Fact Sheet
The Physical Environment
Tropical rainforests are located in warm humid places around the world's equator. Average daily temperature is about 25 degrees Celsius. Yearly rainfall is at least 1,500 mm, however some forests receive as much as 10,000 mm! Most of the rain falls during the monsoon, "the rainy season" between mid July and mid September.
On most days in the Tropics the rainforests receive 12 hours of sunshine providing plenty of energy for plant growth. But they grow in very poor soil as millions of years of rain has washed away the nutrients. Conveniently, the rainforest has adapted to these conditions and gets its nutrients by recycling the dead plants that fall to the forest floor. Micro-organisms rapidly break down this matter into usable nutrients like calcium, nitrogen and phosphorus.