In leafless spring forests light and moisture change little between gap and canopy

Evidence

In the leafless spring forest community, a singleor multiple-tree gap may alter the temperature, moisture, and, to a lesser extent, light environment of forest herbs. However, the quality and magnitude of the plant response to these altered condi­ tions may depend both upon the degree of resource alteration (which may be related to gap size) and upon critical levels of the resource required by the plant. For example, in normal rainfall years, spring ephemerals may respond little to the more widely fluctuating moisture regime within a gap (Marquis, 1973; McLintock, 1959; Pontailler, 1979), since spring forest soils may generally be close to field capacity (Elias, 1981). Nor may these plants respond to the light environment within gaps, since there may be little difference, particularly on overcast days, in light intensity between the gap and adjacent leafless canopy area, and herbs may already be light saturated. — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1442

Categorization

• XREF: Contradicts the blanket assumption that gaps always mean more light — connects to the Soundscape framing that an event’s disturbance character depends on system state at the time. — connects to: Microclimate inside a forest gap depends on gap diameter relative to tree height. — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 164