What is forest floor layer?
The forest floor, also known as the O horizon of the soil profile or the litter layer (Fig. 1), mainly contains decomposing plant material such as leaves, bark, branches, and stems.
Why is the forest floor layer important?
The forest floor serves as a bridge between the above ground living vegetation and the soil, and it is a crucial component in nutrient transfer through the biogeochemical cycle. The forest floor is also an important fuel source in forest fires.
What are the 5 forest layers?
Primary tropical rainforest is vertically divided into at least five layers: the overstory, the canopy, the understory, the shrub layer, and the forest floor. Each layer has its own unique plant and animal species interacting with the ecosystem around them.
What is forest floor composed of?
The forest floor consists of organic residues (leaves, branches, bark, stems) in various stages of decomposition present on the top of the mineral soil.
What are forest floor plants?
The middle layer is made up of small trees, shrubs, and vines. On the forest floor, wildflowers, ferns, sedges, moss, other plants, and lichen thrive. In and on the soil and living and dead trees, fungi contribute to forest health.
What animals are found in the forest floor?
On the forest floor you find lots of insects that feed on the leaf litter and break it down into nutrients that plants can use. In South America, jaguars and smaller mammals like agouti are found here; in Africa, you might see gorillas and leopards, and in Asia, elephants, tapirs and tigers live here.
What is forest floor biomass?
of partially decomposed litter to the forest floor remains greatest the year round. The maximum herbaceous. vegetation development was found in September with a total annual net production of 104.3 g m~2yr~ *. The total calculated input of litter was 480.8 g m ~ 2yr ~l. About 68 % of the forest floor was replaced each.
Why is the forest floor dark?
The rainforest floor is often dark and humid due to constant shade from the canopy’s leaves. Despite its constant shade, the rainforest floor is an important part of the forest ecosystem. The forest floor is where decomposition takes place.
What is ground layer?
ground layer The lowest layer of a plant community, comprising especially mosses, lichens, and fungi, together with low-growing herb species which often have trailing stems or rosette forms. A Dictionary of Plant Sciences.
How plants survive on the forest floor?
The plants that are able to survive in the low light conditions of the forest floor are adapted to warm, moist environments and, of course, very little sunlight. These darkness-loving plants live inside of dead and decomposing trees, branches and other rotting plant material.
What plants grow in the forest floor?
On the forest floor, wildflowers, ferns, sedges, moss, other plants, and lichen thrive. In and on the soil and living and dead trees, fungi contribute to forest health.