The Rainforest Climate

The thick canopy of trees only allows little sunlight through. In fact, only about 0.5% to 1% of full sunlight reaches the forest floor. Indeed, a value as low as 0.1% has been recorded.

The Soil

The rainforest soil is often of a reddish colour, rather than brown. Nutrient levels in the soil are very low. This can be attributed to:

. The chemical composition of the soil. Clays such as montmorinllonite, that absorb cations in temperate forests are largely absent in these regions. The clays in the rainforest soil are less chemically active and therefore less efficient at retaining nutrients.

2. There is only very little organic matter, onto which anions can be absorbed. At depth of a few centimetres below the surface, there is practically no organic matter at all.

3. The amount of litter or detritus on the surface of the soil is low. At first sight, this might seem somewhat paradoxical, since the rate of production of biomass in the tropical forest may be at least four to six times that in a temperate forest. However, Under the hot and humid conditions found in these regions, the rate of decomposition the litter by saprophytes is accelerated.

Geography of the rainforest

Halfway between the north and south poles, hot, wet regions encircle the earth like a wide belt. This belt is called the tropics. Here, rainfall rainfall is very high, the heat is constant, and tropical rainforests dominate the landscape. Although they cover only 6 % of the earths land surface, tropical rainforests contain more than half of the world's species of living things. A few acres of rainforest in the amazon RiverBasin, which stretches across much of South America, hold more species of plants than all of Europe.