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The understory is the underlying layer of vegetation in a forest or wooded area, especially the trees and shrubs growing between the forest canopy and the forest floor. Plants in the understory comprise an assortment of seedlings and saplings of canopy trees together with specialist understory shrubs and herbs.
The canopy can be divided into five layers: overstory canopy with emergent crowns, a medium layer of canopy, lower canopy, shrub level, and finally understory. [1] [3] [4] The canopy is home to many of the forest's animals, including apes and monkeys. Below the canopy, a lower understory hosts snakes and big cats.
The structure of a tropical rainforest is stratified into layers, each hosting unique ecosystems. These include the emergent layer with towering trees, the densely populated canopy layer, the understory layer rich in wildlife, and the forest floor, which is sparse due to low light penetration. The soil is characteristically nutrient-poor and ...
The leaves are much larger at this level and insect life is abundant. Many seedlings that will grow to the canopy level are present in the understory. Only about 5% of the sunlight shining on the rainforest canopy reaches the understory. This layer can be called a shrub layer, although the shrub layer may also be considered a separate layer.
The Appalachian temperate rainforest has a cool and mild climate and meets the criteria of temperate rainforests identified by Alaback. [1] Temperature and precipitation are extremely variable with elevation, with rainforest conditions usually but not always concentrated around spruce–fir forests at higher elevations.
Below the canopy is the three-layered, shade-tolerant understory that is roughly 9 to 15 m (30 to 50 ft) shorter than the canopy. The top layer of the understory is the sub-canopy composed of smaller mature trees, saplings, and suppressed juvenile canopy layer trees awaiting an opening in the canopy.
More specifically the refugia of the Valdivian temperate rain forest between latitudes 41 and 37° S were; the coastal region, the lower slopes of the Chilean Coast Range and the westernmost Chilean Central Valley all of which remained free of disturbance by the glacial, glacifluvial and periglacial disturbance through the glaciation. [9] [10]
Many sites were logged extensively in the early 1990s reducing slash pine coverage and killing understory vegetation. Subsequent plantings in the late 1980s led to many even-aged stands with different stand densities. [19] The subcanopy is dominated by a variety of palms and tropical hardwoods, depending on the location, substrate, and fire regime.