The Central Polynesian tropical moist forests is a

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. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

. It includes the northern group of the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

, the

Line Islands The Line Islands, Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands (in Gilbertese, ''Aono Raina'') are a chain of 11 atolls (with partly or fully enclosed lagoons) and coral islands (with a surrounding reef) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Hawa ...

Kiribati Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati
''The Wor ...

, and

Johnston Atoll Johnston Atoll is an Unincorporated territories of the United States, unincorporated territory of the United States, currently administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Johnston Atoll is a National Wildlife Refuge and ...

Jarvis Island Jarvis Island (; formerly known as Bunker Island or Bunker's Shoal) is an uninhabited coral island located in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and the Cook Islands. It is an unincorporated, unorganized territory of the Un ...

Palmyra Atoll Palmyra Atoll (), also referred to as Palmyra Island, is one of the Line Islands, Northern Line Islands (southeast of Kingman Reef and north of Kiribati). It is located almost due south of the Hawaiian Islands, roughly one-third of the way bet ...

, and

Kingman Reef Kingman Reef is a largely submerged, uninhabited, triangle-shaped reef, geologically an atoll, east-west and north-south, in the North Pacific Ocean, roughly halfway between the Hawaiian Islands and American Samoa. It has an area of 3 hectar ...

which are possessions of the United States.

Geography

All the islands in the ecoregion are

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gr ...

s, low islands of coral sand surrounding a central lagoon. There are eight inhabited and nine uninhabited atolls. The Line Islands run north-northwest to south-southeast for 2,350 miles, crossing the equator. The northernmost,

, is at 6°24′N latitude and 162°24′W longitude. The southernmost is

Flint Island Flint Island is an uninhabited coral island in the central Pacific Ocean, part of the Southern Line Islands under the jurisdiction of Kiribati. In 2014 the Kiribati government established a exclusion zone around each of the southern Line Is ...

at 11°26′S latitude and 151° 48′W longitude.

Teraina Teraina (written also Teeraina, also known as Washington Island – these two names are constitutional) is a coral atoll in the central Pacific Ocean and part of the Northern Line Islands which belong to Kiribati. Obsolete names of Teraina a ...

Tabuaeran Tabuaeran, also known as Fanning Island, is an atoll that is part of the Line Islands of the central Pacific Ocean and part of Kiribati. The land area is , and the population in 2015 was 2,315. The maximum elevation is about 3 m (10 f ...

Kiritimati Kiritimati (also known as Christmas Island) is a Pacific Ocean atoll in the northern Line Islands. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati. The name is derived from the English word "Christmas" written in Gilbertese according to its phonolog ...

, Malden, Starbuck,

Vostok Vostok refers to east in Russian but may also refer to: Spaceflight * Vostok programme, Soviet human spaceflight project * Vostok (spacecraft), a type of spacecraft built by the Soviet Union * Vostok (rocket family), family of rockets derived from ...

, Caroline, and Flint are part of Kiribati. Kingman Reef,

, and

are territories of the United States. Kiritimati is the largest island in the 388 square kilometres.

lies northwest of the Line Islands and southwest of the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...

. The

Northern Cook Islands The Northern Cook Islands is one of the two chains of atolls which make up the Cook Islands. Lying in a horizontal band between 9° and 13°30' south of the Equator, the chain consists of the atolls of Manihiki, Nassau, Penrhyn, Pukapuka, Rakaha ...

include the atolls of

Pukapuka Pukapuka, formerly Danger Island, is a coral atoll in the northern group of the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is one of most remote islands of the Cook Islands, situated about northwest of Rarotonga. On this small island, an ancient ...

Rakahanga Rakahanga is part of the Cook Islands, situated in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. The unspoilt atoll is from the Cook Islands' capital, Rarotonga, and lies south of the equator. Its nearest neighbour is Manihiki which is just away. Rakah ...

Manihiki 250px, Map of Manihiki Atoll Manihiki is an atoll in the northern group of the Cook Islands known informally as the "Island of Pearls". It is located in the Northern Cook Island chain, approximately north of the capital island of Rarotonga, ma ...

Penrhyn Penryn is a Cornish word meaning 'headland' that may refer to: *Penryn, Cornwall, United Kingdom, a town of about 7,000 on the Penryn River **Penryn railway station, a station on the Maritime Line between Truro and Falmouth Docks, and serves the to ...

, and

Suwarrow 200px, Map of Cook Islands with Suwarrow near the middle Suwarrow (also called Suvorov, Suvarou, or Suvarov) is an island in the northern group of the Cook Islands in the south Pacific Ocean. It is about south of the equator and north-northw ...

. The

Southern Cook Islands The Cook Islands can be divided into two groups: the Southern Cook Islands and the Northern Cook Islands. The country is located in Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean, about one-half of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand. From March to Decembe ...

are in the separate

Cook Islands tropical moist forests The Cook Islands tropical moist forests is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion that covers the Southern Cook Islands in the Cook Islands. Geography The Southern Cook Islands are a chain of volcanic islands in the Pacific ...

ecoregion.

Climate

The climate of the islands is tropical. Temperature is warm year-round, with little seasonal variation. The southern and northern islands are within the

trade wind The trade winds or easterlies are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisph ...

belt, and regularly receive 1,500 and 3,000 mm of annual rainfall. The islands within 5º latitude of the equator receive less than 1000 mm annually, with periodic droughts.

Flora

The native vegetation on the more humid islands is tropical atoll forest. The characteristic species are common to coastal

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

areas, and include the trees ''

Pisonia grandis ''Pisonia grandis'', the grand devil's-claws, is a species of flowering tree in the ''Bougainvillea'' family, Nyctaginaceae. Description The tree has broad, thin leaves, smooth bark and bears clusters of green sweet-smelling flowers that matu ...

Calophyllum inophyllum ''Calophyllum inophyllum'' is a large evergreen plant, commonly called tamanu, oil-nut, mastwood, beach calophyllum or beautyleaf. It is native to tropical Asia and Wallacea. Due to its importance as a source of timber for the traditional shipbu ...

Heliotropium foertherianum ''Heliotropium arboreum'' is a species of flowering plant in the borage family, Boraginaceae. It is native to tropical Asia including southern China, Madagascar, northern Australia, and most of the atolls and high islands of Micronesia and Polyn ...

Pandanus tectorius ''Pandanus tectorius'' is a species of ''Pandanus'' (screwpine) that is native to Malesia, Papuasia, eastern Australia, and the Pacific Islands. It grows in the coastal lowlands typically near the edge of the ocean. Common names in English inclu ...

Cordia subcordata ''Cordia subcordata'' is a species of flowering tree in the borage family, Boraginaceae, that occurs in eastern Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, northern Australia and the Pacific Islands (including Hawaii). The plant is known by a variety o ...

'', and ''

Guettarda speciosa ''Guettarda speciosa'', with common names sea randa, or zebra wood, is a species of shrub in the family Rubiaceae found in coastal habitats in tropical areas around the Pacific Ocean, including the coastline of central and northern Queensland an ...

'', and the shrubs ''

Morinda citrifolia ''Morinda citrifolia'' is a fruit-bearing tree in the coffee family, Rubiaceae. Its native range extends across Southeast Asia and Australasia, and was spread across the Pacific by Polynesian sailors. The species is now cultivated throughout th ...

Scaevola taccada ''Scaevola taccada'', also known as beach cabbage, sea lettuce, or beach naupaka, is a flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae found in coastal locations in the tropical areas of the Indo-Pacific. It is a common beach shrub throughout the Arab ...

, Suriana maritima'', and ''

Pemphis acidula ''Pemphis acidula'', commonly known as bantigue (pron. ) or mentigi, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lythraceae. It is a mangrove found throughout most of the tropical Indo-Pacific growing on rocky shores. The genus ''Pemphis'', to ...

''. The driest and lowest islands are covered with low plants, including the grass ''

Lepturus repens ''Lepturus'' (common name thintail) is a genus of plants in the grass family, native to Asia, Africa, Australia, and various islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. ; Species * '' Lepturus anadabolavensis'' A.Camus - Madagascar * '' Lepturus a ...

'' and the creepers ''

Tribulus cistoides ''Tribulus cistoides'', also called wanglo (in Aruba), the Jamaican feverplant or puncture vine, is a species of flowering plant in the family Zygophyllaceae, which is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. Habitat Tribulus Cist ...

'' or ''

Portulaca lutea ''Portulaca lutea'', the native yellow purslane, is a species of ''Portulaca'' that is indigenous to all of the main islands of Hawaii except for Kaua'i and is widespread throughout the Pacific Islands. Ecology ''Portulaca lutea'' is very muc ...

'', with areas of ''Heliotropium foertherianum, Pemphis acidula'', and ''Scaevola taccada'' scrub.

Fauna

The islands' vertebrate fauna is principally seabirds, which form large colonies on some islands. There are no native non-marine mammals or amphibians. The sole

passerine bird A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by ...

is the endemic

bokikokiko The bokikokiko, Kiritimati reed warbler or Christmas Island warbler (''Acrocephalus aequinoctialis'') is a species of warbler in the family Acrocephalidae. It is found only on Kiritimati and Washington Island (Kiribati). The population size of ...

(''Acrocephalus aequinoctialis''), a reed warbler found on Teraina, Tabuaeran, and Kiritimati.

Kuhl's lorikeet Kuhl's lorikeet (''Vini kuhlii''), also called the Rimitara lorikeet, Kuhl's lory, Manu 'Ura (local appellation) or Kura (Cook Islands), is a species of lorikeet in the family Psittaculidae. It is one of several species of '' Vini'' lorikeets fou ...

(''Vini kuhlii'') is an endangered parrot found on Kiritimati and Teraina and on

Rimatara Rimatara is the westernmost inhabited island in the Austral Islands of French Polynesia. It is located south of Tahiti and west of Rurutu. The land area of Rimatara is , and that of the Maria islets is .Tubuai Islands The Austral Islands (french: Îles Australes, officially ''Archipel des Australes;'' ty, Tuha'a Pae) are the southernmost group of islands in French Polynesia, an overseas country of the French Republic in the South Pacific. Geographically, ...

to the southeast. Its range once included the Cook Islands.

Protected areas

A 2017 assessment found that 83% of the ecoregion is in protected areas. protected areas include: * Kirimati wildlife refuge * Suwarrow atoll *

Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument is a group of unorganized, mostly unincorporated United States Pacific Island territories managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service of the United States Department of the Int ...

protects Kingman Reef, Johnson Atoll, Jarvis Island, and Palmyra Atoll.

References

External links

*{{WWF ecoregion, name=Central Polynesian tropical moist forests, id=oc0102
Central Polynesian tropical moist forests (DOPA)

Central Polynesian tropical moist forests (Encyclopedia of Earth)
Ecoregions of the Cook Islands Ecoregions of Kiribati Ecoregions of the United States Oceanian ecoregions Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests