The Southeastern Papuan rain forests is a tropical moist forest

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...

in southeastern

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

. The ecoregion covers the mountainous center and coastal lowlands of the

Papuan Peninsula The Papuan Peninsula, also known as the Bird's Tail Peninsula, is a large peninsula in Papua New Guinea, southeast of the city of Lae, that makes up the southeastern portion of the island of New Guinea. The peninsula is the easternmost extent of t ...

Geography

The mountains that run the length of the peninsula are the eastern extension of the mountainous spine that runs the length of New Guinea. The Owen Stanley Range includes Mount Victoria (4,038 m), the ecoregion's highest peak .

Climate

The climate of the ecoregion varies with altitude. The lowlands are humid and tropical. Average temperatures decrease with altitude, and the highest portions of the Owen Stanley Range experience regular freezing temperatures.

Flora

The ecoregion's natural vegetation is humid evergreen rain forests. The forest types include alluvial rain forest on lowland plains, hill forests at the foot of the mountains, montane forests above 1000 meters, upper montane forests, and high mountain forests below the tree line. The highest peaks of the Owen Stanley Range are home to sub-alpine grasslands and shrublands, which are included in the separate Central Range sub-alpine grasslands ecoregion.

Fauna

There are 138 species of mammals in the ecoregion, mostly

marsupial Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a ...

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...

s, and murid rodents. Seven mammal species are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

broad-striped dasyure The broad-striped dasyure (''Murexia rothschildi'') is a species of marsupial in the family Dasyuridae. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. Some authorities place it in the monotypic ...

(''Paramurexia rothschildi''),

giant bandicoot The giant bandicoot (''Peroryctes broadbenti'') is a species of marsupial in the family Peramelidae endemic to Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hu ...

(''Peroryctes broadbenti''),

Papuan bandicoot The Papuan bandicoot (''Microperoryctes papuensis'') is a species of marsupial in the family Peramelidae. It is endemic to the Bird's Tail Peninsula The Papuan Peninsula, also known as the Bird's Tail Peninsula, is a large peninsula in Papua ...

(''Microperoryctes papuensis''),

New Guinea big-eared bat The New Guinea big-eared bat or Papuan big-eared bat, (''Pharotis imogene''), is a vesper bat endemic to Papua New Guinea. It is listed as a critically endangered species due to ongoing habitat loss. It is the only known member of the genus ''Pha ...

(''Pharotis imogene''), '' Chiruromys lamia'',

Long-nosed mosaic-tailed rat The long-nosed mosaic-tailed rat or Papuan lowland paramelomys (''Paramelomys levipes'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho ...

(''Melomys levipes''), and Van Deusen's rat (''Rattus vandeuseni''). The ecoregion is home to 510 species of birds. The largest bird in the ecoregion is the flightless

southern cassowary The southern cassowary (''Casuarius casuarius''), also known as double-wattled cassowary, Australian cassowary or two-wattled cassowary, is a large flightless black bird. It is one of the three living species of cassowary, alongside the dwarf c ...

(''Casuarius casuarius''), which lives in the lowland forests. Four species are endemic to the ecoregion – the

brown-headed paradise kingfisher The brown-headed paradise kingfisher (''Tanysiptera danae''), also known as the russet paradise kingfisher, is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae. It is endemic to the lowland forest in the Bird's Tail Peninsula (Papua New Guinea). It ...

(''Tanysiptera danae''), grey-headed munia (''Lonchura caniceps''), streaked bowerbird (''Amblyornis subalaris''), and

eastern parotia The eastern parotia (''Parotia helenae''), also known as Helena's parotia, is a medium-sized passerine of the bird-of-paradise family, Paradisaeidae, endemic to mountain forests of the Bird's Tail Peninsula (Papua New Guinea). It is approximatel ...

(''Parotia helenae'').

Protected areas

A 2017 assessment found that 830 km², or 1%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. Over 80% of the ecoregion is still forested.Eric Dinerstein, David Olson, et al. (2017). An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience, Volume 67, Issue 6, June 2017, Pages 534–545; Supplemental material 2 table S1b

/ref>

External links

References

{{reflist Australasian ecoregions Ecoregions of New Guinea Ecoregions of Papua New Guinea Montane forests Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests