The Peninsular Malaysian rain forests is an

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 ...

on the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

and adjacent islands. It is in the

tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests 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 la ...

biome A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Tansley added the ...

Geography

The ecoregion covers most of the southern

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and southern

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, and extends southwards to

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, the

Riau Archipelago The Riau Archipelago is a ''geographic'' term (as opposed to administrative region) for the core group of islands within the Riau Islands Province in Indonesia, and located south of Singapore and east of Riau on Sumatra. Before the province of Ri ...

, and

Lingga Islands The Lingga Regency () is a group of 600 islands in Indonesia, located south of Singapore and along both sides of the equator, off the eastern coast of Riau Province on Sumatra island. They are due south of the populated Riau Archipelago, known ...

, and east to the Anamba Islands. The peninsula is fringed with mangroves, including the Indochina mangroves on the eastern shore, and the

Myanmar coast mangroves The Burmese or Myanmar Coast mangroves are an ecoregion in Burma, Malaysia, Thailand and Bangladesh where there were once thick forests of mangroves but today most has been cleared, resulting in loss of habitat for wildlife. Location and descript ...

on the western shore. The ecologically distinct

Peninsular Malaysian peat swamp forests A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . ...

ecoregion are found in waterlogged lowlands on the east and west sides of the peninsula. The Titiwangsa Mountains form the mountainous backbone of the peninsula, and the range's higher elevations are home to the Peninsular Malaysian montane rain forests ecoregion.

Flora

The predominant trees are

dipterocarp Dipterocarpaceae is a family of flowering plants with 22 genera and about 695 known species of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India, Indochina, Indo ...

s, including species of ''

Anisoptera A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threatens ...

Dipterocarpus '' D. retusus'' in Köhler ''Dipterocarpus'' is a genus of flowering plants and the type genus of family Dipterocarpaceae. ''Dipterocarpus'' is the third-largest and most diverse genus among the Dipterocarpaceae. The species are well known for ...

Dryobalanops ''Dryobalanops'' is a genus of flowering plants and the genus of family Dipterocarpaceae. The name ''Dryobalanops'' is derived from Greek (''dryas'' = a nymph associated with oaks and ''balanops'' = acorn) and describes the acorn-like nut. The ge ...

Hopea ''Hopea'' is a genus of plants in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It contains some 113 species, distributed from Sri Lanka and southern India to the Andaman Islands, Myanmar, southern China, and southward throughout Malesia to New Guinea. They are ...

'', and ''

Shorea Fruit of a ''Shorea'' species ''Shorea'' is a genus of about 47 species of mainly rainforest trees in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The timber of trees of the genus is sold under the common names lauan, luan, lawaan, meranti, seraya, balau, bang ...

''. The forests are home to over 15,000 tree species, and trees of the families

Burseraceae The Burseraceae are a moderate-sized family of 17-19 genera and about 540 species of woody flowering plants. The actual numbers given in taxonomic sources differ according to taxonomic revision at the time of writing. The Burseraceae are also ...

and

Sapotaceae 240px, '' Madhuca longifolia'' var. ''latifolia'' in Narsapur, Medak district, India The Sapotaceae are a family of flowering plants belonging to the order (biology)">order Ericales">family (biology)">family of flowering plants belonging to th ...

are also common. Trees form a canopy 24-36 meters high, with emergent trees rising up 45 meters or more. The tallest emergent is '' Koompassia excelsa'', known as tualang, which can grow more than 76 meters high.

Fauna

The ecoregion home to 195 mammal species, including several large and endangered species –

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living ''Elephas'' species. It is the largest living land animal in Asia and the second largest living Elephantidae, elephantid in the world. It is char ...

(''Elephas maximus''),

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

(''Bos gaurus''),

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

(''Panthera tigris''),

Malayan tapir The Malayan tapir (''Tapirus indicus''), also called Asian tapir, Asiatic tapir, oriental tapir, Indian tapir, piebald tapir, or black-and-white tapir, is the only living tapir species outside of the Americas. It is native to Southeast Asia from ...

(''Tapirus indicus''), and

clouded leopard The clouded leopard (''Neofelis nebulosa''), also called mainland clouded leopard, is a wild cat inhabiting dense forests from the foothills of the Himalayas through Northeast India and Bhutan to mainland Southeast Asia into South China. It w ...

(''Neofelis nebulosa''). The

Sumatran rhinoceros The Sumatran rhinoceros (''Dicerorhinus sumatrensis''), also known as the Sumatran rhino, hairy rhinoceros or Asian two-horned rhinoceros, is a rare member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant species of rhinoceros; it is the o ...

(''Dicerorhinus sumatrensis'') once inhabited the forests, but Malaysia's last rhinoceroses died in 2019, and the species' few remaining members survive only in

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

Conservation

A 2017 assessment found that 20,113 km², or 16%, of the ecoregion is in

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

s. Protected areas in the ecoregion include Endau Rompin National Park (1191.59 km²), Endau-Kota Tinggi (West) Wildlife Reserve (805.49 km²), Endau-Kota Tinggi (East) Wildlife Reserve (106.5 km²), Krau Wildlife Reserve (623.96 km²), Mersin Wildlife Reserve (74.13 km²), and Ulu Muda Wildlife Reserve (1152.57 km²). Taman Negara National Park (4524.54 km²) and Royal Belum State Park (2072.0 km²) include portions of the ecoregion along with portions of the Peninsular Malaysian montane rain forests.Wikramanayake, Eric; Eric Dinerstein; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (2002). ''Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment.'' Washington, DC: Island Press.

References

External links

*{{WWF ecoregion, name=Peninsular Malaysian rain forests, id=im0146 Biota of Singapore Ecoregions of Asia Ecoregions of Indonesia Ecoregions of Malaysia Ecoregions of Malesia Ecoregions of Thailand Environment of Singapore Flora of Malaya Indomalayan ecoregions Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests