Buzz
If you're a native English speaker, you likely use the terms woods, forest, and jungle correctly without much thought. For instance, if there’s a large cluster of trees in your backyard, you wouldn’t call it a forest; and the stunning fall foliage in New England would never be referred to as a jungle. These examples suggest that woods are smaller than forests, and jungles aren’t typically found in colder regions. While that’s somewhat true, the distinction is more nuanced.
Merriam-Webster defines a forest as 'a dense growth of trees and underbrush covering a large area,' while woods are described as 'a dense growth of trees, typically larger than a grove but smaller than a forest.' The perception that forests are bigger than woods traces back to the Norman conquest of Great Britain in 1066, when a forest referred to land under royal ownership designated for hunting, regardless of whether it was covered in trees.
In modern times, scientists and land managers agree that for land to be classified as a forest, it must have trees. To distinguish it from woods or woodlands, a forest typically needs to meet specific density standards, though these criteria can vary depending on the source.
As per the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), a forest needs to cover around 1.24 acres, with its canopy—the portion of land shaded by tree tops—accounting for more than 10 percent of the area [PDF]. 'Other wooded land' also spans approximately 1.24 acres, but its canopy cover falls between 5 and 10 percent. Essentially, the FAO views forests and woods as similar in size, but forests are denser than woods. In contrast, Australia follows plant ecologist Raymond Specht’s classification system, where any tree-covered land with less than 30 percent canopy cover is considered a woodland, while land with greater density is classified as a forest.
Unlike forests, jungles don’t have precise scientific definitions, because the term jungle isn't typically used by scientists. According to Sciencing, 'jungle' is a colloquial expression commonly referring to what scientists describe as tropical forests.
Tropical forests, located around the Equator, have the highest species diversity per unit of area globally. With their incredibly dense vegetation and wildlife, it's easy to understand why both Merriam-Webster and Encyclopedia Britannica describe jungles as 'tangled' and 'impenetrable.' They are teeming with millions of plant and animal species not seen in the temperate and boreal forests to the north.
Since most people don’t typically specify which type of forest they mean in casual conversation, it’s understandable that we often refer to the temperate forests in our own region simply as forests. We distinguish these from the lush, overgrown tropical areas to the south by calling them jungles.
In short, forests are traditionally and colloquially considered larger than woods, with the added distinction of being denser. Jungles, while scientifically considered a type of forest, are commonly understood as tropical forests, since the term jungle is a casual reference to what scientists define as tropical forests.
Despite all the differences, spending time in any of these natural environments is incredibly soothing—here are 11 scientific reasons that explain why this is the case.
