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Canopy structure is the organization or spatial arrangement (three-dimensional geometry) of a plant canopy. Leaf area index, leaf area per unit ground area, is a key measure used to understand and compare plant canopies. The canopy is taller than the understory layer. The canopy holds 90% of the animals in the rainforest.
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 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.
Forest with canopy, shrub and herb layers of vegetation. The following layers are generally distinguished: forest floor (root and moss layers), herb, shrub, understory and canopy layers. These vegetation layers are primarily determined by the height of their individual plants, the different elements may however have a range of heights.
The nutrients that become stored within canopy soils can then be utilized by the epiphytes that grow in them, and even the tree that the canopy soil is accumulating in through the growth of canopy roots. This storage allows nutrients to be more closely cycled through an ecosystem, and prevents nutrients from being washed out of the system.
This biome features a thick, closed canopy which blocks light to the floor and allows little underbrush. As a result, the ground is often covered with fungi and ferns. Shrubs and small trees compose a diverse understory. [1]
The canopy is 8 to 10 meters high, and about half the trees lose their leaves during the dry season. Typical trees include Cameraria latifolia, Vachellia pringlei, Dalbergia glabra, Pisonia aculeata, Pithecellobium dulce, Pseudophoenix sargentii, Haematoxylon campechianum, and Acoelorraphe wrightii. Ferns and epiphytes are common. [4]
In the Amazon rainforest, light gaps are extensively studied. However, ways in which the understory is affected by light gaps there, remains mostly a mystery. Overall biomass in the light gap areas is directly impacted by the size of the light opening, the type of roots that pre-existed its formation, and the type of tree that fell to create ...