Tree-fall gaps let young trees establish that dense forest shade otherwise prevents

Evidence

Often you may see in the woods a group of young trees that have sprung up where a giant old tree has recently fallen to let down some sunlight, but in many thick, dark forests young trees of most of the species that are growing there may not be able to get a start because of the shade. — Vinson Brown, Reading the Woods, 129

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Reads directly as a disturbance-reading observation usable for the field-observation assignment; light-gap formation is a micro-disturbance with visible effect.
• XREF: connects to: Many shade-tolerant trees reach the canopy through repeated suppression-and-release gap episodes, not one gap — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1342; 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; Tree species differ sharply in shade tolerance for seedling establishment — Vinson Brown, Reading the Woods: Seeing More in…, 129 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Many shade-tolerant trees reach the canopy through repeated suppression-and-release gap episodes, not one gap #expands (0.95) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1342
• Tree species differ sharply in shade tolerance for seedling establishment #complicates (0.85) — Vinson Brown, Reading the Woods, 129
• Microclimate inside a forest gap depends on gap diameter relative to tree height. #complicates (0.80) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 164
• In leafless spring forests light and moisture change little between gap and canopy #complicates (0.75) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1442
• Gap size determines whether lateral branch growth or sapling height growth closes it #complicates (0.75) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 231
• Shade competition kills lower branches as crowded young trees grow #complicates (0.75) — Vinson Brown, Reading the Woods, 418
• Liana abundance tracks the supply of trellises that treefall gaps provide #complicates (0.75) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 448
• Leaf arrangement in layers sets which light regime favors a tree species #complicates (0.70) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1318
• Primary species win by persisting under closed canopy rather than growing fast in gaps #complicates (0.70) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 467
• Rain can fall through layered forest canopy without reaching the ground #complicates (0.70) — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 28