Nutrient Cycling in Tropical and Temperate Forests

From this study of the nutrient cycles you must have realised the importance of the role of green plants that take up nutrients from the substratum and air, representing the abiotic components and decomposers that release the nutrients back into the abiotic pools for reuse by the plants. In tropical forests a large percentage of the total nutrients are held in the biomass and not in the soil, but in the temperate regions a large portion of organic matter and available nutrients is at all times in the soil and sediments.

Figure: Nutrient Cycling in Tropical and Temperate Forests

Figure shows the contrast in the distribution of organic carbon matter in a northern coniferous and a tropical rain forest. Interestingly both ecosystems contain the same amount of organic carbon but more than three fourths is in vegetation in the tropical forest. Recycling of nutrients in the organic structure of the tropic4 forests is aided by a number of nutrient conserving, biological adaptation.