As we continue to move south towards the equator we come to a belt that extends 10 degree cilices and north 10 degree cilices south of the equator. In this belt lie hot, wet forests of the world. The map shows us the three main areas- 1) the Amazon Basin in South America. 2) The Congo Basin Africa and 3) Malaysia and Southeast Asia. Since these areas lie close to the equator, temperatures are always high and constant.
Hot conditions
The noonday sun is always almost overhead. The day temperature is about 30 degree cilices 40 degree cilices and the average monthly temperature is about 26 degree cilices 27 degree cilices throughout the year. There are no seasons as such but all the year round it is one long season of hot, wet days.
One day hardly differs from another. The mornings are hot but afternoons are the hottest part of the day, although rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning, fall at that time.
Rainfall
Rainfall is heavy throughout the year, and most of it falls in the afternoon. Some equatorial forests get over 200 cm of rain each year.
Vegetation of the equatorial forest
The equatorial forest in Amazon Basin of South America is sometimes called the selva.
The hothouse conditions produce thick vegetation and a great variety of trees. Some of these, like the mahogany, are very valuable. The forest appears evergreen because all the plants do not lose their leaves at the same time.
Dead plants and leaves decay to form humus for plant growth. But the heavy rainfall washes away the minerals. These forests are very dense and the trees seem to grow in layers. In their struggle for sunlight they grew to great heights, some times as much as 30 minutes high. The trees are so close that the huge branches are interlaced and thus prevent the sun from reaching the floor of the forest. Due to this, the forest is dark, gloomy and humid. Big creepers climb up the huge trees to reach the sunlight. Wherever light can filter through from above there is a dense growth of palms, bamboos, ferns and lianas. The dry leaves of the trees decay very quickly to form manure. Mahogany and rubber grow in these forests. Some areas have been cleared to make plantations of rubber tree. One such place is Malaya.
Plantation agriculture
A plantation is an estate where a single crop is grown on a large scale.
Plantation of oil –palm and coca are found in the Conga Basin of west Africa. Liberia in West Africa is covered with rubber plantations.
Rubber trees grow wild in the Amazon Basin of South America. Rubber plantations here were not very successful because of the difficulty of finding labor. Today most of the world’s rubber is produced by the plantations in Southeast Asia. Let us see how this is done.
The temperature of Malaysia is about 30 degree cilices all through the year and the rainfall is about 250 cm per year. This is the type of climate in which rubber flourishes, but the soil must be well drained. Therefore rubber grows best on a gently sloping land. If a rubber estate is on flat land it should have deep drains at regular intervals to drain the stagnant water away or it will clog the roots of the trees. Many of the rubber plantations of Malaysia are now changing to new variety cf higher –yielding rubber plants. Again others are rapidly changing to the growing of palms of palm oil –as these trees yield a harvest sooner than the rubber plants.