The Irrawaddy moist deciduous forests is a

tropical moist broadleaf 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. Description TSMF is generally found in large, disco ...

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 o ...

in central

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. The ecoregion occupies the central basin of the

Irrawaddy River The Irrawaddy River ( Ayeyarwady River; , , from Indo-Aryan languages, Indic ''revatī'', meaning "abounding in riches") is a river that flows from north to south through Myanmar (Burma). It is the country's largest river and most important comm ...

and the lower basin of the

Salween River , ''Mae Nam Salawin'' ( , name_etymology = , image = Sweet_View_of_Salween_River_in_Tang_Yan_Township,_Shan_State,_Myanmar.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Salween River in Shan State, Myanmar , map ...

. The ecoregion is characterized by forests of tall trees which drop their leaves in the dry season. Most of the ecoregion's forests have been converted to agriculture.

Geography

The Irrawaddy moist deciduous forests occupy an area of 137,909 km². The ecoregion lies in central Myanmar, on low hills and undulating lowlands in the basins of the Irrawaddy and Salween rivers. The larger portion of the ecoregion is in the basin of the Irrawaddy and its tributaries, and the upper basin of the

Sittaung River The Sittaung River ( my, စစ်တောင်းမြစ် ; formerly, the Sittang or Sittounghttps://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/UNGEGN/docs/8th-uncsgn-docs/inf/8th_UNCSGN_econf.94_INF.75.pdf ) is a river in south central Myanmar in Bag ...

. It is bounded by the Mizoram–Manipur–Kachin rain forests on the southwest and north, and the Chin Hills–Arakan Yoma montane forests in

Chin Hills The Chin Hills are a range of mountains in Chin State, northwestern Burma (Myanmar), that extends northward into India's Manipur state. Geography The highest peak in the Chin Hills is Khonu Msung, or Mount Victoria, in southern Chin State, whi ...

and

Arakan Mountains The Arakan Mountains ( my, ရခိုင်ရိုးမ), also known as the Rakhine Yoma, are a mountain range in western Myanmar, between the coast of Rakhine State and the Central Myanmar Basin, in which flows the Irrawaddy River. It is th ...

to the west. The

Pegu Range The Pegu Range ( my, ပဲခူးရိုးမ; Pegu Yoma or Bago Yoma) is a range of low mountains or hillsSeekins, Donald M. (2006) ''Historical dictionary of Burma (Myanmar)'' Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Marylandpage 357 and uplands between ...

lies to the east, home to subtropical and montane forests. The Myanmar coastal rain forests lie to the south. A smaller area lies to the southeast in the lower basin of the

Salween , ''Mae Nam Salawin'' ( , name_etymology = , image = Sweet_View_of_Salween_River_in_Tang_Yan_Township,_Shan_State,_Myanmar.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Salween River in Shan State, Myanmar , map ...

and Gyaing rivers. It is bounded on the west and northwest by the Myanmar coastal rain forests, and on the east by the Kayah-Karen montane rain forests. The moist deciduous forests surround enclaves of Irrawaddy dry forests, which occur in areas with less than 800 mm of annual rainfall.

Flora

The forests are characterized by dry-season deciduous trees which form a tall continuous canopy. Dominant tree species are

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...

(''Tectona grandis'') and Pyinkado (''Xylia xylocarpa'' var. ''kerrii''), with ''

Terminalia tomentosa ''Terminalia elliptica'' is a species of '' Terminalia'' native to southern and southeast Asia in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.Sal and Saaj Deforestation in West Nepal"Terminalia Tomentosa"/ref> It is ...

, Terminalia belerica, Terminalia pyrifolia, Homalium tomentosum, Bombax insigne,

Gmelina arborea ''Gmelina arborea'', (in English beechwood, gmelina, goomar teak, Kashmir tree, Malay beechwood, white teak, yamane ), locally known as gamhar, is a fast-growing deciduous tree in the family Lamiaceae. Distribution and habitat ''Gmelina arborea ...

Lannea grandis ''Lannea coromandelica'', also known as the Indian ash tree, is a species of tree in the family Anacardiaceae that grows in South and Southeast Asia, ranging from Sri Lanka to Southern China. It is commonly known as Gurjon tree and is used in pl ...

, Lannea coromandelica,

Pterocarpus macrocarpus ''Pterocarpus macrocarpus'', or Burma padauk, is a tree native to the seasonal tropical forests of southeastern Asia: in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. It has been naturalized in India and the Caribbean. Description ''Pterocar ...

Millettia pendula ''Millettia'' is a genus of legume in the family Fabaceae. It consists of about 150 species, which are distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The genus was formerly known by the name ''Pongamia'', but that name was reje ...

, Berrya ammonilla,

Mitragyna rotundifolia ''Mitragyna'' is a genus of trees in the family Rubiaceae found in the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia and Africa. Members of this genus contain antimalarial and analgesic indole alkaloids. The Rubiacae are the fifth-largest family of f ...

'', and species of ''

Vitex ''Vitex'' is a genus of flowering plants in the sage family Lamiaceae.List of Genera in Lamiaceae. At: Peter F. Stevens. 2001 onwards. Angiosperm Phylogeny Website At: Missouri Botanical Garden Website. (see ''External links'' below). It has ...

''. The evergreen canopy forests are interspersed with stands of bamboo, and occasional large evergreen trees.

Fauna

The ecoregion is home to several large mammals, including

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus '' Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in ...

(''Elephas maximus''),

gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ), also known as the Indian bison, is a bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 ...

(''Bos gaurus''),

Himalayan black bear The Himalayan black bear (''Ursus thibetanus laniger'') is a subspecies of the Asian black bear found in the Himalayas of India, Bhutan, Nepal, China, and Pakistan. Description It is distinguished from '' U. t. thibetanus'' by its longer, thic ...

(''Selenarctos thibetanus''),

sun bear The sun bear (''Helarctos malayanus'') is a species in the family Ursidae (the only species in the genus ''Helarctos'') occurring in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the smallest bear, standing nearly at the shoulder and weighin ...

(''Helarctos malayanus''),

Sambar deer The sambar (''Rusa unicolor'') is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2008. Populations have declined substantially due to severe hunting, local ins ...

(''Cervus unicolor'')

Mainland serow The mainland serow (''Capricornis sumatraensis'') is a serow species native to the Himalayas, Southeast Asia and China. The mainland serow is related closely to the red serow, Himalayan serow, Sumatran serow, and the Chinese serow (''C. mil ...

(''Capricornis milneedwardsii''),

Indian hog deer The Indian hog deer (''Axis porcinus'') is a small deer native to the Indo-Gangetic Plain in Pakistan, northern India, Nepal, Bangladesh to mainland Southeast Asia. It also occurs in western Thailand, and is possibly extirpated from China (in so ...

(''Hyelaphus porcinus''),

dhole The dhole (''Cuon alpinus''; ) is a canid native to Central, South, East and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asian wild dog, Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, red wolf, and mountain wolf. ...

(''Cuon alpinus''), Asian golden cat (''Catopuma temminckii''), marbled cat (''Pardofelis marmorata''),

leopard cat The leopard cat (''Prionailurus bengalensis'') is a small wild cat native to continental South, Southeast, and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is widely distributed although threatened by ha ...

(''Prionailurus bengalensis''),

masked palm civet The masked palm civet (''Paguma larvata''), also called the gem-faced civet, is a palm civet species native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008 as it occurs in many ...

(''Paguma larvata''),

binturong The binturong (''Arctictis binturong'') (, ), also known as the bearcat, is a viverrid native to South and Southeast Asia. It is uncommon in much of its range, and has been assessed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because of a declining po ...

(''Arctictis binturong''), spotted linsang (''Prionodon pardicolor''), and

capped langur The capped langur (''Trachypithecus pileatus'') is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is native to Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Myanmar. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It is threatened by habitat ...

(''Trachypithecus pileatus'').

Protected areas

A 2017 assessment found that 4,359 km², or 3%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. Another 4% is forested but outside protected areas.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 Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park, Kyatthin Wildlife Sanctuary,

Minwuntaung Wildlife Sanctuary Minwuntaung Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area in Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English spe ...

, Moeyungyi Wetland Wildlife Sanctuary, and

Shwesettaw Wildlife Sanctuary Shwesettaw Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area in Myanmar, covering . It was established in 1985. In elevation, it ranges from and harbours mixed deciduous forest in the Minbu, Pwintphyu, Saytotetaya and Ngape Townships in the Magway Region ...

External links

References

{{reflist Ecoregions of Myanmar * Indomalayan ecoregions Irrawaddy River Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests