Forest Floors

The forest floor is the bottom layer of a forest, covered with fallen leaves, branches, and decaying plants. It may look quiet, but the forest floor is one of the busiest places in nature. Millions of tiny creatures live there, recycling dead material into nutrients for the forest.

A World of Tiny Creatures

The forest floor is home to earthworms, beetles, millipedes, and countless other small creatures. Mushrooms and other fungi grow on rotting logs. Bacteria break down dead leaves into rich soil. A single handful of forest soil can contain more living things than there are people on Earth.

Layers of the Floor

The forest floor has layers just like a cake. The top layer is fresh fallen leaves. Below that are partly decomposed leaves. Under that is a dark, rich layer called humus. The humus layer is full of nutrients that tree roots absorb to help the trees grow tall.

Fun Facts

• A single acre of forest floor can contain over a million earthworms.
• Fallen leaves can take one to three years to fully decompose on the forest floor.
• Some mushrooms on the forest floor glow in the dark, a phenomenon called bioluminescence.

Did You Know?

Trees in a forest are connected through an underground network of fungi called the 'wood wide web.' Trees share nutrients and even send warning signals to each other through this network!