understory
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: architecture
biology
ecology
natural-sciences
Etymology: PIE word
 *(H)n̥dʰér
From under- (prefix meaning ‘beneath, under’) + story (“a floor or level”).
Base: story
Affixes: under-
Inflected forms:
form: understories
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: understorys
pos: noun
tags: plural
rare
form: understorey
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Commonwealth
Senses:
gloss: A story of a building below the stories generally used for residence or work.
pos: noun
tags: US
also
dated
figuratively
examples: On the Vnder Story, tovvards the Garden, Let it be turned to a Grotta, or Place of Shade, or Eſtiuation.
The two middle storeys of the towers are adorned with one tier of Corinthian pilasters in the style of Lord Carlisle's house at Castle Howard. The understorey is rustic.
Elgin has vvhat in England are called piazzas, that run in many places on each ſide of the ſtreet. […] I approved much of ſuch ſtructures in a tovvn, on account of their conveniency in vvet vveather. Dr. Johnſon diſapproved of them, "becauſe (ſaid he) it makes the under ſtory of a houſe very dark, vvhich greatly over-balances the conveniency, vvhen it is conſidered hovv ſmall a part of the year it rains;[…]"
Q. VVhat did you find? / A. I found in a cloſet in the under ſtorey of VVatt's houſe a dozen of ſpears.
The banqueting-house is a very striking and beautiful building in the form of a cross, open every way, and supported by a multitude of pillars and arches, erected on an under-story of an octagonal form.
Besides, to the vulgar it is more agreeable to behold difficulties overcome, than to examine laboriously all the complicated machinery by which the effect is produced. They lack the patience to learn in detail the name and office of each wheel, and pulley, and spring, hidden in the understorey of politics, by which the beautiful results they contemplate on the surface of society are originated, and pronounce insipid every attempt to introduce them to their knowledge.
The stone foundation is generally in the form of an under[-]story. Sometimes a dwelling-house is lifted, and shops put in below. I was told of a congregation in a city which, being in want of money, had their church lifted so as to allow of the insertion of shops beneath, got these let, and speedily relieved the church from its embarrassments.
gloss: The (layer of) plants that grow in the shade of the canopy of a forest above the forest floor.
pos: noun
tags: US
also
attributive
examples: Throughout the pre-European tussock grassland, and more especially in gullies, on terrace edges and wherever the surface configuration of the plains was broken, woody plants occurred, including occasionally surviving residues of podocarp forest understoreys.
The very tall trees and dense understorey of shrubs and ferns found in ash forests provide magnificent scenery, and afford an excellent habitat for well known wildlife species, such as lyrebirds, possums, and wallabies.
In order to further narrow down the field of formation types reference is now made to the type of understorey that is found beneath the crowns or canopies of the dominant plants.
The understory was mainly composed of regeneration of the more shade-tolerant species and a variety of common shrubs, such as buckleberries (Vaccinium spp.) and hawthorns (Crataegus spp.).
This species is found in both maritime and continental climates. It is a dominant component of understorys of various Pacific northwest and western boreal forests, often forming dense, nearly impenetrable pure thickets, but also occurring in some understorys with other shrubs and (or) herbaceous plants.
Light availability is the primary limiting resource for understory plants of eastern deciduous forests, and their long-term persistence in these habitats depends on adaptations that enable photosynthesis sufficient to maintain a positive annual carbon balance[…]. However, in addition to low light, understory plants may also be limited by water stress[…].
An understorey is typically defined as the vegetation layer between the ground layer (up to approximately one metre) and the overstorey. Some woodland vegetation types support only a sparse understorey.
In the absence of fire, oaks do not establish well in either shaded understorys or sunlit openings, because they are neither shade tolerant nor fast growing[…].
In Hawaii, Red-billed Leiothrix were 92% more abundant in discontinuous forest that had dense understoreys with abundantly fruiting bushes as opposed to continuous forest with bare understoreys[…].
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