The Kayah–Karen montane rain forests is a

tropical moist broadleaf forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat (ecology), habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally foun ...

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 ...

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 C. Wells, Joh ...

and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. The montane rain forests cover several connected mountain ranges, including the

Dawna Range The Dawna Range (; th, ทิวเขาถนนธงชัยตะวันตก, ทิวเขาดอยมอนกุจู), also known as Dawna Hills, is a mountain range in eastern Burma and northwestern Thailand. Its northern e ...

Karen Hills The Karen Hills, () also known as Kayah-Karen Mountains, are one of the main hill ranges in eastern Burma. They are located at the SW corner of Shan State and in Kayah State, a mountainous region where the only relatively flat area is Loikaw, t ...

Thanon Thong Chai Range The Thanon Thong Chai Range ( th, ทิวเขาถนนธงชัย, , formerly Thanon Range; Burmese ''Tanen Taunggyi'') is a mountain range in northern Thailand. Its tallest peak is Doi Inthanon, the highest point in Thailand. Most ...

Daen Lao Range The Daen Lao Range ( th, ทิวเขาแดนลาว,
; my, Loi La) is a mountain range of t ...

, and

Khun Tan Range The Khun Tan Range ( th, ทิวเขาขุนตาน or, erroneously, ทิวเขาขุนตาล) is a mountain range that occupies a central position in Northern Thailand. Most of the range is located in Chiang Mai, west ...

Geography

The Kayah–Karen montane rain forests occupy an area of 119,158 km². The mountain ranges lie in the border region between Myanmar and Thailand. The Dawna, Thanon Thong Chai, Daen Lao, and Khun Tan ranges separate the

Salween River , ''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 ...

basin to the west from that of the

Chao Phraya The Chao Phraya ( or ; th, แม่น้ำเจ้าพระยา, , or ) is the major river in Thailand, with its low alluvial plain forming the centre of the country. It flows through Bangkok and then into the Gulf of Thailand. Et ...

and

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , ...

rivers on the east. The Karen Hills extend to the northwest, separating the Salween and

Sittaung River The Sittaung River ( my, စစ်တောင်းမြစ် ; formerly, the Sittang or Sittounghttps://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/UNGEGN/docs/8th-uncsgn-docs/inf/8th_UNCSGN_econf.94_INF.75.pdf ) is a river in south central Myanmar in Bago ...

basins. The ecoregion includes the valley of the Salween River in Kayin, Kayah, and southern Shan states.

Climate

The climate is tropical, with warm humid and rainy summers and dry and mild winters. Average annual rainfall ranges from 1,500 to 2,000 mm. The climate is influenced by the

Southwest monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscill ...

coming from the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line between ...

, which brings more rain to the westward-facing mountain slopes.

Flora

The ecoregion is at the transition between the tropical monsoon forests of central and southern Indochina and the subtropical forests of northern Indochina. Forest plant communities vary with elevation, latitude, rainfall, and soils. Many trees in the ecoregion belong to the

Dipterocarpaceae 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'' = fru ...

family.

Fauna

The ecoregion has 168 species of mammals, including several threatened species. Larger mammals include

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 u ...

(''Panthera tigris''),

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus ''Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the no ...

(''Elephas maximus''),

gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ), also known as the Indian bison, is a bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 m ...

(''Bos gaurus''),

banteng The banteng (''Bos javanicus''; ), also known as tembadau, is a species of cattle found in Southeast Asia. The head-and-body length is between . Wild banteng are typically larger and heavier than their domesticated counterparts, but are otherw ...

(''Bos javanicus''),

wild water buffalo The wild water buffalo (''Bubalus arnee''), also called Asian buffalo, Asiatic buffalo and wild buffalo, is a large bovine native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as ''Endangered'' in the IUCN Red List since 198 ...

(''Bubalus arnee''),

Asian black bear The Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), also known as the Asiatic black bear, moon bear and white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia that is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. It lives in the Himalayas, sout ...

(''Ursus thibetanus''),

mainland serow The mainland serow (''Capricornis sumatraensis'') is a serow species native to the Himalayas, Southeast Asia and China. The mainland serow is related closely to the red serow, Himalayan serow, Sumatran serow, and the Chinese serow (''C. milneedw ...

(''Capricornis milneedwardsii''),

clouded leopard The clouded leopard (''Neofelis nebulosa''), also called the mainland clouded leopard, is a wild cat inhabiting dense forests from the foothills of the Himalayas through mainland Southeast Asia into South China. In the early 19th century, a cl ...

(''Pardofelis nebulosa''),

Malayan tapir The Malayan tapir (''Tapirus indicus''), also called Asian tapir, Asiatic tapir and Indian tapir, is the only tapir species native to Southeast Asia from the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra. It has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List since ...

(''Tapirus indicus''),

dhole The dhole (''Cuon alpinus''; ) is a canid native to Central, South, East and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asian wild dog, Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, red wolf, and mountain wolf. It ...

(''Cuon alpinus''),

Assam macaque The Assam macaque (''Macaca assamensis'') or Assamese macaque is a macaque of the Old World monkey family native to South and Southeast Asia. Since 2008, it has been listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, as it is experiencing significan ...

(''Macaca assamensis''),

stump-tailed macaque The stump-tailed macaque (''Macaca arctoides''), also called the bear macaque, is a species of macaque native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. In India, it occurs south of the Brahmaputra River, in the northeastern part of the country. Its range ...

(''Macaca arctoides''),

smooth-coated otter The smooth-coated otter (''Lutrogale perspicillata'') is an otter species occurring in most of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with a disjunct population in Iraq. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1996 and is thre ...

(''Lutrogale perspicillata''), great Indian civet (''Viverra zibetha''), and particoloured flying squirrel (''Hylopetes alboniger''). The ecoregion has one

endemic 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 elsew ...

mammal,

Kitti's hog-nosed bat Kitti's hog-nosed bat (''Craseonycteris thonglongyai''), also known as the bumblebee bat, is a near-threatened species of bat and the only extant member of the family Craseonycteridae. It occurs in western Thailand Thailand ( ), histor ...

(''Craseonycteris thonglongyai''). The ecoregion is home to 568 species of birds, including one endemic species, the

Burmese yuhina The Burmese yuhina (''Yuhina humilis'') is a species of bird in the family Zosteropidae. It is found in Myanmar and Thailand. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. References *Collar, N. J. & Robson, C. 2007. Fam ...

(''Yuhina humilis'').

Protected areas

A 2017 assessment found that 32,354 km², or 27%, of the ecoregion is in 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 include

Doi Luang National Park Doi Luang National Park ( th, อุทยานแห่งชาติดอยหลวง) is one of the biggest national parks in Northern Thailand. It covers the Mae Suai, Phan and Wiang Pa Pao districts of Chiang Rai Province, Wang Nue ...

Erawan National Park Erawan National Park ( th, อุทยานแห่งชาติเอราวัณ) is a 343,735 rai ~ park in western Thailand in the Tenasserim Hills of Kanchanaburi Province, Amphoe Si Sawat in tambon Tha Kradan. Founded on August 14, ...

Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary The Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary ( th, เขตรักษาพันธุ์สัตว์ป่าห้วยขาแข้ง, ) is in Uthai Thani and Tak Provinces, Thailand. The park was established in 1974, and is part of the l ...

Khlong Wang Chao National Park Khlong Wang Chao National Park (Thai คลองวังเจ้า) is a national park in Thailand. Description Khlong Wang Chao National Park is situated in the Thanon Thong Chai Mountain Range. Most of the area consists of complicated moun ...

Khun Chae National Park Khun Chae National Park ( th, อุทยานแห่งชาติขุนแจ) is a national park in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. This rugged park is home to high mountains and waterfalls. Geography Khun Chae National Park is located ...

Mae Tuen Wildlife Sanctuary Mae is an American rock band that formed in Norfolk, Virginia in 2001. The band's name is an acronym for "Multi-sensory Aesthetic Experience", based on a course taken by drummer Jacob Marshall while a student at Old Dominion University. History ...

Namtok Mae Surin National Park Namtok Mae Surin National Park ( th, อุทยานแห่งชาติน้ำตกแม่สุรินทร์) is a national park in Mae Hong Son Province, Thailand. Home to mountains, waterfalls and caves, the park is best known ...

Op Luang National Park Op Luang National Park ( th, อุทยานแห่งชาติออบหลวง) is a national park in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. It is home to a scenic river canyon, waterfalls, and caves. Geography Op Luang National Park is abo ...

Salawin National Park The Salawin National Park or Salween National Park( th, อุทยานแห่งชาติสาละวิน) is located in Mae Sariang and Sop Moei Districts in Mae Hong Son Province, northern Thailand, adjacent to its border with Bu ...

, and

Taksin Maharat National Park Taksin Maharat National Park ( th, อุทยานแห่งชาติตากสินมหาราช) is a national park in Tak Province, Thailand. Home to Thailand's largest tree, the park also features waterfalls, caves, and rock f ...

in Thailand.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kayah-Karen montane rain forests Ecoregions of Myanmar Ecoregions of Thailand * * Indomalayan ecoregions Montane forests Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests