The Seram 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

Seram Seram (formerly spelled Ceram; also Seran or Serang) is the largest and main island of Maluku province of Indonesia, despite Ambon Island's historical importance. It is located just north of the smaller Ambon Island and a few other adjacent i ...

and neighboring islands.

Geography

Seram is the largest island in the ecoregion, with an area of . The ecoregion includes several neighboring smaller islands, including Ambon,

Haruku Haruku Island is an island in Central Maluku Regency, Maluku Province, Indonesia - lying east of Ambon Island, off the southern coast of Seram and just west of Saparua. It is administered as a single district, Haruku Island District (''Kecamatan ...

Saparua Saparua is an island east of Ambon Island in the Indonesian province of Maluku; the island of Haruku lies between Saparua and Ambon. The main port is in the south at Kota Saparua. The small and uninhabited island of Maolana is located near its ...

, and

Manipa Manipa Island is an island in West Seram Regency, Maluku Province, Indonesia. It is located 8 km off the western coast of Kelang (from which it is separated by the Kelang Strait) at the western end of Seram Island and 25 km off the ...

south and west of Seram, and the

Gorong archipelago The Gorom (formerly called Gorong) archipelago is a group of islands situated between the Watubela archipelago and Ceram in the Maluku Islands. History The ''Nagarakretagama'', an Old Javanese eulogy to king Hayam Wuruk of Majapahit written in ...

to the southeast. The islands are mountainous, and

Mount Binaiya Mount Binaiya (Indonesian: Gunung Binaia) is the highest point on the Indonesian island of Seram (or Ceram) and the highest mountain in the province of Maluku. With an elevation of , it is the 88th most topographically prominent peak on Earth. ...

(3,027 meters) on Seram is the highest point. 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

Seram Sea The Seram Sea or Ceram Sea () is one of several small seas between the scattered islands of Indonesia. It is a section of the Pacific Ocean with an area of approximately located between Buru and Seram, which are two of the islands once called th ...

bounds the ecoregion on the north and east, and the

Banda Sea The Banda Sea (, , ) is one of four seas that surround the Maluku Islands of Indonesia, connected to the Pacific Ocean, but surrounded by hundreds of islands, including Timor, as well as the Halmahera Sea, Halmahera and Ceram Seas. It is about ...

lies to the south. Lydekker's Line runs through the Seram Sea; the line demarcates the islands of Wallacea from the islands on the Australia-New Guinea continental shelf which were joined during the ice ages when sea levels were lower.

Climate

The ecoregion has a tropical rain forest climate.

Flora

The main plant communities are tropical lowland evergreen rain forest, semi-evergreen rain forest, and montane rain forest.

Fauna

The ecoregion is home to 38 mammal species. Six species are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to the ecoregion: the

Seram bandicoot The Seram bandicoot (''Rhynchomeles prattorum''), also known as the Seram Island long-nosed bandicoot, is a member of the order Peramelemorphia that is endemic to the island of Seram in Indonesia. It is the only species in the genus ''Rhynchomele ...

(''Rhynchomeles prattorum''), Spiny Ceram rat (''Rattus feliceus''), Dusky mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys aerosus''), Dusky mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys fraterculus''),

Ceram rat The Ceram rat (''Nesoromys ceramicus''), also known as the Seram Island mountain rat, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in Seram Island, Indonesia, where it has been recorded on Mount Mansuela. It is the only species ...

(''Nesoromys ceramicus''), and possibly the Silvery flying fox (''Pteropus argentatus''). The ecoregion is home to 213 bird species. 16 species are endemic to the ecoregion. The ecoregion corresponds to the Seram endemic bird area. 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 bird, flightless black bird, found in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and northeastern ...

(''Casuarius casuarius'').

Protected areas

A 2017 assessment found that , or 11 percent, of the ecoregion consists of protected areas. Approximately three-quarters of the unprotected area is still forested. Protected areas include Manusela National Park on Seram.

External links

*
Seram endemic bird area (Birdlife International)

References

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