The.
rainfall has been washing nutrients out of the soil for thousands of years. The rainforest soil.
has a very thin top layer with few nutrients. Most rainforest plants have very thin roots that.
grow only in this top layer. In the rainforest, it can rain very hard every day. .
Most of the nutrients and energy in the rainforest are not free to be taken from the soil.
Instead, they are locked up in living plants and animals. When a creature dies or a leaf falls,.
bacteria, fungi, and tiny invertebrates quickly go to work to break it down. They decompose the.
debris into nutrients, some of which they use and some of which go into the soil. The plant's.
roots must absorb these nutrients before the rain can wash them away. This natural process.
must happen very quickly, or the valuable nutrients will be lost. The cycle of life and death in.
the rainforest is very fast and very efficient. In the rainforest, nothing is wasted and.
everything is recycled.
The World's Rainforests.
The world has three major regions of tropical rainforests: the Amazon basin of South.
America, Africa's Congo basin, and the Malay archipelago in the South Pacific. South America.
has the largest rainforest in the world. This region is known as the Amazon basin or Amazonia,.
named for the mighty Amazon River. Most of the Amazonian rainforest is in Brazil, but large.
portions also grow in neighboring Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador.
Rainforests also grow in the Caribbean. In Central America, rainforests still grow in.
Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Belize, Costa Rica, and Panama. .
In Africa, rainforests occur in two main blocks- one along the south coast of West Africa.
and one centered in the country of Zaire. Businesses probably value the African rainforests.
most for the beautiful species of hardwood trees that grow there. Loggers have cut down.
countless mahogany and ebony trees. These trees are now very rare. .
The rainforests in Southeast Asia and Australia do not grow in huge areas like they do in.