EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -The forest floor, also called detritus or duff, is the part of a forest ecosystem that mediates between the living, aboveground portion of the forest and the mineral soil, principally composed of dead and decaying plant matter such as rotting wood and shed leaves.

Detailed explanation-2: -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.

Detailed explanation-3: -The forest floor often consists of L, F, and H layers (Fig. 4.7). The L layer consists of fresh, undecomposed litter. The F layer lies immediately below the L layer and consists of fragmented organic materials in a stage of partial decomposition.

Detailed explanation-4: -The forest floor layer is the bottom layer of the rainforest. The forest floor is dark, damp, and hot. Only 2% of the sunlight makes it to the forest floor layer. The forest floor is home to anteaters, anacondas, scorpions, and jaguars.

Detailed explanation-5: -Most rainforests (except evergreen forests in Europe and North America) are structured in four distinct layers: emergent, canopy, understory, and forest floor. Each layer has unique characteristics based on how much water, sunlight and air circulation it experiences.