Ecoregions of Burma
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Chin Hills-Arakan Yoma montane forests (IM0109) |
| Description/subject: | | "The Chin Hills-Arakan Yoma Montane Rain Forests [IM0109] are globally outstanding for bird richness, partly because they acted as a refugia during recent glaciation events. This ecoregion still harbors many taxa characteristic of the Palearctic realm and a diverse assemblage of subtropical species distributed across its elevational gradients. Much of the southern Chin Hills remains biologically unexplored.
Location and General Description:
This ecoregion represents the montane moist forests along the length of the Chin Hills and Arakan Yomas mountain ranges along the west coast of Myanmar. The Köppen climate zone classifies this ecoregion in the tropical wet climate zone (National Geographic Society 1999)..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows (PA1003) |
| Description/subject: | | "The Eastern Himalayan Alpine Shrub and Meadows [PA1003] represent the alpine scrub and meadow habitat along the Inner Himalayas to the east of the Kali Gandaki River in central Nepal. Within it are the tallest mountains in the world-Everest, Makalu, Dhaulagiri, and Jomalhari-which tower far above the Gangetic Plains. The alpine scrub and meadows in the eastern Himalayas are nested between the treeline at 4,000 m and the snowline at about 5,500 m and extend from the deep Kali Gandaki gorge through Bhutan and India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, to northern Myanmar.
The Eastern Himalayan Alpine Shrub and Meadows [PA1003] ecoregion supports one of the world's richest alpine floral displays that becomes vividly apparent during the spring and summer when the meadows explode into a riot of color from the contrasting blue, purple, yellow, pink, and red flowers of alpine herbs. Rhododendrons characterize the alpine scrub habitat closer to treeline. The tall, bright-yellow flower stalk of the noble rhubarb, Rheum nobile (Polygonaceae), stands above all the low herbs and shrubs like a beacon, visible from across the valleys of the high Himalayan slopes.
The plant richness in this ecoregion sitting at the top of the world is estimated at more than 7,000 species, a number that is three times what is estimated for the other alpine meadows in the Himalayas. In fact, from among the Indo-Pacific ecoregions, only the famous rain forests of Borneo are estimated to have a richer flora. Within the species-rich landscape are hotspots of endemism, created by the varied topography, which results in very localized climatic variations and high rainfall, enhancing the ability of specialized plant communities to evolve. Therefore, the ecoregion boasts the record for a plant growing at the highest elevation in the world: Arenaria bryophylla, a small, dense, tufted cushion-forming plant with small, stalkless flowers, was recorded at an astonishing 6,180 m by A. F. R. Wollaston (Wollaston 1921, in Polunin and Stainton 1997)..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Irrawaddy dry forests (IM0205) |
| Description/subject: | | " The Irrawaddy Dry Forests [IM0205], like the surrounding moist deciduous forests, have been under intensive conversion pressure for hundreds of years. However, until recently most of its large mammal fauna, such as the tiger, still persisted in the degraded forests. Only recently has the larger mammal fauna been hunted to the brink of extinction in this ecoregion. The little protection afforded this ecoregion has hindered conservation efforts.
Location and General Description
This ecoregion falls in the dry zone of central Myanmar. The region has a harsh climate and is extremely dry. The average rainfall is about 650 mm per year. Rains start in mid-July and last until October. There are rarely more than fifteen days of rain per year. When rainfall does occur, it falls in torrential showers. In addition to rains, the dry zone is subject to southerly winds during the summer, resulting in wind erosion of the topsoil..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Irrawaddy freshwater swamp forests (IM0116) |
| Description/subject: | | "The Irrawaddy River flows into the Bay of Bengal, and its delta is made up of mangroves and freshwater swamp forests of this ecoregion. This ecoregion is an extremely fertile area because of the riverborne silt deposited in the delta. The southern portion of the ecoregion transitions into the Myanmar Coastal Mangroves [IM1404] and is made up of fanlike marshes with oxbow lakes, islands, and meandering rivulets and streams." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Irrawaddy moist deciduous forests (IM0117) |
| Description/subject: | | "Like many of the region's lowland forests, the Irrawaddy Moist Deciduous Forests [IM0117] ecoregion has been intensively cultivated and its forests converted over hundreds of years. As a consequence, most of the region's biodiversity has been extirpated, and because of political forces over the past few decades very little current information on the biodiversity status of this ecoregion is known.
Location and General Description:
This ecoregion is located within the Irrawaddy River Basin, the catchments of Bago Yoma, and the foothills of Rakhine Yoma. The soils belong to the Irrawaddian series, which consists of the fluvial sands with terrestrial and aquatic vertebrate fossils. Silicified wood fossils are found among ferruginous, calcareous, and siliceous concretions, with quartz pebbles. The Irrawaddian rocks are distinct from other Tertiary rock groups. Their occurrence reaches up to the Kachin State in the north and in Chindwin districts in Sagaing division. The southern distribution is down to Rangoon...." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Kayah-Karen montane rain forests (IM0119) |
| Description/subject: | | " The Kayah-Karen Montane Rain Forests [IM0119] ecoregion harbors globally outstanding levels of species richness. Among the ecoregions of Indochina, it ranks second for bird species richness and fourth for mammal species richness. The world's smallest mammal, Kitti's hog-nosed bat (Craseonycteris thonglongyai), equal in mass to a large bumblebee, resides in the limestone caves of this ecoregion. Because the ecoregion remains unexplored scientifically, especially the parts that lie in Myanmar, it probably will yield more biological surprises.
Location and General Description:
This ecoregion includes the northern part of the Tenasserim Mountain Range, which forms the border between Thailand and Myanmar. Much of the region consists of hills of Paleozoic limestone that have been dissected by chemical weathering. The overhanging cliffs, sinkholes, and caverns characteristic of tropical karst landscapes are all present in this ecoregion. Large patches of limestone forest are associated with the tropical karst. The flora and fauna here is distinct and includes several endemic species. Because complex habitats are little explored, it is likely that they contain undescribed endemic species..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Kayah-Karen/Tenasserim Moist Forests (29) |
| Description/subject: | | "This region contains Indochina’s largest block of moist forest, one of its richest plant diversities, and its largest number of mammals. This Global 200 ecoregion is made up of these terrestrial ecoregions: Tenasserim-South Thailand semi-evergreen rain forests; Kayah-Karen montane rain forests.
If you're interested in Asian mammals, you should visit the Kayah-Karen/Tenasserim Moist Forests. For here live tigers, Asian elephants, gaurs, and clouded leopards--species that conjure images of dense, gloomy forests. Other species, such as the Fea’s muntjak -- a small deer with prominent, vampire-like canine teeth -- are rarely found anywhere outside of these forests. In the evenings a host of different bats, ranging in size from small to tiny, will begin to flit through the sky feasting on the large variety of insects, while white-bellied rats scurry across the ground..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Lake Inle (190) |
| Description/subject: | | "Stand on the Shan Plateau, and you'll see mountains everywhere, stretching far and wide. Under your feet lies rocky soil rich with silver, rubies, and sapphires. But the real gem here is Lake Inle. One of Myanmar's few freshwater lakes, Inle contains many unique species of fish.
Lake Inle lies 2,952 feet (900 m) above sea level on the Shan Plateau, an extensive region of high mountain ranges crisscrossed by streams and the mighty Salween River. Inle is a shallow mountain lake that contains several islands and is fed by mountain streams..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests (IM0131) |
| Description/subject: | | "The Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin Rain Forests [IM0131] has the highest bird species richness of all ecoregions that are completely within the Indo-Pacific region. (The only ecoregions that have more birds are the Northern Indochina Subtropical Forests [IM0137] and South China-Vietnam Subtropical Evergreen Forests [IM0149] that extend into China.) Except the pioneering explorations of Kingdon-Ward (1921, 1930, 1952) and Burma Wildlife Survey made by Oliver Milton and Richard D. Estes (1963), few scientific surveys have been made in this ecoregion. Once exception has been the recent Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Smithsonian Institution's reptile survey in northwestern Myanmar. Therefore these rugged mountains' biodiversity remains largely unknown.
This large ecoregion represents the semi-evergreen submontane rain forests that extend from the midranges of the Arakan Yoma and Chin Hills north into the Chittagong Hills of Bangladesh, the Mizo and Naga hills along the Myanmar-Indian border, and into the northern hills of Myanmar. It divides the Brahmaputra and Irrawaddy valleys, through which two of Asia's largest rivers flow. Some areas in this ecoregion receive more than 2,000 mm of rainfall annually from the monsoons that sweep in from the Bay of Bengal..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Myanmar Coast mangroves (IM1404) |
| Description/subject: | | "Myanmar Coastal Mangroves [IM1404] ecoregion is found in the Irrawaddy delta. The mouth of the Irrawaddy River was some 170 miles inland near Prome 300,000 years ago. On the islands of Twante, Myaungmya, and Bassein, lateritic ridges stood above the water. The delta is composed largely of alluvium, and a large area is occupied by volcanic rocks...The Myanmar Coastal Mangroves...are some of the most degraded or destroyed mangrove systems in the Indo-Pacific. The sedimentation rate of the Irrawaddy River is the fifth highest in the world. This is largely because of the deforestation that has occurred throughout central Myanmar. The mangroves have also been overexploited from forestry, agriculture, aquaculture, and development projects. The wild species have been severely reduced but hang on in isolated pockets..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Myanmar coastal rain forests (IM0132) |
| Description/subject: | | " The Myanmar Coastal Rain Forests [IM0132] are a diverse set of climatic niches and habitats that include flora and fauna from the Indian, Indochina, and Sundaic regions. Though low in endemism, this ecoregion has a tremendous species diversity. However, the forests have been increasingly destroyed to make way for agriculture, and poaching has become the dominant threat to the remaining wildlife populations." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Naga-Manupuri-Chin Hills Moist Forests (34) |
| Description/subject: | | "This ecoregion is one of the richest areas for birds and mammals in all of Asia. This Global 200 ecoregion is made up of these terrestrial ecoregions: Northern Triangle subtropical forests; Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests; Chin Hills-Arakan Yoma montane forests; Meghalaya subtropical forests; Northeast India-Myanmar pine forests..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Northeast India-Myanmar pine forests (IM0303) |
| Description/subject: | | " The Northeast India-Myanmar Pine Forests [IM0303] ecoregion is one of only four tropical or subtropical conifer forest ecoregions in the Indo-Pacific region. All of these ecoregions contain less biodiversity than the forests that surround them. However, they contain processes and species unique to these ecosystems. This ecoregion contains moderate levels of biodiversity but remains largely intact, providing opportunities to conserve and protect this ecoregion's biodiversity into the future.
Location and General Description
These forests are found in the north-south Burmese-Java Arc. The Arc is formed by the parallel folded mountain ranges that culminate in the Himalayas in the north. Moving south are the mountain ranges of Patkoi, Lushai Hills, Naga Hills, Manipur, and the Chin Hills. The outer southwestern fringe of mountain ranges forming the Arc is the Arakan Yomas, the southern continuation of the folded mountain ranges branching off from the Himalayas. Geologically the ecoregion has gley and black slates. Dark-colored serpentine and gabbro also are found interstratified within the shales..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Northern Indochina subtropical forests (IM0137) |
| Description/subject: | | " The Northern Indochina Subtropical Forests [IM0137] are globally outstanding for their biological diversity; this ecoregion has the highest species richness for birds among all ecoregions in the Indo-Pacific region and ranks third for mammal richness. The ecoregion sits astride a major zoogeographic ecotone, where the northern Palearctic and the southern Indo-Malayan faunas mix, allowing langurs to mix with red pandas and muntjac and musk deer to mingle. It is also a crossroads for the south Asian and east Asian floras as well as some ancient relicts that have found refuge here during the turbulent and variable geological past.
Location and General Description:
This large ecoregion extends across the highlands of northern Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam and also includes most of southern Yunnan Province. A complex network of hills and river valleys extends south of the Yunnan Plateau into northern Indochina to include the middle catchments of the Red, Mekong, and Salween rivers. Mountains in this area are composed of intrusive igneous rocks or Paleozoic limestone and approach but seldom exceed 2,000 m, and major river valleys lie at 200-400 m elevation..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Northern Indochina Subtropical Moist Forests (22) |
| Description/subject: | | "The Northern Indochina Subtropical Moist Forests are home to an unusually large number of unique mammal, bird, and plant species. This Global 200 ecoregion is made up of these terrestrial ecoregions: Northern Indochina subtropical forests; Yunnan Plateau subtropical evergreen forests.
Look up into the treetops and you may see a black gibbon swinging across the canopy with unparalleled agility. You may see a Francois leaf monkey stuffing handfuls of leaves into its mouth. You may see flocks of large, green Alexandrine parakeets perching on the branches. And on the ground, you may see a great variety of shrews, rats, mice, and moles scurrying amid the undergrowth and leaf litter. These forests abound with life..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Northern Triangle subtropical forests (IM0140) |
| Description/subject: | | "The Northern Triangle Subtropical Forests [IM0140] are one of the least explored and scientifically known places in the world. The region's remote location, limited access, and rugged landscape have kept scientific exploration at a minimum. Yet what is known about these forests still ranks them as globally outstanding in their biological diversity. There are at sixty-five endemic mammals known from this ecoregion, but more probably await discovery. In 1997 a new species of small deer, the leaf muntjac, was discovered high in the mountains. This ecoregion remains one of the few places in the Indo-Pacific region where conservation action can be done on a proactive rather than reactive basis.
Location and General Description:
Floristically, Kachin State in northern Myanmar is one of the most diverse regions in continental Asia (WWF and IUCN 1995), but it is also one of the least explored. In 1997 a WCS team went into the region, the first in more than fifty years, since the early explorations of Kingdon-Ward (1921, 1930, 1952). Therefore, our assessment of the biodiversity in this region probably is highly underestimated; it probably harbors many more species than are now attributed to it..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Northern Triangle temperate forests (IM0402) |
| Description/subject: | | " The Northern Triangle Temperate Forests [IM0402] ecoregion lies in the extreme northern area of the Golden Triangle of Myanmar. The region is scientifically unexplored, and the biological information, especially of its flora, is still based on the early, pioneering exploration done by Kingdon-Ward (1921, 1930, 1952). There have been no detailed scientific surveys in this area since then, and current assessments of its biodiversity probably are underestimated. In all probability this ecoregion harbors many more species than are now attributed to it. Satellite imagery indicates that the ecoregion is still largely clothed in intact forests and presents a rare opportunity to conserve large landscapes that will support the ecological processes and the biodiversity within this eastern Himalayan ecosystem.
Location and General Description:
The mountains originated more than 40 million years ago, when the collision between the drifting Deccan Plateau and the northern Laurasian mainland created the Himalayan Mountains, including these mountains in the Golden Triangle. Therefore, the mountains are young and unweathered; the terrain is rugged and dissected, with north-south-oriented ranges that reach south, toward the central plains of Myanmar. The peaks along this range rise steeply to attain heights of more than 3,000 m. The Chindwin, Mali Hka, and N'mai Hka rivers originate in these mountains and flow south to converge in the lower reaches to form the Irrawaddy River..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Salween River (173) |
| Description/subject: | | "The Salween River is home to many freshwater fish and turtles, many of which are endemic.
The Salween River begins high above the tree line in the mountains of Tibet, in China. It flows through valleys that are at first steep and narrow, then increasingly broad, as the river approaches the tropical lowlands. Eventually it enters the Andaman Sea in eastern Myanmar.
Parts of the Qinghai Mountains rise more than 20,000 feet (6,000 m). These extraordinary peaks are covered with snow and glaciers, the meltwater from which is the source of the Salween and other rivers and streams. The Salween runs south for about 1,500 miles (2,400 km) through vast forests and deep gorges. Along the way, it occasionally flows over its banks and nourishes valleys with rich sediment. The Salween runs parallel to the mightly Mekong River for much of its course and forms part of the border between Myanmar and Thailand..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Species Composition and Ecological Parameters of Tropical Monsoon Forests in Myanmar |
| Description/subject: | | Abstract:
"This study reports the species composition of tropical monsoon forest types and the absolute and relative values of each species in each forest type based on the primary data of field samples. The field samples were selected by spatially defined and spectrally homogenous field samples (SSS) derived from SPOT multispectral data..." Undated -- possibly around 1996. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | ICIMOD |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 04 July 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Tenasserim-South Thailand semi-evergreen rain forests (IM0163) |
| Description/subject: | | " The Tenasserim-South Thailand Semi-Evergreen Rain Forests [IM0163] cover the transition zone from continental dry evergreen forests common in the north to semi-evergreen rain forests to the south. As a consequence, this ecoregion contains some of the highest diversity of both bird and mammal species found in the Indo-Pacific region. The relatively intact hill and montane forests form some of the best remaining habitat essential to the survival of Asian elephants and tigers in the Indo-Pacific region. However, the lowland forests are heavily degraded, and many lowland specialists such as the endemic Gurney's pitta survive in a few isolated reserves.
Location and General Description:
This ecoregion encompasses the mountainous, semi-evergreen rain forests of the southern portion of the Tenasserim Range, which separates Thailand and Myanmar, and the numerous small ranges of peninsular Thailand. This ecoregion also includes the extensive lowland plains that lie between the peninsular mountains and until recent decades supported extensive lowland forest. The southern margin of this ecoregion is defined by the Kangar-Pattani floristic boundary (Whitmore 1984), which separates Indochina from the Malesia..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
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