Equatorial climate why

These areas usually have equatorial rainforests. These forests have very dense vegetation. Many different types of trees and other plants can be found growing in a relatively small area of rainforest. More species of plant can be found in a rainforest than in other type of plant community. Four square miles of rainforest may contain as many as species of tree and 1, species of flowering plant.

There are several layers of vegetation in a rainforest. The uppermost layer is made up of the crowns of the tallest trees. These trees are known as emergents. They are much taller than most trees in the rainforest and their crowns are exposed to the direct sunlight. Some trees such as the kapok may reach heights greater than feet 61 meters.

The next layer is known as the canopy. The crowns of the trees in this layer are about 20 meters about 65 feet to 40 meters about feet high.

The crowns of the trees in this layer are tightly packed together forming a nearly unbroken cover for the forest floor. If you were looking down on a section of the rainforest from above, you would not be able to see the ground. Because of the cover provided by the canopy, very little sunlight reaches the lower layers of the rainforest. Below the canopy is another layer known as the understory.

Trees in this layer are only a few meters high. Here one can find trees which only grow to about 15 meters at maturity as well as young saplings which will eventually grow to reach the canopy.

Sunlight here is limited. Between the understory and the forest floor lies the shrub layer. It is composed of small plants such as ferns and small shrubs. Therefore, few plants are able to thrive there.

The few plants which grow here must be able to tolerate low light conditions. It is easy to walk through the rainforest because the area near ground level is relatively free of vegetation. The diagram below shows the layers of the rainforest. Layers of the rainforest. In rainforests, a layer of leaf litter can be found on the forest floor. Because of the moisture, high temperatures and the many decomposers, these leaves and any other organic matter decay very rapidly.

Their nutrients are returned to the soil where they are taken up by plant roots. The vegetation on the higher slopes gradually changes in response to lower temperatures Paul Popper. As a result, most of the white settlers, whose bodies are attuned to cooler and more varied conditions take to the cooler highlands whenever they can.

High temperature and abundant rainfall in the equatorial regions support a luxuriant type of vegetation-the tropical rain forest. Unlike the temperate regions, the growing season here is all the year round-seeding, flowering, fruiting and decaying do not take place in a seasonal pattern, so some trees may be in flower while others only a few yards away may be bearing fruit. There is neither drought nor cold to check growth in any part of the year. The equatorial vegetation comprises a multitude of evergreen trees that yield tropical hardwood, e.

There are smaller palm trees, climbing plants like the lianas or rattan which may be hundreds of feet long and epiphytic and parasitic plants that live on other plants. Under the trees grow a wide variety of ferns, orchids and lalang. From the air, the tropical rain forest appears like a thick canopy of foliage, broken only where it is crossed by large rivers or cleared for cultivation.

The tallest trees attain a height of over feet Fig. Their slender trunks pierce skywards with wide-spread branches at the top. The smaller trees beneath form the next layer, and the ground is rooted with ferns and herbaceous plants which can tolerate shade.

Because the trees cut out most of the sunlight the undergrowth is not dense. Unlike the temperate forests, where only a few species occur in a particular area, the trees of the tropical rain forests are not found in pure stands of a single species. This has made commercial exploitation of tropical timber a most difficult task.

Many of the tropical hardwoods do not float readily on water and this makes haulage an expensive matter. It is therefore not surprising that many tropical countries are net timber importers! Many parts of the virgin tropical rain forests have been cleared either for lumbering or shifting cultivation. In the coastal areas and brackish swamps, mangrove forests thrive. Climates: Tropical Monsoon and Tropical Marine. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits.

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Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. This service is more advanced with JavaScript available. Encyclopedia of World Climatology Edition. Editors: John E. Contents Search. Tropical And Equatorial Climates. Authors Authors and affiliations James Henry.

How to cite. This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access. Boucher, K. Global Climate. Google Scholar. Byers, H. General Meteorology , 3rd edn. New York: McGraw-Hill. Crowe, P. Wind and weather in the equatorial zone. Institute of British Geographers Transactions , 17 : 23— CrossRef Google Scholar. Goudie, A. The Warm Desert Environment.