Consider the following statements: Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

Answer: (d) Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Fast decomposition is real, but the nutrients go straight back into the trees — the soil itself stays poor.

Statement by statement

1. ✗ WRONG Heavy rain leaches minerals out of the soil, and whatever is released is taken up almost at once by the trees. The nutrients are in the living plants, not the soil.

2. ✓ CORRECT Heat and moisture let bacteria and fungi break leaf litter down within weeks.

The idea

A rainforest runs on a tight loop. A fallen leaf rots within weeks, and the roots, spread close to the surface, take up the released nutrients almost at once. So the forest’s wealth is held in the living trees, and very little stays in the soil. Heavy rain washes away what the roots miss.

Leaf falls → Rots within weeks in heat and moisture → Roots near the surface absorb the nutrients at once → Nutrients are back in the tree → Soil itself stays poor

The trap

Fast decay sounds like it must make the soil rich. The trees capture the nutrients first, and rain washes out the rest.

Also know

The washing-out of minerals by rain is called leaching. What stays behind is rich in iron and aluminium: red laterite soil.