Gap floors can be surface-dry despite high rainfall input.

Evidence

In spite of the high quantity of rainfall in large gaps, the surface 2.5 cm of the forest floor may be quite dry (Marquis, 1973). The northern sides of gaps may be drier than elsewhere due to insolation and subsequently to greater growth and transpiration of woody vegetation (Pontailler, 1979). Tip-up mounds tend to be drier than the remainder of the forest floor (McLintock, 1959). — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1398