An (almost) empty room in a packed house: Coarse woody debris class V islands of low diversity in a diverse leaf litter sea in GSMNP

After a tree dies and falls to the forest floor, the last stage it passes through before losing individuality is decay class V. Comparisons were made between class V course woody debris (CWD) and surrounding leaf litter. The class V CWD harbors very few species, but of these many appear to be unique to that habitat.