be considered to act as a rejuvenating process whereby regeneration is made possible with new resource availability. Severe uprooting opens bare patches of mineral soil that can act as seed sinks. These patches have been shown, in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, to have higher biodiversity than the surrounding forest floor. Additionally, the gap created in the forest canopy when windthrow occurs yields an increase in light, moisture, and nutrient availability in near proximity to the disturbance. Toppled trees have the potential of becoming nurse logs, nurturing habitats for other forest organisms. See also Derecho Krummholz: crooked, stunted trees Microburst: sinking air Reaction wood References Alabama Hiking Trail Society Cited Dec. 2007 USFS "Trail Information— State Route 410 Mather Memorial Parkway / Clearwater" Online bulletin board. Cited Dec. 15, 2007 Bibliography Nina G Ulanova, Forest Ecology and Management; Volume 135, Issues 1–3, 15 September 2000, Pages 155–167; The effects of windthrow on forests at different spatial scales: a review Canham, C.D. & Loucks, O.L. (1984) Catastrophic windthrow in the presettlement forests of Wisconsin. Ecology, 65, 803–809. Canham, C.D., Denslow, J.S., Platt, W.J., Runkle, J.R., Spies, T.A. & White, P.S. (1990) Light regimes beneath closed canopies and tree-fall gaps in temperate and tropical forests. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 20, 620–631. Canham, C.D., Papaik, M.J. & Latty, E.J. (2001) Interspecific variation in susceptibility to windthrow as a function of tree size and storm severity for northern hardwood tree species. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 31, 1–10. Mladenoff, D.J. (1987) Dynamics of nitrogen mineralization and nitrification in hemlock and hardwood treefall gaps. Ecology, 68, 1171–1180. Peterson, C.J. & Pickett, S.T.A. (1995) Forest reorganization – A case study in an old-growth forest catastrophic blowdown. Ecology, 76, 763–774. Pickett, S.T.A. & White (1985) Patch dynamics: a synthesis. The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and Patch Dynamics (eds S.T.A.Pickett & P.S.White), pp. 371–384. Academic Press, Orlando, FL. Metcalfe, D. J., Bradford, M. G., & Ford, A. J. (2008). Cyclone damage to tropical rain forests: Species‐and community‐level impacts. Austral Ecology, 33(4), 432-441. Biogeomorphology Dead wood Forest ecology Wind