The Trobriand Islands rain forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest

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 ...

of southeastern

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

.World Wildlife Fund.org: The Trobriand Islands rain forests (ID Code: AA0125) webpage
article originally from "Terrestrial ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a conservation assessment"; Island Press . accessed 3.17.2017. The islands of this ecoregion have been separated from mainland New Guinea since the

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division ...

, and much of the biota is unique, including four mammal species and two birds-of-paradise plant species. The ecoregion covers .

Geography

The ecoregion includes several island groups lying east of the eastern peninsula of the island of

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

, within

Milne Bay Province Milne Bay is a province of Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Alotau. The province covers 14,345 km2 of land and 252,990 km2 of sea, within the province there are more than 600 islands, about 160 of which are inhabited. The province has ...

, including the

d'Entrecasteaux Islands D'Entrecasteaux Islands () are situated near the eastern tip of New Guinea in the Solomon Sea in Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. The group spans a distance of , has a total land area of approximately and is separated from the Papua New G ...

and

Trobriand Islands The Trobriand Islands are a archipelago of coral atolls off the east coast of New Guinea. They are part of the nation of Papua New Guinea and are in Milne Bay Province. Most of the population of 60,000 (2016) indigenous inhabitants live on the m ...

archipelagoes, and Woodlark Island. The largest portion of the ecoregion and the nearest to the New Guinea mainland is made up of three principal islands of the d'Entrecasteaux group: Goodenough Island, Fergusson Island, and Normanby Island.

Flora

The Trobriand Islands and Woodlark Island consist primarily of lowland rain forest on limestone substrates. Goodenough, Fergusson, and Normanby Islands consist mainly of lowland rain forest on acid soil. The major rain forest tree genera include ''Pometia,

Octomeles ''Octomeles'' is a monotypic genus of plant in family Tetramelaceae. The sole species is ''Octomeles sumatrana'', sometimes written ''O. sumatranum''. ''Octomeles sumatrana'', commonly called Benuang, or Ilimo, is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Ma ...

, Alstonia, Campnosperma, Canarium,

Dracontomelon ''Dracontomelon'' (Vietnamese: ''chi sấu''Phạm Hoàng Hộ (2003) ''Cây Cỏ Việt Nam: an Illustrated Flora of Vietnam'' vol. II publ. Nhà Xuẩt Bản Trẻ, HCMC, VN.) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, growing ...

, Pterocymbium, Cryptocarya, Intsia,

Ficus ''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family (biology), family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few spe ...

'', and ''

Terminalia Terminalia may refer to: * Terminalia (festival) Terminalia () was an ancient Roman festival in honour of the god Terminus, who presided over boundaries. His statue was merely a stone or post stuck in the ground to distinguish between propert ...

''.
Tree species include: *'' Alstonia breviloba'' *'' Alstonia rubiginosa'' *'' Canarium vitiense'' *'' Dracontomelon dao'' *'' Intsia bijuga'' *'' Octomeles sumatrana'' *'' Pometia pinnata'' *''

Terminalia catappa ''Terminalia catappa'' is a large Tropics, tropical tree in the leadwood tree family, Combretaceae, native to Asia, Australia, the Pacific, Madagascar and Seychelles. Common names in English include country almond, Indian almond, Malabar almond, ...

Fauna

Animal species native to the ecoregion include: *'' Echymipera davidi'' *'' Phalanger lullulae'' *'' Dorcopsis atrata'' *'' Dactylopsila tatei'' *'' Nyctimene major '' *'' Kerivoula agnella'' *'' Pipistrellus collinus '' *'' Chiruromys forbesi'' * Greater tree mouse * Island tube-nosed fruit bat * Woodlark Cuscus left, 300px, Louisiade white-eye (''Zosterops griseotinctus'') on Duchess Island,

The ecoregion corresponds to the D'Entrecasteaux and Trobriand Islands endemic bird area. There are two endemic bird-of-paradise species, the curl-crested manucode (''Manucodia comrii'') and Goldie's bird-of-paradise (''Paradisaea decora'').BirdLife International (2020) Endemic Bird Areas factsheet: D'Entrecasteaux and Trobriand Islands. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 30/05/2020.

Conservation and threats

The main threats to the ecoregion include logging by foreign companies and conversion of habitat into agricultural lands.

References

External links

* {{Melanesia Australasian ecoregions d'Entrecasteaux Islands Ecoregions of Papua New Guinea * *Trobiand Geography of Milne Bay Province Trobriand Islands Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Woodlark Islands Endemic Bird Areas