page_title: Forest floor
section_title: Tropical forests
hierarchical_section_title: Forest floor / Composition / Tropical forests
caption_attribution_description: Cloud Forest Santa Lucia, Nanegal, Ecuador
context_page_description: The forest floor, also called detritus, duff and the O horizon, is one of the most distinctive features of a forest ecosystem. It mainly consists of shed vegetative parts, such as leaves, branches, bark, and stems, existing in various stages of decomposition above the soil surface. Although principally composed of non-living organic material, the forest floor also teems with a wide variety of fauna and flora. It is one of the richest components of the ecosystem from the standpoint of biodiversity because of the large number of decomposers and predators present, mostly belonging to invertebrates, fungi, algae, bacteria, and archaea. Certain plants may be more apparent in tropical forests, where rates of metabolism and species diversity are much higher than in colder climates.
  The major compartments for the storage of organic matter and nutrients within systems are the living vegetation, forest floor, and soil. 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.
context_section_description: Because of the action of termites, millipedes and other organisms, the leaf litter layer of tropical forests may be considerably less apparent, or virtually absent at certain times of the year.  With up to three defined canopy layers above, relatively low levels of sunlight (as little as 2%) reach here. Examples of the wide range of plants adapted to this zone include: spike mosses, gingers and the parasitic Rafflesia spp.
caption: Cloud forest (Ecuador)
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