The Halmahera rain forests is a

tropical moist forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Description TSMF is generally found in large ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. The ecoregion includes the island of

Halmahera Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coa ...

and neighboring islands, including

Bacan The Bacan Islands (; ), formerly also known as the Bachans, Bachians, and Batchians, are a group of islands in the Moluccas in Indonesia. They are mountainous and forested, lying south of Ternate and southwest of Halmahera. The islands are adm ...

, Morotai, the

Obi Islands The Obi Islands (also known as Ombirah, Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Obi'') are a group of 42 islands in the Indonesian province of North Maluku, north of Buru and Ceram, and south of Halmahera. With a total area of 2,817.72 km2, they had a pop ...

Ternate Ternate (), also known as the City of Ternate (; ), is the List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. It was the ''de facto'' provi ...

Tidore Tidore (, lit. "City of Tidore Islands") is a city, island, and archipelago in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, west of the larger island of Halmahera. Part of North Maluku Province, the city includes the island of Tidore (with three sm ...

Gebe Gebe is an island in Maluku Islands, Indonesia, between Raja Ampat and Halmahera. Administratively it is part of Central Halmahera, North Maluku. The island is part of a small island group which also includes Fau island, Yoi, Uta, and Sain. ...

, and many smaller islands.

Geography

Halmahera is the largest island in the ecoregion, with an area of 17,780 km². The islands are mountainous, and portions are volcanic in origin. Several volcanoes are still active, including Mount Gamkonora (1,560 m) the highest peak on Halmahera. The islands that make up the ecoregion are part of

Wallacea Wallacea is a biogeography, biogeographical designation for a group of mainly list of islands of Indonesia, Indonesian islands separated by deep-water straits from the Asian and Australia (continent), Australian continental shelf, continental ...

, a group of islands that are part of the

Australasian realm The Australasian realm is one of eight biogeographic realms that is coincident with, but not (by some definitions) the same as, the geographical region of Australasia. The realm includes Australia, the island of New Guinea (comprising Papua Ne ...

, but were never joined to either the Australian or Asian continents. The islands of Wallacea are home to a mix of plants and animals from both terrestrial realms, and have many unique species that evolved in isolation. The eastern boundary of the ecoregion follows Lydekker's Line, which demarcates the islands of Wallacea from the islands on the Australia-New Guinea continental shelf which were joined together during the ice ages when sea levels were lower.

Climate

The ecoregion has a tropical rain forest climate.

Flora

The main plant communities tropical lowland evergreen and semi-evergreen rain forest. ''

Syzygium aromaticum Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or fragrance in consumer products ...

'' is native to the ecoregion, and its aromatic flower buds are the source of the spice

clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or Aroma compound, fragrance in fin ...

. ''

Myristica fragrans ''Myristica fragrans'', commonly known as the nutmeg tree, is an evergreen species Indigenous (ecology), indigenous to the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. This aromatic tree is economically significant as the primary source of two distinct spices: n ...

'', another native, is the source of

nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed, or the ground spice derived from the seed, of several tree species of the genus '' Myristica''; fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg ('' M. fragrans'') is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fru ...

and mace, which are derived from its seeds. Both trees are widely cultivated on the islands. The recently discovered palm tree '' Jailoloa halmaherensis'' is endemic to Halmahera.

Fauna

The ecoregion is home to 38 mammal species. Seven species are endemic – the ornate cuscus (''Phalanger ornatus''),

Rothschild's cuscus Rothschild's cuscus (''Phalanger rothschildi''), also called the Obi Island cuscus, is a species of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae. It is endemic to the islands of Obi, Bisa and Obilatu in the Obi Islands of Maluku province, Indonesia ...

(''Phalanger rothschildi''),

Gebe cuscus The Gebe cuscus (''Phalanger alexandrae'') is a species of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae. It is endemic to the island of Gebe, North Maluku province, Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in So ...

(''Phalanger alexandrae''), blue-eyed cuscus (''Phalanger matabiru''), masked flying fox (''Pteropus personatus''), Obi mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys obiensis''), and Molaccan prehensile-tailed rat (''Rattus morotaiensis''). Cuscuses are arboreal

marsupial Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a r ...

s with origins in Australasia. The ecoregion is home to 223 bird species. It corresponds to the Northern Maluku endemic bird area. 23 species are endemic to the ecoregion. The endemics include four birds which are the only species in their

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

, including the elusive

invisible rail The invisible rail, Wallace's rail, or drummer rail (''Habroptila wallacii'') is a large flightless bird, flightless Rallidae, rail that is Endemism in birds, endemic to the island of Halmahera in Northern Maluku, Indonesia, where it inhabits i ...

(''Habroptila wallacii''), the white-streaked friarbird (''Melitograis gilolensis''), and two birds of paradise, the Halmahera paradise-crow (''Lycocorax pyrrhopterus'') and standardwing bird-of-paradise (''Semioptera wallacii''). The ecoregion is also home to the world's largest bee, Wallace's giant bee (''Megachile pluto'').

Protected areas

A 2017 assessment found that 2,052 km², or 8%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. Almost two-thirds of the unprotected area 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> Protected areas include Aketajawe-Lolobata National Park on Halmahera (1,673 km²).

External links

*
Northern Maluku endemic bird area (Birdlife International)

References

{{reflist Australasian ecoregions Ecoregions of Indonesia Ecoregions of Malesia Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Wallacea