Love trees

Woodland Week and National Arbor Day are strong reminders of our love for nature. Since this week is Woodland Week - January 12 to 19 - I would like to share some information I researched about the tropical rainforests.

The wet tropics provide the only habitat for numerous rare species of both plants and animals. There are at least 483 species of plants that can be classified as rare or very restricted and of these 83 are regarded as threatened.

There are at least 25 species of animals that are regarded as very rare. These include the brushtailed bettong, the spotted tailed quoll, the yellow-bellied glider and the southern cassowary.

The tropical rainforests lie chiefly in areas near the Equator which receive some of the world's heaviest rainfall.

In the rainforest, most plant food is stored in a thin layer of soil near the surface. Decaying vegetation mix with the soil and adds food to it. The roots of most rainforest trees remain close to the supply of plant food near the surface.

In some species, the roots form large growths called buttresses that extend between the roots and the trunk. The buttresses help keep the trees upright. At the top they have closed canopies which allow around 12 per cent sunlight to reach the forest floor. The main canopy consists of some fully-grown trees and palms that can be as high as 50 metres.

Trees and shrubs generally have elongated crowns and each leaf is set at the best angle to catch as much sunlight as possible. North Queensland has some of the most breathtaking tropical rainforests stretching from Townsville to Cooktown covering approximately 894,000 hectares and are world heritage protected.

The World Heritage list, an agreement signed by over than 100 countries, is designed to preserve areas of ecological importance. Rainforests play a very important role in our planet's environment. They contain an amazing range of different plants and animals and more than half of the earth's species live inside tropical rainforests.

The biggest threat to the rainforest is human action-like deforestation for timber, development and pollution. The world's rainforests are in danger, disappearing at a frightening speed 150 acres per minute.

Ms Grech is a committee member of International Tree Foundation [Malta].