The Nutrient Cycle - Soil: Reflections on the Basis of our Existence - page 84

Thirsty sentinels . Some plants cooperate with ants to protect their leaves. The ants attack all potential
intruders and are repaid in the form of a high-energy fluid from special glands in the leaves
“Lemon ants,” he said. “They're delicious. The Indians call them the devil's
gardeners. Their acid prevents weeds from growing round the tree trunks and the
trees thank them by letting them live in their branches.”
After a few seconds' hesitation, we cupped our hands. Suddenly, everyone
wanted to try the lemon taste and hear Meyer tell us about the indigenous peo-
ple's millennia of knowledge and the rainforest's plants and secrets. And when he
picked up a fallen fruit and showed how its juice could be used to colour the skin,
we all wanted our hands and arms decorated with Huaorani patterns.
In Rainforests, Decomposition Takes Place So Fast that
New Soil Has Virtually No Time to Form
Rays of sunlight pierced the treetops. The leaves had more holes than a Swiss
cheese thanks to the voracious appetite of insect larvae, whose excrement in turn
falls to the ground and is quickly broken down by fungi and bacteria. Leaves that
survive intact eventually fall to the ground too, along with twigs, blossoms and
flowers. It is never totally quiet in the jungle: you can always hear the sound of
something falling. Some leaves do not make it all the way to the ground but lodge
in crevices and decompose into soil high above. Plants whose seeds germinate in
these hollows spend their entire life marooned from the ground below.