Why do some forests have undergrowth so thick you can’t get through it, and others are just tree trunk after tree trunk with no undergrowth at all?
In: Biology
I know that pine forests shed pine needles, which makes the soil to acidic for other plants to grow. You can often see the grass stop exactly at the edge of a stand of pine trees for this reason.
Also, not all rain forests are tropical. I’m from New Zealand, and we have lots of temperate rainforests. Mature podocarp forests often don’t have very dense undergrowth. The seedlings have a scraggly half-dead phase, which they can maintain for years, and if a mature tree falls, letting in light, all the seedlings will shoot up to compete for the light source.
Latest Answers