Wet equatorial forests are otherwise called permanent-wet forests. From the name it becomes obvious that they are located mainly in the equatorial regions of the planet. Equatorial forests occupy the territory of the Amazon in South America, the Congo and Lualaba river valleys in Africa are also located on the Greater Sunda Islands and on east coast Australia. This natural area mainly accompanies the equatorial climatic zone. This is due to the fact that the formation of these forests requires enormous moisture - more than 2000 mm of precipitation per year and a constantly hot air temperature - more than 20 ° C. Therefore, they are usually located near the coast of continents, where warm currents flow. Constantly wet forests are impenetrable jungles, according to various estimates, up to 2/3 of all species living on Earth live here, millions of them have not yet been discovered and studied. The largest area of rainforest is located in South America, where it is called selva (pictured), which means "forest" in Portuguese.
The soils are commonly known as ferrallite soils. In the center: a region made up of a mosaic of forests and savannas in less humid climate with a short dry season. They are still ferrallitic soils with properties that are generally comparable to those of soils. southern zone... However, some differences appear in the surface horizons and in the quality of drainage. Soil inclusions with properties.
In particular, they are located on volcanic rocks in the west of the country and on the Adamawa plateau. In the north: a region very diverse in its vegetation and its soils, in a dry, dry climate. The soils are of medium to thin thickness. Products "alteration are mixtures of diverse" low or high exchange capacity of clay, iron and manganese sesqui, calcium carbonate, soluble salts.
Wet equatorial forests are characterized by the presence of several layers of plants. The height of the trees here on average reaches 30-40 meters, and in Australia there are huge eucalyptus trees, up to 100 meters high. The tree crowns of the equatorial forest may be home to 40% of all animals on the planet! Its research is especially difficult, so the canopy of the equatorial forest was figuratively called another unknown living "continent". The plants in these forests are characterized by very large leaves, often dissected or perforated to prevent heavy equatorial rains. Plants never completely shed their leaves, remaining green all year round. For this reason, there are no seasons in the year, their stems grow evenly, and there are no tree rings on the tree cuts. Animal world characterized by a huge number of snakes, lizards, frogs, spiders and insects. The animals that live here are usually small in size, many of them, like koalas in Australia or sloths in South America, spend most of their life in trees. Large animals simply would not be able to move through the rugged wilderness of the equatorial jungle. This is also very difficult for humans. Pioneers often had to simply hack their way through the wall of vines using saber machetes. But even today, many parts of these forests remain unexplored and untouched by man. Unfortunately, civilization is attacking forests, destroying them for crops of cultivated plants, paving roads or extracting timber. The preservation of these forests is a very important task for humanity, because their massifs have a huge impact on the regulation of the planet's climate.
There are no profound changes in the flora, but the expression of all characters of strength is weakened. With height, the size of the trees decreases, the crowns are less important, the trunks are less straight, the leaves are more small. Evergreen trees, including conifers, appear, and open spaces are covered with grass, accompanied by a palm paw and bamboo. In important mountains we find formations called cloud forests, submerged in a wet atmosphere, conducive to the development of mosses, lichens and epiphytes 52.
Compared to low-lying forests, the trees in mountain forests are lower; their foliage is always green, their leaves are thick. The undergrowth is usually clear, and mosses and lichens are abundant. Subtonal forests are much less biologically known than mountains, forests of low and medium height. Relatively dry semi-evergreen forests are often fragmented and severely endangered by artisanal fires.
Despite the large amount of organic matter and plant litter, the soil is moist equatorial forests poor in humus. This is due to the fact that a very large amount of rain is constantly washing it out of their composition. The soils of the equatorial forests are predominantly red-yellow ferralite.
