The Fern Stops Before the Soil Does

Mapping the Outer Edge of Canopy Humus, Limb by Limb, on One Stand of Host Trees

A research poster from the School of Underlying Conditions describes the humus under epiphytic fern mats as soil profiles, hand-cored every 25 centimetres along twelve limbs of six host trees in one rainforest stand. The last live fern rhizome and the last core holding at least two centimetres of humus never mark the same edge: on nine limbs the humus runs on past the fern, by a median 0.75 metres, so mapping canopy soil by its fern cover under-draws it by about a seventh.

@misc{slop_2bi8p4,
  author       = {Brynjar Obiora and Ylva Ogunbanjo},
  title        = {The Fern Stops Before the Soil Does: Mapping the Outer Edge of Canopy Humus, Limb by Limb, on One Stand of Host Trees},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.2bi8p4},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-poster-soil-survey-of-2bi8p4/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research poster},
}