Borneo lowland rain forest
Encyclopedia
Borneo lowland rain forest is an ecoregion
, within the Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
Biome
, of the large island of Borneo
in Southeast Asia. It supports approximately 10,000 plant species, 380 bird species and several mammal species. The Borneo lowland rain forest is diminishing due to logging and conversion to commercial land use.
forest, the central Borneo montane rain forests
and the Kinabalu montane alpine meadows. The lowlands are distinguished by climate (as the eastern side of the island is drier) or separated by the large rivers Kapuas
and Barito
, which prevent animals and reptiles from spreading freely around the island. The lowland ecoregions are: the large areas of peat swamp forest
, the Kerangas heath forest
, freshwater swamp forests of the south of the island, and mangroves on the coast
. The Borneo lowland rain forests described in this article consist of all lowland areas not clearly in one of the above categories. They cover an area of about 165,100 square miles (427,500 km2), parts of which lie in all the political territories of the island: Kalimantan
(Indonesia), Sarawak
and Sabah
(Malaysia) and Brunei
.
Lowland Borneo has a stable climate, with monthly rainfall exceeding 8 inches throughout the year and a temperature range of more than 18°C.
glacial epoch, all of Borneo, Java
, Sumatra
, and mainland Indochina
were part of the same landmass. This allowed plants and animals to migrate from one region to the next. Now Borneo is separated from the Malay Peninsula
and the other islands, but still shares much of the same plant and animal diversity, while less of the Borneo wildlife is to be found further east in Sulawesi
.
in the world. The climate provides an ideal growing environment for approximately 10,000 species of plant (more than in the whole continent of Africa). Among these are some 2,000 orchids and 3,000 trees, including 267 Dipterocarpaceae
tropical rainforest trees, of which 155 are endemic to Borneo. This makes the island the center of the world's diversity for dipterocarps. Plants include five species of the strong-smelling parasite Rafflesia
, one of which, Rafflesia arnoldii
, has flowers over a metre wide, making it the world's largest flower. The limestone uplands of the Sangkulirang Peninsula and Sarawak support their own particular plant communities, as do the Labi Hills on the Brunei-Sarawak border.
, to the largest land mammal in Asia, the Asian elephant
. It includes the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros
, the endangered and iconic Bornean orangutan
, twelve other species of primate, bearded pig
s and Bornean yellow muntjac
deer. The primates of Borneo are: three apes (Bornean orangutan, Müller's Bornean gibbon
and Bornean white-bearded gibbon
), five langurs, the southern pig-tailed macaque
, the long-tailed macaque, Horsfield's tarsier
(Tarsius bancanus), the Sunda slow loris (Nycticebus coucang) and the endangered proboscis monkey
(Nasalis larvatus). There are no tigers on Borneo; carnivores include the endangered clouded leopard
(Neofelis nebulosa), the sun bear
(Elarctos malayanus), the otter civet
(Cynogale bennettii), and several other mustelids and viverrids.
The 380 species of birds include eight hornbill
s, eighteen woodpecker
s and thirteen pitta
s. There are nine near-endemic and two endemic birds; the Black-browed Babbler
(Malacocincla perspicillata) and the White-rumped Shama
(Copsychus stricklandii). Among the rich variety of reptiles and amphibians are crocodiles and the earless monitor lizard (Lanthanotus borneensis). The sounds of the forest vary from day to night as different combinations of these birds and animals emerge to roam and feed.
and the draining of the wetlands on the Klias Peninsula. In 2001, the World Wildlife Foundation forecast that "If the current trend of habitat destruction continues, there will be no remaining lowland forests in Borneo by 2010." Although this forecast has not been fulfilled, in 2008 the IUCN Red List
reported a 2005 prediction that "forest cover on the island of Borneo, if current deforestation rates continue, is projected to decline from 50% to less than one-third by 2020".
Large nature reserves in Borneo include Betung Kerihun
, Kutai
, Pleihari Martapura Wildlife Reserve and Kayan Mentarang National Park
s in Kalimantan, and Tabin Wildlife Reserve
in Sabah.
Ecoregion
An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...
, within the Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests , also known as tropical moist forests, are a tropical and subtropical forest biome....
Biome
Biome
Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...
, of the large island of Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
in Southeast Asia. It supports approximately 10,000 plant species, 380 bird species and several mammal species. The Borneo lowland rain forest is diminishing due to logging and conversion to commercial land use.
Location and description
The World Wildlife Fund has divided Borneo into seven ecoregions: five areas of lowlandLowland
In physical geography, a lowland is any broad expanse of land with a general low level. The term is thus applied to the landward portion of the upward slope from oceanic depths to continental highlands, to a region of depression in the interior of a mountainous region, to a plain of denudation, or...
forest, the central Borneo montane rain forests
Borneo montane rain forests
The Borneo montane rain forests are an ecoregion, of Cloud forest, within the Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Biome, of the island of Borneo in south-east Asia .-Location and description:...
and the Kinabalu montane alpine meadows. The lowlands are distinguished by climate (as the eastern side of the island is drier) or separated by the large rivers Kapuas
Kapuas River
The Kapuas River is a river in the Indonesian part of Borneo island, at the geographic center of Maritime Southeast Asia. At in length, it is the longest river of Indonesia and one of the world's longest island rivers...
and Barito
Barito River
Barito is a 890 km long river, located in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. It originates in the Muller Mountain Range from where it flows southward into the Java Sea...
, which prevent animals and reptiles from spreading freely around the island. The lowland ecoregions are: the large areas of peat swamp forest
Borneo peat swamp forests
The Borneo peat swamp forests ecoregion, within the Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Biome, are on the island of Borneo, which is divided between Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia.-Location and description:...
, the Kerangas heath forest
Kerangas forest
Sundaland heath forest, also known as Kerangas forest, is a type of tropical moist forest found on the island of Borneo, which is divided between Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia, as well as on the Indonesian islands of Belitung and Bangka, which lie to the west of Borneo.-Setting:The word Kerangas,...
, freshwater swamp forests of the south of the island, and mangroves on the coast
Sunda Shelf mangroves
The Sunda Shelf mangroves ecoregion, in the Mangrove Biome, are on the coasts of the islands of Borneo and eastern Sumatra in Malaysia and Indonesia...
. The Borneo lowland rain forests described in this article consist of all lowland areas not clearly in one of the above categories. They cover an area of about 165,100 square miles (427,500 km2), parts of which lie in all the political territories of the island: Kalimantan
Kalimantan
In English, the term Kalimantan refers to the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo, while in Indonesian, the term "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo....
(Indonesia), Sarawak
Sarawak
Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , Sarawak is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia followed by Sabah, the second largest state located to the North- East.The administrative capital is Kuching, which...
and Sabah
Sabah
Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...
(Malaysia) and Brunei
Brunei
Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...
.
Lowland Borneo has a stable climate, with monthly rainfall exceeding 8 inches throughout the year and a temperature range of more than 18°C.
Ecology
During the PleistocenePleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
glacial epoch, all of Borneo, Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
, and mainland Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
were part of the same landmass. This allowed plants and animals to migrate from one region to the next. Now Borneo is separated from the Malay Peninsula
Malay Peninsula
The Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a peninsula in Southeast Asia. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its terminus, is the southern-most point of the Asian mainland...
and the other islands, but still shares much of the same plant and animal diversity, while less of the Borneo wildlife is to be found further east in Sulawesi
Sulawesi
Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...
.
Flora
The lowlands of Borneo are home to the richest rainforestRainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
in the world. The climate provides an ideal growing environment for approximately 10,000 species of plant (more than in the whole continent of Africa). Among these are some 2,000 orchids and 3,000 trees, including 267 Dipterocarpaceae
Dipterocarpaceae
Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 17 genera and approximately 500 species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus Dipterocarpus, is derived from Greek and refers to the two-winged fruit...
tropical rainforest trees, of which 155 are endemic to Borneo. This makes the island the center of the world's diversity for dipterocarps. Plants include five species of the strong-smelling parasite Rafflesia
Rafflesia
Rafflesia is a genus of parasitic flowering plants. It contains approximately 28 species , all found in southeastern Asia, on the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, Thailand and the Philippines.Rafflesia was found in the Indonesian rain forest by an Indonesian guide working for Dr...
, one of which, Rafflesia arnoldii
Rafflesia arnoldii
Rafflesia arnoldii is a member of the genus Rafflesia. It is noted for producing the largest individual flower on earth, and a strong odor of decaying flesh - the latter point earning it the nickname of "corpse flower". It is an endemic plant that occurs only in the rainforest of Bengkulu and...
, has flowers over a metre wide, making it the world's largest flower. The limestone uplands of the Sangkulirang Peninsula and Sarawak support their own particular plant communities, as do the Labi Hills on the Brunei-Sarawak border.
Fauna
The wildlife of this ecoregion consists of a large number of forest animals ranging from the world's smallest squirrel, the least pygmy squirrelLeast Pygmy Squirrel
The Least Pygmy Squirrel , also known as the Plain Pygmy Squirrel, is a species of rodent in the Sciuridae family. This plain olive-brown squirrel is endemic to forest in Borneo and the Banggi Island. It is among the smallest squirrels in the world.-References:*Thorington, R. W. Jr. and R. S....
, to the largest land mammal in Asia, the Asian elephant
Asian Elephant
The Asian or Asiatic elephant is the only living species of the genus Elephas and distributed in Southeast Asia from India in the west to Borneo in the east. Three subspecies are recognized — Elephas maximus maximus from Sri Lanka, the Indian elephant or E. m. indicus from mainland Asia, and E. m....
. It includes the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros
Sumatran Rhinoceros
The Sumatran Rhinoceros is a member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant rhinoceroses. It is the only extant species of the genus Dicerorhinus. It is the smallest rhinoceros, although is still a large mammal. This rhino stands high at the shoulder, with a head-and-body length of ...
, the endangered and iconic Bornean orangutan
Bornean Orangutan
The Bornean orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus, is a species of orangutan native to the island of Borneo. Together with the slightly smaller Sumatran orangutan, it belongs to the only genus of great apes native to Asia....
, twelve other species of primate, bearded pig
Bearded Pig
The bearded pig , also known as the Bornean bearded pig, is a species of pig. It can be recognized by its prominent beard. It also sometimes has tassels on its tail. It is found in Southeast Asia—Sumatra, Borneo, the Malay Peninsula, and various smaller islands—where it inhabits rainforests and...
s and Bornean yellow muntjac
Bornean yellow muntjac
The Bornean yellow muntjac is restricted to the moist forests of Borneo where it lives alongside the common muntjac. It is similar to its much more common cousin and was only recently recognised as a separate species. Apart from the color difference, its antlers, which are just in length, are...
deer. The primates of Borneo are: three apes (Bornean orangutan, Müller's Bornean gibbon
Müller's Bornean Gibbon
Müller's Bornean gibbon , also known as the grey gibbon, is a primate in the Hylobatidae or gibbon family.Unlike other gibbon species, Müller's Bornean gibbon does not show sexual dimorphism in its fur coloration. Its fur is grey or brown colored with a ring of bright fur around its face. On the...
and Bornean white-bearded gibbon
Bornean white-bearded gibbon
The Bornean white-bearded Gibbon, , also known as the Bornean agile Gibbon or Southern Gibbon, is an endangered species of gibbon endemic to southern Borneo, between the Kapuas and Barito rivers....
), five langurs, the southern pig-tailed macaque
Southern Pig-tailed Macaque
The southern pig-tailed macaque is a medium-sized Old World monkey found in the southern half of the Malay Peninsula , Borneo, Sumatra and Bangka Island. This omnivorous macaque is mostly found in forest, but will also enter plantations and gardens...
, the long-tailed macaque, Horsfield's tarsier
Horsfield's Tarsier
Horsfield's tarsier , also known as the western tarsier, is a species of tarsier...
(Tarsius bancanus), the Sunda slow loris (Nycticebus coucang) and the endangered proboscis monkey
Proboscis Monkey
The proboscis monkey or long-nosed monkey, known as the bekantan in Malay, is a reddish-brown arboreal Old World monkey that is endemic to the south-east Asian island of Borneo...
(Nasalis larvatus). There are no tigers on Borneo; carnivores include the endangered clouded leopard
Clouded Leopard
The clouded leopard is a felid found from the Himalayan foothills through mainland Southeast Asia into China, and has been classified as vulnerable in 2008 by IUCN...
(Neofelis nebulosa), the sun bear
Sun Bear
The sun bear , sometimes known as the honey bear, is a bear found primarily in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia; North-East India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Southern China, Peninsular Malaysia, and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.-Description:The sun bear...
(Elarctos malayanus), the otter civet
Otter Civet
The Otter Civet, Cynogale bennettii, is a semi-aquatic civet found in forests, primarily lowland, near rivers and swampy areas of the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo. An additional population, only known from single specimen, occurs in northern Vietnam...
(Cynogale bennettii), and several other mustelids and viverrids.
The 380 species of birds include eight hornbill
Hornbill
Hornbills are a family of bird found in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia. They are characterized by a long, down-curved bill which is frequently brightly-colored and sometimes has a casque on the upper mandible. Both the common English and the scientific name of the family...
s, eighteen woodpecker
Woodpecker
Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species....
s and thirteen pitta
Pitta
Pitta may stand for:*Pittas, a family of tropical birds*Pitta bread *Pitta , an island in the Dodecanese archipelago, in the Aegean Sea...
s. There are nine near-endemic and two endemic birds; the Black-browed Babbler
Black-browed Babbler
The Black-browed Babbler is a mysterious songbird species in the family Timaliidae. It is endemic to Borneo. Only a single specimen, collected in the 19th century, is known....
(Malacocincla perspicillata) and the White-rumped Shama
White-rumped Shama
The White-rumped Shama is a small passerine bird of the family Muscicapidae. It was formerly classified as a member of the Thrush family, Turdidae, causing it to be commonly known as the White-rumped Shama Thrush or simply Shama Thrush.-Distribution:They are native to South and Southeast Asia, but...
(Copsychus stricklandii). Among the rich variety of reptiles and amphibians are crocodiles and the earless monitor lizard (Lanthanotus borneensis). The sounds of the forest vary from day to night as different combinations of these birds and animals emerge to roam and feed.
Threats and preservation
Logging and conversion of natural forests to rubber, oil palm and industrial timber plantations and for small-scale farming have given rise to significant deforestation in recent decades. In 1982–83 and again in 1997–98, forest fires in Kalimantan cleared around 25,000 km2 each time for oil palm planting. Further threats in Sabah come from exploration for oil and coal in the Maliau BasinMaliau Basin
Maliau Basin or also Maliau Basin Conservation Area, is a region in Sabah, Malaysia, which represents a geological catchment surrounding the Maliau River. Located around the center of Sabah in the Sandakan Division, it was designated as a conservation area by the Sabah Foundation in 1981...
and the draining of the wetlands on the Klias Peninsula. In 2001, the World Wildlife Foundation forecast that "If the current trend of habitat destruction continues, there will be no remaining lowland forests in Borneo by 2010." Although this forecast has not been fulfilled, in 2008 the IUCN Red List
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
reported a 2005 prediction that "forest cover on the island of Borneo, if current deforestation rates continue, is projected to decline from 50% to less than one-third by 2020".
Large nature reserves in Borneo include Betung Kerihun
Betung Kerihun National Park
Betung Kerihun National Park is a national park in the province of West Kalimantan on the island of Borneo, Indonesia. It is located inland, along the Malaysian border...
, Kutai
Kutai National Park
Kutai National Park is a lowland national park located on the east coast of Borneo Island, in the East Kalimantan province of Indonesia, few minutes south of the equator.- Geography :...
, Pleihari Martapura Wildlife Reserve and Kayan Mentarang National Park
Kayan Mentarang National Park
Kayan Mentarang National Park is a densely forested national park in East Kalimantan province, Borneo Island, Indonesia. The national park is named after a great dispersed Mentarang mountain trails plateau of Apau Kayan which covers the entire park from Datadian area in south region to Apau Ping...
s in Kalimantan, and Tabin Wildlife Reserve
Tabin Wildlife Reserve
Tabin Wildlife Refuge is a nature preserve in Sabah, eastern Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. It was created in 1984 to preserve Sabah’s disappearing wild animals...
in Sabah.