The
Philippine
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...
is one of the world's great reservoirs of
biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
and
endemism
Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found else ...
. The archipelago includes over 7000 islands, and a total land area of 300,780 km².
The Philippines was never connected to mainland
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
via
land bridge
In biogeography, a land bridge is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and colonize new lands. A land bridge can be created by marine regression, in which sea leve ...
s, so the flora and fauna of the islands had to cross ocean straits to reach the Philippines. The Philippines is part of the
Indomalayan realm, and its flora and fauna is mostly derived from tropical Asia.
Botanically, the Philippines are part of
Malesia
Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indomalayan and Australasian realms, and also a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical Kingdom. It has been given different definitions. Th ...
, a
floristic province
A phytochorion, in phytogeography, is a geographic area with a relatively uniform composition of plant species. Adjacent phytochoria do not usually have a sharp boundary, but rather a soft one, a transitional area in which many species from both r ...
that includes the
Malay Peninsula,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, and
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...
. Most of the Malesian flora is derived from tropical Asia, including the
dipterocarp
Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = f ...
s, which are the characteristic tree of the Philippine forests. Elements of the
Antarctic flora
Antarctic flora are a distinct community of vascular plants which evolved millions of years ago on the supercontinent of Gondwana. Presently, species of Antarctica flora reside on several now separated areas of the Southern Hemisphere, includin ...
, which originated in the ancient
southern hemisphere supercontinent of
Gondwana, are also present, including ancient conifers like
podocarps (''
Podocarpus
''Podocarpus'' () is a genus of conifers, the most numerous and widely distributed of the podocarp family, the Podocarpaceae. The name comes from Greek πούς (poús, “foot”) + καρπός (karpós, “fruit”). ''Podocarpus'' species ...
,
Nageia
''Nageia'' is a genus of conifers belonging to the podocarp family Podocarpaceae.Christopher N. Page. 1990. "Podocarpaceae" pages 332-346. In: Klaus Kubitzki (general editor); Karl U. Kramer and Peter S. Green (volume editors) ''The Families and ...
,
Sundacarpus
''Sundacarpus'' is a monotypic genus of conifers containing a single species ''Sundacarpus amarus'', belonging to the family Podocarpaceae. ''Sundacarpus'' was designated a genus by C.N.Page in 1989; formerly it had been classified variously as ...
'') and
araucarias (''
Agathis'').
The
ecoregions of the Philippines are defined primarily by the sea levels during the Ice Ages, which were 120 meters lower than at present, as billions of gallons of water were locked away in huge continental ice sheets. This drop in sea level connected many presently separate islands into larger islands, which allowed for exchanges of flora and fauna:
* Greater Luzon included
Luzon
Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...
,
Catanduanes
Catanduanes (; ), officially the Province of Catanduanes, is an island province located in the Bicol Region of Luzon in the Philippines. It is the 12th-largest island in the Philippines, and lies to the east of Camarines Sur, across Maqueda ...
,
Marinduque,
Polillo, and several small islands.
* Greater Mindanao included
Mindanao
Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...
,
Basilan
Basilan, officially the Province of Basilan ( cbk, Provincia de Basilan; yka, Wilayah Basilanin; tsg, Wilaya' sin Basilan; fil, Lalawigan ng Basilan), is an island province of the Philippines located primarily in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Reg ...
,
Bohol
Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Bohol; tl, Lalawigan ng Bohol), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. It ...
,
Leyte
Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census.
Since the accessibility of land has be ...
,
Samar
Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...
, and adjacent small islands.
* Greater Palawan included
Palawan
Palawan (), officially the Province of Palawan ( cyo, Probinsya i'ang Palawan; tl, Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in t ...
, Balabac, Busuanga, Culion, Cuyo, and adjacent small islands.
* Greater Negros–Panay included
Negros
Negros is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . Negros is one of the many islands of the Visayas, in the central part of the country. The predominant inhabitants of the island region a ...
,
Panay,
Cebu
Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 16 ...
, and
Masbate
Masbate, officially the Province of Masbate ( Masbateño: ''Probinsya san Masbate''; tl, Lalawigan ng Masbate), is an island province in the Philippines located near the midsection of the nation's archipelago. Its provincial capital is Masbate C ...
.
* Greater Sulu included the most of the
Sulu Archipelago, from
Tawi Tawi
Tawi-Tawi, officially the Province of Tawi-Tawi ( tl, Lalawigan ng Tawi-Tawi; Tausug: ''Wilaya' sin Tawi-Tawi''; Sinama: ''Jawi Jawi/Jauih Jauih''), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim ...
to
Jolo
Jolo ( tsg, Sūg) is a volcanic island in the southwest Philippines and the primary island of the province of Sulu, on which the capital of the same name is situated. It is located in the Sulu Archipelago, between Borneo and Mindanao, and has ...
.
These formerly-linked islands each constitute a separate ecoregion, as does
Mindoro
Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ) and has a population of 1,408,454 as of 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of Luz ...
, which remained separate from the rest, along with a few smaller islands, notably Camiguin, Sibuyan, and Siquijor.
Each group of islands that were linked by land bridges in the ice ages also constitutes a separate faunal region. The lack of a land bridge to the Asian continent prevented most of the Asian
megafauna, including
elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...
s,
rhinoceros
A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species ...
,
tapir
Tapirs ( ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae. They are similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South and Central America, with one species inh ...
s,
tiger
The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on ...
s,
leopards, and
gibbons, from reaching the Philippines, although they do inhabit the adjacent
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
n islands of
Sundaland, which were formerly linked to the Asian continent by lowered sea levels.
The other main factor that defines the Philippine ecoregions is elevation; the high
mountains of Luzon and Mindanao host distinct montane rain forest ecoregions. The mountains of Luzon are also home to the
Luzon tropical pine forests
The Luzon tropical pine forests are a tropical coniferous forest ecoregion of the Philippines in the western Pacific Ocean. These pine forests are home to a large number of the island's endemic plants and animals.
Location and description
Luzo ...
.
Terrestrial ecoregions
''by major habitat type''
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, discon ...
*
Greater Negros-Panay rain forests
Greater may refer to:
*Greatness, the state of being great
*Greater than, in inequality
* ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film
*Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record
* "Greater" (song), by MercyMe, 2014
*Greater Bank, an Australian ...
*
Luzon montane rain forests
*
Luzon rain forests
The Luzon rain forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion on the island of Luzon. Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines, and the Luzon rain forests is the most extensive rainforest ecoregion of the country. The ecoregion inc ...
*
Mindanao montane rain forests
The Mindanao montane rain forests ecoregion (WWF ID:IM0128) covers the montane forests - the zone between the lowland forest and the treeline - in the mountains on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Because the ecoregion covers only eleva ...
*
Mindanao-Eastern Visayas rain forests
*
Mindoro rain forests
The Mindoro rain forests ecoregion (WWF ID:IM0130) covers the island of Mindoro, which lies between the island of Luzon and the Palawan Archipelago in the Philippines. The island has been subject to heavy commercial logging, with the only origin ...
*
Palawan rain forests
The Palawan rain forests ecoregion (WWF ID:IM0143) covers the Palawan Island Archipelago, centered on Palawan Island, the sixth largest island in the Philippines. The islands act as an ecological bridge between Borneo and the main islands of the ...
*South Philippine Sea (disputed between
China,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
,
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
,
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
)
*
Sulu Archipelago rain forests
Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests
Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests are a tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. These forests are found predominantly in North and Central America and experience low levels of precipitation and moderate va ...
*
Luzon tropical pine forests
The Luzon tropical pine forests are a tropical coniferous forest ecoregion of the Philippines in the western Pacific Ocean. These pine forests are home to a large number of the island's endemic plants and animals.
Location and description
Luzo ...
Freshwater ecoregions
* Northern Philippine Islands
* Palawan – Busuanga – Mindoro
* Mindanao
*
Lake Lanao
Marine ecoregions
''by marine province''
[Spalding, Mark D., Helen E. Fox, Gerald R. Allen, Nick Davidson ''et al.'' "Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas". ''Bioscience'' Vol. 57 No. 7, July/August 2007, pp. 573–583]
/ref>
Central Indo-Pacific
* South China Sea, South Philippine Sea
** South Philippine Sea
* Coral Triangle
The Coral Triangle (CT) is a roughly triangular area in the tropical waters around the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. This area contains at least 500 species of reef-building corals in e ...
** Western Coral Triangle
*** Palawan/North Borneo
*** Eastern Philippines
*** Sulawesi Sea/Makassar Strait
See also
* Environmental issues in the Philippines
Today, environmental problems in the Philippines include pollution, illegal mining and logging, deforestation, threats to environmental activists, dynamite fishing, landslides, coastal erosion, biodiversity loss, extinction, global warming ...
References
External links
Mammalian fauna of the Philippines (Field Museum of Natural History)
Philippines biodiversity hotspot (Conservation International)
{{Philippines topics
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
Ecoregions