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Light is one of the most important drivers of understory vegetation in forests, influencing the patterns of total cover as well as the abundance of individual species.

Based on a multi-scale approach, the relationships between the amount and pattern of relative diffuse light and forest understory were studied in an old-growth, temperate mixed forest (Hungary). The recorded vegetation variables were the cover of the vascular understory (herbs, woody seedlings), the bryophyte layer, and some selected vascular understory species.

The pattern of light showed aggregations at two scales: 10 × 10 and 25 × 25 m. Both vascular understory and bryophyte cover had significant positive correlations with light availability, and their spatial pattern was related to it. The pattern of seedlings displayed the strongest relationships with that of light at a coarser scale (25 × 25 m) than herbs and bryophytes (10 × 10 m). At the species level …