The Peninsular Malaysian peat swamp forests ecoregion

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...

, in 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...

, are of 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...

, which includes portions of Malaysia and southern Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

.

Setting

The ecoregion covers an area of 3600 square kilometres (1,390 sq mi) on both the eastern and western sides of the peninsula. The peat swamp forests have formed over hundreds of years, as sediment and organic debris deposited by rivers are trapped behind mangrove

Mangrove

Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...

s, gradually building up a layer of waterlogged, acidic, nutrient-poor soil. These forests are less diverse than the surrounding Peninsular Malaysian rain forests, but are home to many endangered animals.

Flora

Dipterocarps, including Shorea albida

Shorea albida

Shorea albida is a species of plant in the Dipterocarpaceae family. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia.-Source:* Ashton, P. 1998. . Downloaded on 23 August 2007....

, are the dominant trees, while Strangler fig

Strangler Fig

Strangler fig is the common name for a number of tropical and subtropical plant species, including some banyans and unrelated vines, including among many other species:* Ficus aurea, also known as the Florida Strangler Fig...

s (Ficus spp.) are common at the edges of the swamp forests. Pandan (Pandanus amaryllifolius)

Pandanus amaryllifolius

Pandanus amaryllifolius is a tropical plant in the screwpine genus which is known commonly as pandan and is used widely in Southeast Asian cooking as a flavoring. The plant is rare in the wild but is widely cultivated. It is an upright green plant with fan-shaped sprays of long, narrow, bladelike...

  and the Sealing wax palm (Cyrtostachys lakka)  are common understory plants. These and other plants provide a source of food for a host of animals, including birds.

Fauna

The ecoregion home to many endangered species, including tigers, Malayan Tapir

Malayan Tapir

The Malayan Tapir , also called the Asian Tapir, is the largest of the four species of tapir and the only one native to Asia. The scientific name refers to the East Indies, the species' natural habitat...

s (Tapirus indicus), 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...

s (Neofelis nebulosa), 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....

s (Elephas maximus), and 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 ...

es (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis).

Threats

Threats to the forests include: mining, rubber harvesting, and clearing of forest for oil palm

Oil palm

The oil palms comprise two species of the Arecaceae, or palm family. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. The African Oil Palm Elaeis guineensis is native to West Africa, occurring between Angola and Gambia, while the American Oil Palm Elaeis oleifera is native to...

 and coconut

Coconut

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

 plantations. Land draining has also opened a great deal of space in these forests. Many trees are cut down for development of more space, although this has increased peat forest fires.

External links

• Peninsular Malaysian peat swamp forests (World Wildlife Fund)