THE HOT WET EQUATORIAL CLIMATE

1. Equatorial vegetation

High temperatures and large rainfall in the equatorial region support a luxuriant type of vegetation in the tropical rainforest. The Amazon forest is so dense and so complete in its vegetational extravagance that the special term selvas is used. Flouring, fruiting, round seeding and decaying are around the year. There is neither cold nor drought to check growth in any part of the year. The following are the characteristic features of the Equatorial vegetation.

• A Great Variety of Vegetation: It consists of a multitude of evergreen trees that yield tropical hardwood e.g. mahogany, ebony, greenheart, cabinet woods and dyewoods. 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.
• A Distinct Layer Arrangements: From the air, the tropical rainforest appears like a thick canopy of foliage, broken only when they crossed by large rivers or cleared for cultivation. All the plants struggle upwards for the sunlight resulting in a peculiar arrangement. The tallest trees attain a height of 150 feet. The small tree beneath the next layer and ground is rooted with ferns and herbaceous which can tolerate the shade.
• Multiple species: A few species occur in a particular area, the trees of the subtropical area are not found in pure sands of a single species. In the Malaysian jungle, as many as 200 species of trees may be found in an acre of forest. 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. Many tropical countries are net timber importers.
• Forest clearings: Many parts of the virgin tropical rainforests have been cleared due to lumbering or shifting cultivation. A secondary forest in Malaysia is called belurak. These are characterized by short trees and very dense undergrowth. Mangrove thieves are grown in coastal areas and brackish swamps.

2. Life and Development in the Equatorial Regions

• The equatorial regions are generally less populated. People live as hunters, and collectors and adopt shifting cultivation. A large number of animals, birds and reptiles were hunted and survived the people.
• The ever-flowing rivers and streams provide an inexhaustible supply of fish. From the forest, they gather leaves, fruits, nuts and other forest products. In the Amazon basin, the Indian tribes collect wild rubber.
• In the Congo Basin, the Pygmies gather nuts and in the jungles of Malaysia, the Orang Asli makes all sorts of cane products and sells them to people in villages and towns.
•  In the clearings for shifting cultivation, crops like manioc, maize, yams, bananas and groundnuts are grown.
• Many large plantations were established in Java, Sumatra, Malaysia, West Africa and Central America. The crops which are grown in these areas have higher demand in the West.
• Brazil exports the most outstanding natural rubber is called hevea brasiliensis. Malaysia and Indonesia are leading producers with one-third of the world's production.
• Cocoa is most extensively cultivated in West Africa bordering the Gulf of West Guinea. The most two important producers are Ghana and Nigeria. Oil palms are cultivated outside of Africa. Coconut, sugar, coffee, tea, tobacco, spices, bananas, pineapples, saga and cinchona are cultivated in this region.

3. Factors Affecting the Development of the Equatorial Regions

• Equatorial climate and health: Due to excessive heat and high humidity, man is subjected to physical and mental handicaps. Overexposure to the sun leads to sunstroke. Other diseases such as malaria and yellow fever are tackled by vaccine shots for other diseases.
• Prevalence of bacteria and inspect pets: Germs and bacteria are easily transmitted through moist air. Inspects and pets spread the diseases as well as injurious to crops.
• Jungle hinders development and maintenance: Lalang [tall grass] thick undergrowth springs up as soon as the shade trees are cut. Roads and railways are constructed in the forests, leading to encounters with animals, poisonous snakes and insects. Many remote parts of the Amazon basin, the Congo and the Borneo are without modern communication. They use rivers as national highways.
• Rapid deterioration of Tropical soil: There is a misconception that tropical soils are rich and fertile. In its virgin, untouched state and heavy leaf fall and decomposition of leaves by bacteria, a thick mantle of Humus makes soil fairly fertile. The shifting cultivators are heavy cropping in the newly cleared landings. The soil deteriorates rapidly with subsequent soil erosion and soil impoverishment. Indonesia's Island of Java is an exception because of its rich volcanic lava and energetic local people.
• Difficulties in lumbering and livestock farming: These trees do not have homogenous stands and there are no frozen surfaces to facilitate logging and commercial extraction is difficult. Livestock farming is greatly handpicked by the absence of meadow grass. It is tall but not neutrinos. The few animals like buffaloes or bullocks are kept mainly as the beast of burden. In Africa, domesticated animals are attacked by tsetse flies that cause Ngana, a deadly disease