The Timor and Wetar deciduous forests is a

tropical dry forest The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...

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, ...

and

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

. The ecoregion includes the islands of

Timor Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...

, Wetar, Rote,

Savu Savu (, also known as Sabu, Havu, and Hawu) is the largest of a group of three islands, situated midway between Sumba and Rote, west of Timor, in Indonesia's eastern province, East Nusa Tenggara. Ferries connect the islands to Waingapu on Su ...

, and adjacent smaller islands.

Geography

Timor, Wetar, Rote, and Savu are part of the

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands (, , ), now known as Nusa Tenggara Islands (, or "Southeast Islands"), are an archipelago in the Indonesian archipelago. Most of the Lesser Sunda Islands are located within the Wallacea region, except for the Bali pro ...

. The ecoregion is 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. Timor is the largest of the islands at 30,777 km². Timor is politically divided; The independent country of

Timor Leste Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

is on the eastern portion of Timor, and western Timor and the other islands are part of Indonesia. Western Timor, Rote, and Savu are part of

East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara (; ) is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, facing the Indian Ocean in the south and the Flores Sea in the north, with a total land area of 47,238.07 km2. It cons ...

province, while Wetar is part of

Maluku Province Maluku is located in Eastern Indonesia and geographically located in West-Melanesia, between Sulawesi and Western New Guinea, and comprises the central and southern regions of the Maluku Islands. It is directly adjacent to North Maluku, South ...

. The islands are mostly mountainous, and Tatamailau on Timor is the highest point at 2986 meters elevation. Wetar reaches 1,407 meters elevation.

Climate

The ecoregion has a tropical monsoon climate. The islands are in the

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from body of water, bodies of water (such as oceans and larg ...

of Australia, and are among the driest in Indonesia. Rainfall is strongly seasonal, and April through November are generally the driest months. The windward southern side of the islands and receive annual rainfall of 2000 mm or more, with a two- to four-month dry season with less than 100 mm per month. The leeward north side of the island is much drier, receiving 1000 mm or less, with nine or more dry months. Some south-facing mountain areas above 900 meters elevation are humid year-round.

Flora

Forest types include lowland evergreen rain forests, montane evergreen rain forests, semi-evergreen rain forests, moist deciduous forests, dry deciduous forests, and thorn forest/scrub. Evergreen and semi-evergreen rain forests occur in high-rainfall areas on the south side of the island. Deciduous forests and thorn forests are more widespread. Little primary forest remains; most forests are secondary. Extensive burning for shifting cultivation, grazing by goats and other livestock, and tree harvesting has reduced much of the island to

anthropogenic Anthropogenic ("human" + "generating") is an adjective that may refer to: * Anthropogeny, the study of the origins of humanity Anthropogenic may also refer to things that have been generated by humans, as follows: * Human impact on the enviro ...

grassland and scrub, including many invasive exotic shrubs. Savannas are common in the lowlands, and are of four types – palm savanna with ''

Borassus flabellifer ''Borassus flabellifer'', commonly known as doub palm, palmyra palm, tala or tal palm, toddy palm, lontar palm, wine palm, or ice apple, is a fan palm native to South Asia (especially in Bangladesh, East India, and South India) and Southeast As ...

'', eucalyptus savanna with ''

Eucalyptus alba ''Eucalyptus alba'', commonly known as white gum, khaki gum or poplar gum, is a species of tree that is native to Australia, Timor, and New Guinea. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped to egg-shaped leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, white flowe ...

'', acacia savanna, and casuarina savanna. Other plant communities include coastal dune grasslands and shrublands. Sandalwood (''

Santalum album ''Santalum album'' is a small tropical tree, and the traditional source of sandalwood oil. It is native to Indonesia (Java and the Lesser Sunda Islands), the Philippines, and Western Australia. It is commonly known as the true sandalwood, white ...

'') and candle nut ('' Aleurites moluccanus'') are important tree crops harvested from the wild. Sandalwood was economically important, but over-harvesting has left it scarce and critically endangered.

Fauna

The ecoregion has thirty-eight mammal species. The Timor shrew (''Crocidura tenuis'') and Timor rat (''Rattus timorensis'') are endemic. Two species were believed to have been brought to the islands long ago by humans – the Northern common cuscus (''Phalanger orientalis''), a marsupial originating in New Guinea, and the

Javan rusa The Javan rusa or Sunda sambar (''Rusa timorensis'') is a large deer species native to Indonesia and East Timor. Introduced populations exist in a wide variety of locations in the Southern Hemisphere. ''Rusa'' is the Malay word for "deer" in ...

(''Rusa timorensis''), a deer originating in Java and Bali. The ecoregion is home to 229 bird species. It corresponds to the Timor and Wetar endemic bird area. 23 species are endemic.

Extinct fauna

Giant rats in the genus '' Coryphomys'' are believed to have gone extinct 1000–2000 years ago. Fossils of two species of ''

Stegodon ''Stegodon'' (from the Ancient Greek στέγω (''stégō''), meaning "to cover", and ὀδούς (''odoús''), meaning "tooth", named for the distinctive ridges on the animal's molars) is an extinct genus of proboscidean, related to elephants ...

'', an elephant relative, have been found on Timor, the most recent approximately 130,000 years old. Mid-

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

fossils of a giant monitor lizard, similar in size and related to the living

Komodo dragon The Komodo dragon (''Varanus komodoensis''), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a large reptile of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo (island), Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Dasami, and Gili ...

found on

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Administratively, it forms the largest island in the East Nusa Tenggara Province. The area is 14,250 km2. Including Komodo and Rinca islands ...

and neighboring islands, have also been found on Timor.

Protected areas

A 2017 assessment found that 2,245 km², or 7%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. About half 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 Nino Konis Santana National Park (588.99 km²) and Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão National Park (92.31 km²) in East Timor.

External links

*
Timor and Wetar endemic bird area (Birdlife International)

References

{{reflist Australasian ecoregions Ecoregions of Indonesia Ecoregions of Malesia Fauna of the Lesser Sunda Islands Flora of the Lesser Sunda Islands Natural history of Timor-Leste Timor Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests Wallacea Endemic Bird Areas