Indomalaya ecozone

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The Indomalaya ecozone is one of the eight ecozones that cover the planet's land surface. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia.

Previously known as the Oriental Region by biogeographers, Indomalaya extends from Afghanistan and Pakistan through the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia to lowland southern China, and through Indonesia as far as Java, Bali, and Borneo, east of which lies the Wallace line, the ecozone boundary named after Alfred Russel Wallace which separates Indomalaya from Australasia. Indomalaya also includes the Philippines, lowland Taiwan, and Japan's Ryukyu Islands.

Most of Indomalaya was originally covered by forest, mostly tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, with tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests predominant in much of India and parts of Southeast Asia. The tropical moist forests of Indomalaya are dominated by trees of the dipterocarp family (Dipterocarpaceae).

Contents 1 Major ecological regions 1.1 Indian Subcontinent 1.2 Indochina 1.3 Sunda shelf and the Philippines 2 History 3 Flora and fauna 4 See also 5 Indomalaya terrestrial ecoregions 6 External links 7 References

[edit] Major ecological regions

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) divides Indomalaya into three bioregions, which it defines as "geographic clusters of ecoregions that may span several habitat types, but have strong biogeographic affinities, particularly at taxonomic levels higher than the species level (genus, family)."

[edit] Indian Subcontinent

The Indian Subcontinent bioregion covers most of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka. The Hindu Kush, Karakoram, Himalaya, and Patkai ranges bound the bioregion on the northwest, north, and northeast; these ranges were formed by the collision of the northward-drifting Indian subcontinent with Asia beginning 45 million years ago. The Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and Himalaya are a major biogeographic boundary between the subtropical and tropical flora and fauna of the Indian subcontinent and the temperate-climate Palearctic ecozone.

[edit] Indochina

The Indochina bioregion includes most of mainland Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia, as well as the subtropical forests of southern China.

[edit] Sunda shelf and the Philippines

Main article: Sundaland

Main article: Ecoregions of the Philippines

Malesia is a botanical province which straddles the boundary between Indomalaya and Australasia. It includes the Malay Peninsula and the western Indonesian islands (known as Sundaland), the Philippines, the eastern Indonesian islands, and New Guinea. While the Malesia has much in common botanically, the portions east and west of the Wallace Line differ greatly in land animal species; Sundaland shares its fauna with mainland Asia, while the islands east of the Wallace line either lack land mammals, or are home to a land fauna derived from Australia, which includes marsupial mammals and ratite birds.

[edit] History

The flora of Indomalaya blends elements from the ancient supercontinents of Laurasia and Gondwana. Gondwanian elements were first introduced by India, which detached from Gondwana approximately 90 MYA, carrying its Gondwana-derived flora and fauna northward, which included cichlid fish and the flowering plant families Crypteroniaceae and possibly Dipterocarpaceae. India collided with Asia 30-45 MYA, and exchanged species. Later, as Australia-New Guinea drifted north, the collision of the Australian and Asian plates pushed up the islands of Wallacea, which were separated from one another by narrow straits, allowing a botanic exchange between Indomalaya and Australasia. Asian rainforest flora, including the dipterocarps, island-hopped across Wallacea to New Guinea, and several Gondwanian plant families, including podocarps and araucarias, moved westward from Australia-New Guinea into western Malesia and Southeast Asia.

[edit] Flora and fauna

Two orders of mammals, the colugos (Dermoptera) and treeshrews (Scandentia), are endemic to the ecozone, as are families Craseonycteridae (Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat), Diatomyidae, Platacanthomyidae, Tarsiidae (tarsiers) and Hylobatidae (gibbons). Large mammals characteristic of Indomalaya include the leopard, tigers, water buffalos, Asian Elephant, Indian Rhinoceros, Javan Rhinoceros, Malayan Tapir, orangutans, and gibbons.

Indomalaya has three endemic bird families, the Irenidae (leafbirds and fairy bluebirds), Megalaimidae and Rhabdornithidae (Philippine creepers). Also characteristic are pheasants, pittas, Old World babblers, and flowerpeckers.

[edit] See also

Malesia

Sundaland

Ecoregions of India

Ecoregions of the Philippines

[edit] Indomalaya terrestrial ecoregions

Indomalaya Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests v • d • e
Andaman Islands rain forests	India
Borneo lowland rain forests	Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia
Borneo montane rain forests	Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia
Borneo peat swamp forests	Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia
Brahmaputra Valley semi-evergreen forests	India
Cardamom Mountains rain forests	Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam
Chao Phraya freshwater swamp forests	Thailand
Chao Phraya lowland moist deciduous forests	Thailand
Chin Hills-Arakan Yoma montane forests	Burma, India
Christmas and Cocos Islands tropical forests	Australia
Eastern highlands moist deciduous forests	India
Eastern Java-Bali montane rain forests	Indonesia
Eastern Java-Bali rain forests	Indonesia
Greater Negros-Panay rain forests	Philippines
Hainan Island monsoon rain forests	China
Himalayan subtropical broadleaf forests	Bhutan, India, Nepal
Irrawaddy freshwater swamp forests	Burma
Irrawaddy moist deciduous forests	Burma
Jian Nan subtropical evergreen forests	China
Kayah-Karen montane rain forests	Burma, Thailand
Lower Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests	Bangladesh, India
Luang Prabang montane rain forests	Laos
Luzon montane rain forests	Philippines
Luzon rain forests	Philippines
Malabar Coast moist forests	India
Maldives-Lakshadweep-Chagos Archipelago tropical moist forests	British Indian Ocean Territory, India, Maldives
Meghalaya subtropical forests	India
Mentawai Islands rain forests	Indonesia
Mindanao montane rain forests	Philippines
Mindanao-Eastern Visayas rain forests	Philippines
Mindoro rain forests	Philippines
Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests	Bangladesh, India, Burma
Myanmar coastal rain forests	Burma
Nansei Islands subtropical evergreen forests	Japan
Nicobar Islands rain forests	India
North Western Ghats moist deciduous forests	India
North Western Ghats montane rain forests	India
Northern Annamites rain forests	Laos, Vietnam
Northern Indochina subtropical forests	China, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam
Northern Khorat Plateau moist deciduous forests	Laos, Thailand
Northern Thailand-Laos moist deciduous forests	Laos, Thailand
Northern Triangle subtropical forests	Burma
Northern Vietnam lowland rain forests	Vietnam
Orissa semi-evergreen forests	India
Palawan rain forests	Philippines
Peninsular Malaysian montane rain forests	Malaysia, Thailand
Peninsular Malaysian peat swamp forests	Malaysia, Thailand
Peninsular Malaysian rain forests	Indonesia, Malaysia
Red River freshwater swamp forests	Vietnam
South China Sea Islands	disputed between China, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam
South China-Vietnam subtropical evergreen forests	China, Vietnam
South Taiwan monsoon rain forests	Taiwan
South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests	India
South Western Ghats montane rain forests	India
Southern Annamites montane rain forests	Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam
Southwest Borneo freshwater swamp forests	Indonesia
Sri Lanka lowland rain forests	Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka montane rain forests	Sri Lanka
Sulu Archipelago rain forests	Philippines
Sumatran freshwater swamp forests	Indonesia
Sumatran lowland rain forests	Indonesia
Sumatran montane rain forests	Indonesia
Sumatran peat swamp forests	Indonesia
Sundaland heath forests	Indonesia
Sundarbans freshwater swamp forests	Bangladesh, India
Taiwan subtropical evergreen forests	Taiwan
Tenasserim-South Thailand semi-evergreen rain forests	Malaysia' Burma, Thailand
Tonle Sap freshwater swamp forests	Cambodia, Vietnam
Tonle Sap-Mekong peat swamp forests	Cambodia, Vietnam
Upper Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests	India
Western Java montane rain forests	Indonesia
Western Java rain forests	Indonesia

Indomalaya Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests v • d • e
Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests	India
Central Indochina dry forests	Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam
Chota-Nagpur dry deciduous forests	India
East Deccan dry evergreen forests	India
Irrawaddy dry forests	Burma
Kathiarbar-Gir dry deciduous forests	India
Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests	India
Northern dry deciduous forests	India
South Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests	India
Southeastern Indochina dry evergreen forests	Cambodia, Laos, Thailand
Southern Vietnam lowland dry forests	Vietnam
Sri Lanka dry-zone dry evergreen forests	Sri Lanka

Indomalaya Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests v • d • e
Himalayan subtropical pine forests	Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan
Luzon tropical pine forests	Philippines
Northeast India-Myanmar pine forests	Burma, India
Sumatran tropical pine forests	Indonesia

Indomalaya Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests v • d • e
Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests	Bhutan, India, Nepal
Northern Triangle temperate forests	Burma
Western Himalayan broadleaf forests	India, Nepal, Pakistan

Indomalaya Temperate coniferous forests v • d • e
Eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests	Bhutan, India, Nepal
Western Himalayan subalpine conifer forests	India, Nepal, Pakistan

Indomalaya Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands v • d • e
Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands	Bhutan, India, Nepal

Indomalaya Flooded grasslands and savannas v • d • e
Rann of Kutch seasonal salt marsh	India, Pakistan

Indomalaya Montane grasslands and shrublands v • d • e
Kinabalu montane alpine meadows	Malaysia

Indomalaya Deserts and xeric shrublands v • d • e
Deccan thorn scrub forests	India, Sri Lanka
Indus Valley desert	India, Pakistan
Northwestern thorn scrub forests	India, Pakistan
Thar desert	India, Pakistan

Indomalaya Mangrove v • d • e
Godavari-Krishna mangroves	India
Indochina mangroves	Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam
Indus River Delta-Arabian Sea mangroves	Pakistan
Myanmar coast mangroves	Burma, India, Malaysia, Thailand
Sunda Shelf mangroves	Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia
Sundarbans mangroves	Bangladesh, India

v • d • e Terrestrial biomes Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests · Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests · Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests · Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests · Temperate coniferous forests · Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and shrub · Boreal forests/taiga · Mangrove · Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands · Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands · Flooded grasslands and savannas · Montane grasslands and shrublands · Deserts and xeric shrublands · Tundra

v • d • e Ecozones Afrotropic · Antarctic · Australasia · Indomalaya · Nearctic · Neotropic · Oceania · Palearctic

[edit] External links

• Media related to Indomalaya from the Wikimedia Commons.
• Map of the ecozones

[edit] References

• Wikramanayake, Eric; Eric Dinerstein; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (2002). Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment. Island Press; Washington, DC.