Forest floor in the context of "Hemiepiphyte"

Comatricha nigra is a widespread species of slime molds in the family Amaurochaetaceae. It grows on decayed wood on the forest floor. The sporangium reaches a total height of 2–8 mm, while the black, hair-like stalk is usually two to six times the length of the sporangium. The color of the sporangium varies as a function of its stage of development, from translucent white, to pink, bright red, and eventually black.

Abscission (from Latin ab- 'away' and scindere 'to cut') is the shedding of various parts of an organism, such as a plant dropping a leaf, fruit, flower, or seed. In zoology, abscission is the intentional shedding of a body part, such as the shedding of a claw, husk, or the autotomy of a tail to evade a predator. In mycology, it is the liberation of a fungal spore. In cell biology, abscission refers to the separation of two daughter cells at the completion of cytokinesis.

In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but above the forest floor. Only a small percentage of light penetrates the canopy, so understory vegetation is generally shade-tolerant. The understory typically consists of trees stunted through lack of light, other small trees with low light requirements, saplings, shrubs, vines, and undergrowth. Small trees such as holly and dogwood are understory specialists.

In temperate deciduous forests, many understory plants start into growth earlier in the year than the canopy trees, to make use of the greater availability of light at that particular time of year. A gap in the canopy caused by the death of a tree stimulates the potential emergent trees into competitive growth as they grow upward to fill the gap. These trees tend to have straight trunks and few lower branches. At the same time, the bushes, undergrowth, and plant life on the forest floor become denser. The understory experiences greater humidity than the canopy, and the shaded ground does not vary in temperature as much as open ground. This causes a proliferation of ferns, mosses, and fungi and encourages nutrient recycling, which provides favorable habitats for many animals and plants.

Brookesia nana, also known as the nano-chameleon, is a species of chameleon endemic to montane rainforests in northern Madagascar (North of 16°S). Unlike some chameleons, Brookesia nana does not change colors, which is an example of paedomorphism. The majority of northern Brookesia species are restricted to rainforest.

The species was discovered by herpetologist Frank Glaw and other German researchers in 2021 in the rainforest on the Sorata massif in northern Madagascar. Described in 2021, it could represent the world's smallest reptile. Brookesia nana is not arboreal, as it tends to inhabit the forest floor. It is likely that the species is endangered due to deforestation in Madagascar. Miniaturism is believed to evolve from habitat loss.

Interception refers to precipitation that does not reach the soil, but is instead intercepted by the leaves, branches of plants and the forest floor. It occurs in the canopy (i.e. canopy interception), and in the forest floor or litter layer (i.e. forest floor interception ). Because of evaporation, interception of liquid water generally leads to loss of that precipitation for the drainage basin, except for cases such as fog interception, but increase flood protection dramatically, Alila et al., (2009).

Intercepted snowfall does not result in any notable amount of evaporation, and most of the snow falls off the tree by wind or melts. However, intercepted snow can more easily drift with the wind, out of the watershed. Conifers have a greater interception capacity than hardwoods. Their needles gives them more surface area for droplets to adhere to, and they have foliage in spring and fall, therefore interception also depends on the type of vegetation in a wooded area.

The Forest of Argonne (French pronunciation: [aʁɡɔn] ) is a long strip of mountainous and wild woodland in northeastern France, approximately 200 km (120 mi) east of Paris. The forest measures roughly 65 km (40 mi) long and 15 km (9 mi) wide filled with many small hills and deep valleys formed by water run-off from the Aire and Aisne rivers rarely exceeding more than 200 m (650 ft) in elevation. Following the First World War, the landscape of the forest was forever changed as trench warfare led to parts of the forest being riddled with deep human-made trenches along with craters from explosives. The forest is bordered by the Meuse River on the west and rolling farmland and creeks to the east. The forest is largely oak, chestnut, and pine trees, and ferns cover much of the forest floor. Common animal life consists of wild boar, red deer, roe deer, hares, rabbits, foxes, and wildcat.