequoia, western hemlock, Douglas fir and other fir species, western yellow pine, and swamp white oak. Forests in the Great Lakes region contain a number of hardwood species, white pine, spruce (in the northern part), beech, maple, birch, hemlock, and balsam fir.

Mixed forests are an ancient formation that once was more widely distributed. Such forests contain many valuable trees.


Il’inskii, A. P. Rastitel’nost’ zemnogo shara. Moscow-Leningrad, 1937.
Rastitel’nyi pokrov SSSR: Poiasnitel’nyi tekst k “Geobotanicheskoi karte SSSR, “masshtab 1:4,000,000, vol. 1. Moscow-Leningrad, 1956.
Walter, H. Rastitel’nost’ zemnogo shara, vol. 2. Moscow, 1974. (Translated from German.)


References in periodicals archive ?
Frequency of tree stands representing the specific aesthetic landscape class relative to the colour-type of forest: A--dry pine forest, single-species fir forest, single-species spruce forest; B--fresh pine forest, marshy, spruce forest; C--mixed coniferous forest, riparian, mixed forest; D--oak, beech, hornbeam forests
At Lake Texoma, the Running Deer Trail is a 1.6-mile walk through flood plains, mixed forest and drainage basins and lies adjacent to the Lake Texoma's Catfish Bay Marina area.
Both hikes begin in open mixed forest. The trail meanders through white pines and deciduous forest, on undulating terrain that begins to steadily rise.
Pigs (Sus scrofa) were used as surrogates for human decomposition, and placed within the common biomes of (1) an agricultural field, and (2) a mixed forest. The experiment took place in the summer months (June to August) of 2016, when insect decomposition is more active due to high temperature and humidity conditions.
This was an area of mixed forest on a steep hillside with very complex contour features, many cliffs and boulders and areas of stony ground, streams and small marshes.
The eastern portion of the study area was a mixed forest dominated by oak (Quercus spp.), beech (Fagus grandifolia), ash (Fraxinus spp.), elm (Ulmusspp.), and maple (Acerspp.) and to a lesser degree included alder (Alnus spp.), basswood (Tilia americana), birch (Betula spp.), black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), buckeye (Aesculus spp.), cherry (Prunus spp.), hackberry (Ceitis ocadentalis), hickory (Carya spp.), ironwood (Carpinus caroliniana and Ostrya virginiana), locust (Robiniapseudoacacia or Gleditsia triacanthos), mulberry (Monisspp.), pine (Pinusspp.), poplar (Pofmlus spp.), sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), tamarack (Larix laruna), tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), walnut (Juglans spp.), willow (Salix spp.), and unidentified hardwoods (Fig.
The Jackman site (5,535 [km.sup.2]) was 65% forest cover: 23 % coniferous and 21% deciduous and mixed forest each.
Located at the border of Maine and Quebec, this property, subject to forest management, is characterized by a mixed forest cover (coniferous and hardwood) and is in full development.
After we crossed a gravel road to continue on along Dan's Trail, the mixed forest was sidelined with lush blackberry bushes.
FIGURE 2: Proportion of zoochoric species between the Ombrophilous Mixed Forest surveys: a) based on the species proportion (richness); b) based on the individual proportion (abundance).
The Northern Great Lakes region contains diverse mixed forest types, including aspen; northern hardwoods of sugar maple, beech, and birch; and white, red and jack pine.