canopy over a road Canopy structure is the organization or spatial arrangement (three-dimensional geometry) of a plant canopy.
Leaf area index, leaf area per unit ground area, is a key measure used to understand and compare plant canopies. The canopy is taller than the
understory layer. The canopy holds 90% of the animals in the rainforest. Canopies can cover vast distances and appear to be unbroken when observed from an airplane. However, despite overlapping tree branches,
rainforest canopy trees rarely touch each other. Rather, they are usually separated by a few feet. Dominant and co-dominant canopy trees form the uneven canopy layer. Canopy trees are able to
photosynthesize relatively rapidly with abundant light, so it supports the majority of primary productivity in forests. The canopy layer provides protection from strong winds and storms while also intercepting sunlight and precipitation, leading to a relatively sparsely vegetated understory layer. Forest canopies are home to unique flora and fauna not found in other layers of forests. The highest terrestrial
biodiversity resides in the canopies of
tropical rainforests. Many rainforest animals have evolved to live solely in the canopy and never touch the ground. The canopy of a rainforest is typically about thick, and intercepts around 95% of sunlight. The canopy is below the
emergent layer, a sparse layer of very tall trees, typically one or two per hectare. With an abundance of water and a near ideal temperature in rainforests, light and nutrients are two factors that limit tree growth from the understory to the canopy. In the
permaculture and
forest gardening community, the canopy is the highest of seven layers. == Ecology ==