The Irrawaddy dry forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest

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 ...

in central

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. The ecoregion occupies portions of the Irrawaddy, Sittaung, and

Salween , ''Mae Nam Salawin'' ( , name_etymology = , image = Sweet_View_of_Salween_River_in_Tang_Yan_Township,_Shan_State,_Myanmar.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Salween River in Shan State, Myanmar , map ...

river basins, in areas with less than 800 mm of annual rainfall.

Geography

The Irrawaddy dry forests occupy an area of 34,988 km². The ecoregion consists of several enclaves in the basins of Irrawaddy, upper Sittaung, and lower

rivers. The dry forests are bounded by the Irrawaddy moist deciduous forests.

Flora

Dry mixed deciduous forest, also called Than Dahat forest, is predominantly

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters ( pan ...

(''Tectona hamiltoniana''), with '' Terminalia oliveri,

Senegalia catechu ''Senegalia catechu'' is a deciduous, thorny tree which grows up to in height. The plant is called ''khair''
in H ...

'', and ''

Bauhinia racemosa ''Bauhinia racemosa'', commonly known as the bidi leaf tree, is a rare medicinal species of flowering shrub with religious significance. It is a small crooked tree with drooping branches that grows tall and flowers between February and May. It i ...

''. Dry deciduous dipterocarp forest, known as Indaing, is an open-canopied woodland with an understory of herbs and grasses.

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 are predominant, including ''

Dipterocarpus tuberculatus ''Dipterocarpus tuberculatus'' ( Khmer ''khlông'',DY PHON Pauline, 2000, Plants Used in Cambodia, self-published, printed by Imprimerie Olympic, Phnom Penh Indian English ''gurjuntree''Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India, 1952 ...

Shorea siamensis ''Shorea siamensis'' is a species of tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is native to most of mainland Southeast Asia. Uses In Cambodia, ''Shorea siamensis'' (known in Khmer as រាំងភ្នំ – Raing Phnom) is rare and most oft ...

Shorea obtusa ''Shorea obtusa'', the Siamese sal, is a species of hardwood tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae, native to Southeast Asia. Distribution and habitat ''Shorea obtusa'' is native to Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. It grows in relat ...

'', and '' Shorea oblongifolia''. Trees in the pea family ( Fabaceae) are also present, including species of ''

Afzelia ''Afzelia'' is a genus of plants in family Fabaceae. The thirteen species all are trees, native to tropical Africa or Asia. The genus name of ''Afzelia'' is in honour of Adam Afzelius (1750–1837), a Swedish botanist and an apostle of Carl Lin ...

Pterocarpus ''Pterocarpus'' is a pantropical genus of trees in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae, and was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic ''Pterocarpus'' clade within the Dalbergieae. Most species of ''Pterocarp ...

Dalbergia ''Dalbergia'' is a large genus of small to medium-size trees, shrubs and lianas in the pea family, Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. It was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic ''Dalbergia'' clade (or tribe): the Dalbergieae. ...

Xylia ''Xylia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It is native to Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Mainland Southeast Asia. Species ''Xylia'' includes nine accepted species: * '' Xylia africana'' Harms * ''Xylia evansii'' Hut ...

'', and '' Sindora''. High Indaing is woodland with trees up to 20 meters high. Low Indaing is made up of high shrubs and low trees, and is often the result of repeated cutting and burning of high Indaing.

Fauna

The ecoregion is home several medium-sized and small mammals, including

Indian muntjac The Indian muntjac or the common muntjac (''Muntiacus muntjak''), also called the southern red muntjac and barking deer, is a deer species native to South and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. In popular local l ...

(''Muntiacus muntjak''),

Eld's deer Eld's deer (''Rucervus eldii'' or ''Panolia eldii''Pitraa, Fickela, Meijaard, Groves (2004). ''Evolution and phylogeny of old world deer.'' Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 33: 880–895.), also known as the thamin or brow-antlered deer, is ...

(''Cervus eldi''), sambar deer (''Cervus unicolor''),

Indian hog deer The Indian hog deer (''Axis porcinus'') is a small deer native to the Indo-Gangetic Plain in Pakistan, northern India, Nepal, Bangladesh to mainland Southeast Asia. It also occurs in western Thailand, and is possibly extirpated from China (in s ...

(''Hyelaphus porcinus''),

Indian jackal The Indian jackal (''Canis aureus indicus''), also known as the Himalayan jackal is a subspecies of golden jackal native to Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Burma and Nepal. Its karyotype is quite different (2N=78; NF=84) from that of its Eurasian and Af ...

(''Canis aureus indicus''),

rhesus macaque The rhesus macaque (''Macaca mulatta''), colloquially rhesus monkey, is a species of Old World monkey. There are between six and nine recognised subspecies that are split between two groups, the Chinese-derived and the Indian-derived. Generally ...

(''Macaca mulatta''),

western hoolock gibbon The western hoolock gibbon (''Hoolock hoolock'') is a primate from the gibbon family, Hylobatidae. The species is found in Assam, Mizoram, and Meghalaya in India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar west of the Chindwin River. Classification Mootnick an ...

(''Hoolock hoolock''), and

jungle cat The jungle cat (''Felis chaus''), also called reed cat, swamp cat and jungle lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to the Middle East, the Caucasus, South and Southeast Asia and southern China. It inhabits foremost wetlands like swamps, littoral ...

(''Felis chaus''). Larger mammals, including Indian elephant and tiger, have been extirpated from the ecoregion. The

Popa langur The Popa langur (''Trachypithecus popa'') is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It occurs only in Myanmar and was named after Mount Popa, where a population of 100 of the monkeys live. It is listed as Critically Endangered on th ...

(''Trachypithecus popa'') is endemic to the ecoregion. The critically endangered species is limited 200 to 250 individuals in four isolated populations, including

Mount Popa Mount Popa (, ) is a dormant volcano 1518 metres (4981 feet) above sea level, and located in central Myanmar in the region of Mandalay about southeast of Bagan (Pagan) in the Pegu Range. It can be seen from the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) Riv ...

Protected areas

A 2017 assessment found that only 167 km², or less than 1%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. Another 9% is forested but outside of protected areas.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 in the ecoregion include Popa Mountain National Park and Lawkananda Wildlife Sanctuary.

External links

References

{{reflist Ecoregions of Myanmar * Indomalayan ecoregions Irrawaddy River Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests