The Sunda Shelf mangroves 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 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...

 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 on the coasts of the islands 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....

 and eastern 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...

 in Malaysia and Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. They are home to the 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...

.

As well as being an important habitat for terrestrial and marine wildlife mangroves preserve the shape of the coastline.

Flora

There are more plant species here than in most mangrove forests in the world, with five different types of mangrove dominating parts of the region as follows: Avicennia

Avicennia

Avicennia is a genus of flowering plants currently placed in the bear's breeches family, Acanthaceae. It contains mangrove trees, which occur in the intertidal zones of estuarine areas and are characterized by aerial roots. Species of Avicennia occur worldwide south of the Tropic of Cancer.The...

 and Sonneratia

Sonneratia

Sonneratia is a genus of plants in the family Lythraceae. Formerly the Sonneratia were placed in a family called Sonneratiaceae which included both the Sonneratia and the Duabanga, but these two are now placed in their own monotypic subfamilies of the family Lythraceae...

 species on the coast where water is saltiest and the tidal wash strongest; Rhizophora

Rhizophora

Rhizophora is a genus of tropical mangrove trees, sometimes collectively called true mangroves. The most notable species is the Red Mangrove but some other species and a few natural hybrids are known. Rhizophora species generally live in intertidal zones which are indundated daily by the ocean...

s and Bruguiera

Bruguiera

Bruguiera is a plant genus in the family Rhizophoraceae. It is a small genus of six mangrove species of the Indian and west Pacific Ocean region, its range extending from East Africa and Madagascar through coastal India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia to northern Australia, Melanesia and Polynesia...

s in the swampy areas just behind them; and Nypa fruticans

Nypa fruticans

Nypa fruticans, known as the attap palm , nipa palm , and mangrove palm or buah atap , buah nipah , dừa nước , Ging Pol in Sinhala in Sri Lanka and gol pata , dani . It is the only palm considered a mangrove in the Mangroves Biome...

 palms in the freshwater streams further inland still.

Fauna

Mammals of the mangroves include the proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus), which solely inhabits these swampy coastal habitats. There are also many species of birds.

Threats and preservation

Mangroves are vulnerable ecosystems as trees are cut for timber, firewood and to clear land for agriculture and urban development such as shrimp farming. This loss of habitat persists despite the mangroves being part of a large number of protected areas including: on Borneo Bako National Park

Bako National Park

Bako National Park, established in 1957, is the oldest national park in Sarawak, eastern Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. It covers an area of at the tip of the Muara Tebas peninsula at the mouth of the Bako and Kuching Rivers. It is approximately by road from Kuching...

 in Malaysia and Tanjung Puting

Tanjung Puting

Tanjung Puting National Park is a national park in Indonesia located on the island of Borneo in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan. The park is famous for its orangutan conservation.- Geography :...

 and Gunung Palung National Park

Gunung Palung National Park

Gunung Palung National Park lies on the island of Borneo, in the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, north of Ketapang and east of Sukadana.- Geography:...

s in Indonesia, and on Sumatra Berbak

Berbak National Park

The Berbak National Park in Sumatra island, Jambi province of Indonesia, forms part of the largest undisturbed swamp forest in southeastern Asia, and the peat swamp forest with the greatest number of palm species...

 and Sembilang National Park

Sembilang National Park

Sembilang National Park is a national park covering 2,051 km² in east Sumatra, Indonesia. It comprises peat swamp forest, freshwater swamp forest and riparian forest...

s.