Pit-and-mound microrelief forms where windthrows rip roots free
When a large tree topples in a storm, its root plate often lifts with it, leaving a pit where soil tore free and a mound of inverted earth and roots beside it.
Those pit-and-mound pairs persist for decades to centuries, creating wet hollows and dry raised spots that diversify seedlings, fungi, and invertebrates across the forest floor.
Old-growth floors are rarely flat. Windthrow architecture writes tiny hills and puddles that keep understory biodiversity from becoming uniform.
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