pbuttigieg
commented
7 years ago @VarshaKhodiyar we're looking at several resources and this is quite a complex thing to define, especially in relation to taiga, boreal forest, or snow forest environments. Would the authors have a definition?
The Britannica.com resource doesn't seem to have a dedicated article on this, but we can get a definition in the taiga article:
North of the closed-canopy forest is the lichen woodland—a smaller parallel zone of sparse forest or woodland in which tree crowns do not form a closed canopy. Lichen mats and tundralike vegetation make up a significant portion of the ground cover.
From this we created the class with PURL: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_01000949 (in the editors' version, yet to be released, the link will not resolve yet) with the definition:
A woodland which has an understory partially covered by lichen mats and tundra-like vegetation.
We don't specify the open canopy as "woodlands" are understood to have relatively open canopies relative to forests and lichen woodland inherits this property.
Would that work?
VarshaKhodiyar
NTR: lichen woodland is_a: woodland ENVO:00000109
More info from the author I am working with: We have examined the ENVO nomenclature and its ecological divisions are too imprecise and inadequate to properly describe the sub-arctic biomes we investigated. “Lichen woodland” is the correct designation for the very extensive area of open woodland south of the arctic tree-line throughout northern Canada, Alaska, and the large areas of northern Siberia that Dr. Nichols has studied during decades of fieldwork. Harvey Nichols has worked extensively in the Canadian arctic in company with Dr. James Larsen, an acknowledged specialist in the Boreal Forest, whose standard reference works, quoted in our bibliography, make reference to “lichen woodland” and this term was repeatedly used in conversation with Dr. Larsen. This term is also found within Britannica.com