The soil of tropical rainforest regions was once thought exceptionally fertile due to the dense undergrowth explorers discovered, reports BluePLanetBiomes.org. This is not the case. Tropical soil is identified as having three distinct soil attribute types: shallow nutrient depth, lacking in nutrients and devoid of soluble mineral content. In other climates soils store the nutrients and minerals necessary for plant life, but this is not the case with tropical soils. It is for these reason that tropical rainforest deforestation is so devastating to tropical ecosystems. It is difficult and costly to convert soil in tropical regions for farming purposes due to the heavy rains experienced in the region.
Shallow Nutrient Depth
Mostly the layers of decomposing matter and living plant-life compose the entirety of fertile soil in tropical systems. This layer of biomass is responsible for nutrient production and distribution for the entirety of tropical vegetation, say the Regents of the University of MIchigan. This causes tropical plants to absorb and use nutrients released from the decomposing plant matter provided by the insects, bacteria, and fungi feeding on this plant litter.
Poor Nutrient Content
The soils under the nutrient biomass are typically clay soils with poor nutrient content. The millennia of heavy rain has washed nutrient deposits from the soil and sparked the biomass nutrient production in tropical systems. When the tropical vegetation is removed - as in timber harvesting or clear-cutting - it takes a century to regenerate natural growth, say the UM Regents. Heavy clay soil typically retains water and nutrients too well for plant use, but tropical clay soil retains little nutrients due to the heavy soil washing.
Devoid of Minerals
Tropical soils are nearly devoid of minerals due to the same soil washing that depletes nutrients. Mineral content is absorbed and carried away from tropical soils in water. Rocks are eroded quickly in tropical regions during torrential rains. Tropical soil is nearly impossible to turn fertile as heavy precipitation continually depletes available resources needed to farm. Tropical ecosystem disturbances ruin the healthy biomass layer and completely eradicate plant-life.
The logging and cattle industries are common reasons for tropical rainforest deforestation. A square mile of tropical rainforest can have many indigenous species of plants and animals found nowhere else. Tropical rainforest growth may take 1000 years or more, and none of the species destroyed during deforestation will reappear. The way in which rainforest plant-life generates and evolves leads to several adaptations that can result in unique and distinct varieties of common plants as well as entirely new species.
Sources
"The Tropical Rain Forest,' 2008 Globalchange.umich.edu Accessed May 2010
West Tisbury Elementary SchoolTropical Rainforest, Blueplanetbiomes.org Accessed May 2010
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