understory

Like much of the American West, Yosemite’s forests evolved to endure periodic blazes, which cleared clutter from the understory and opened up space for new trees to grow.

They decided to excavate the understory of the conflict—to figure out what it was really about–which required asking different questions and truly listening.

“There’s no understory vegetation left, let alone any leaf litter suspended in it, so that species is really hanging in the balance,” says Marsh.

Trees were small in this part of the woods, with a well developed understory thicket of coralberry and sumac.

An almost continuous canopy of foliage has developed, shading the understory and thinning it by killing shrubs and saplings.

Purshia tridentata (bitterbrush) is the understory codominant.

Vegetation was pinyon-juniper woodland with an understory of mixed shrubs.

A relatively pure understory of Poa fendleriana (muttongrass), is typical of such woodland on the middle parts of the mesas.