The Irrawaddy freshwater swamp forests ecoregion (WWF ID: IM0116) covers the freshwater portion of the delta of the

Irrawaddy River The Irrawaddy River ( Ayeyarwady River; , , from Indic ''revatī'', meaning "abounding in riches") is a river that flows from north to south through Myanmar (Burma). It is the country's largest river and most important commercial waterway. Origi ...

, set back an average of 70 km from the Bay of Bengal by the saltwater mangroves. To the north is a rainforest belt with less inundated land. The region is extremely fertile due to the river-borne silt (the Irawaddy Delta is the fifth most heavily silted river in the world), but nearly-total conversion to agriculture has degraded the ecology. There are no fully protected areas in this ecoregion.

Location and description

The ecoregion is flat, measuring about 170 km west-to-east and about 125 km north-to-south. It is bounded on the south by the Myanmar Coast mangroves ecoregion where the saltwater influence of the sea becomes dominant. The belt of mangroves sets the freshwater swamp forest about 70 km back from the Bay of Bengal. The ecoregion transitions to the north into the

Myanmar coastal rain forests The Myanmar coastal rain forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in Myanmar. The ecoregion occupies Myanmar's coastal lowlands along the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea. Geography The Myanmar coastal rain forests occupy the coastal ...

ecoregion. In the northwest is a small area of high ground at the southern end of the

Arakan Mountains The Arakan Mountains ( my, ရခိုင်ရိုးမ), also known as the Rakhine Yoma, are a mountain range in western Myanmar, between the coast of Rakhine State and the Central Myanmar Basin, in which flows the Irrawaddy River. It is th ...

. The eastern corner of the region wraps around the capital city of Yangon, which itself is in the mangrove zone.

Climate

The climate of the ecoregion is '' Tropical savanna climate - dry winter'' ( Köppen climate classification (Aw)). This climate is characterized by relatively even temperatures throughout the year, and a pronounced dry season. The driest month has less than 60 mm of precipitation, and is drier than the average month.

Flora and fauna

Over 80% of the ecoregion is cultivated cropland or permanent water. The small stands of forest are about equally divided between closed and open forest, but these stands are highly fragmented. The common trees are Teak ''( Tectona grandis)'', Mai maeng (a variety of '' Xylia xylocarpa'' often used in reforestation), Cotton-tree ''( Bombax ceiba)'', Ka-jaw ''(

Millettia pendula ''Millettia'' is a genus of legume in the family Fabaceae. It consists of about 150 species, which are distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The genus was formerly known by the name ''Pongamia'', but that name was reje ...

)'', ''( Dalbergia)'', Wild mango ''( Spondias pinnata)'', Bahera ''(

Terminalia balerica Terminalia may refer to: * Terminalia (festival), a Roman festival to the god of boundaries Terminus * ''Terminalia'' (plant), a tree genus * Terminalia (insect anatomy), the terminal region of the abdomen in insects * ''Polyscias terminalia ' ...

)'', and a variety of other trees. Bamboo ''( Melocanna bambusoides)'' is also common. The region is an important wetland for migratory birds. Notable populations include the relatively common Mongolian plover ''( Charadrius mongolus)'', the critically endangered Spoon-billed sandpiper ''(

Eurynorhynchus pygmeus The spoon-billed sandpiper (''Calidris pygmaea'') is a small wader which breeds on the coasts of the Bering Sea and winters in Southeast Asia. This species is highly threatened, and it is said that since the 1970s the breeding population has de ...

)'', the near-threatened Black-tailed godwit ''( Limosa limosa)'', and the common Asin openbill stork ''(

Anastomus oscitans The Asian openbill or Asian openbill stork (''Anastomus oscitans'') is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. This distinctive stork is found mainly in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is greyish or white with glossy b ...

)''. The size of visiting populations has been shrinking in recent years.

Protected areas

There are no officially protected areas in this ecoregion.

References

{{reflist Indomalayan ecoregions Ecoregions of Myanmar Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests