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One-layered or multi-layered forest Background information

One-layered or multi-layered forest

The layers describe the vertical structure of the forest.

Emmental plenter forest with beech and spruce. © berner51 - stock.adobe.com

One layer is formed by all trees that share a canopy and exhibit at least a 10 % degree of coverage.

Hence, a two-layer forest is one that has two crown canopies above and not touching one another. For example, this can be young growth below the shelter of an old stand.

Plenter forests are particularly demanding for forestry and structurally diverse. They are always multi-layered, but they have special site requirements and tree species compositions and occur at only negligible area percentages in Germany.