The Mindoro rain forests

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 ...

(WWF ID:IM0130) covers the island of

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 lies between the island of

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 ...

and the Palawan Archipelago in the

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 ...

. The island has been subject to heavy commercial logging, with the only original forests remaining on the high ridge of the central mountain range. Logging has been reduced long enough on the east side of the mountains to support a regrown forest and a number of endemic species.

Location and description

Although the ecoregion is primarily on the island of Mindoro, it also includes a group of small islands to the southeast centered on ( Semirara Island), and to the northwest centered on (

Lubang Island Lubang Island is the largest island in the Lubang Group of Islands, an archipelago which lies to the northwest of the northern end of Mindoro in the Philippines. The Lubang Islands are about southwest of Manila. There are seven islands in the gro ...

). These small islands are isolated enough that they may support endemic species. The main island of Mindoro is divided by a north-south mountain range, with the east side more heavily forested than the west. The highest point is

Mount Halcon Mount Halcon ( fil, Bundok Halcon) and ( es, Monte Halcón) is the highest mountain in the island of Mindoro in the Philippines, according to the new data release by ''Oriental Mindoro peakvisor'' as of 2022, it has an elevation of above sea lev ...

, at . Because there are deepwater channels between Mindoro and Luzon, and Mindoro and the Palawans, the island was not connected by land bridges during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

recent (Ice Age). It thus retains a distinctive community of flora and fauna, but there are affinities to the larger islands.

Climate

The climate of the ecoregion is ''

Tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ...

'' (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

(Am)). This climate is characterized by relatively even temperatures throughout the year (all months being greater than average temperature), and a pronounced dry season. The driest month has less than 60 mm of precipitation, but more than (100-(average/25) mm. This climate is mid-way between a tropical rainforest and a tropical savannah. The dry month usually at or right after the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. The wet season in the ecoregion is June to October.

Flora and fauna

Although the original forest has been mostly logged or degraded by human activity, the island is currently about 60% covered with closed forest, mostly broadleaf evergreen. Another 13% is open forest, 10% is herbaceous cover, and the remainder is human settlement and cropland. There are 42 species of mammals on Mindoro, 7 of which are endemic. Mammals of conservation interest include the critically endangered Mindoro dwarf buffalo ''(

Bubalus mindorensis The tamaraw or Mindoro dwarf buffalo (''Bubalus mindorensis'') is a small hoofed mammal belonging to the family Bovidae. It is endemic to the island of Mindoro in the Philippines, and is the only endemic Philippine bovine. It is believed, howe ...

)'', and the critically endangered Ilin Island cloudrunner ''(

Crateromys paulus The Ilin Island cloudrunner (''Crateromys paulus'') is a critically endangered cloud rat from Ilin Island in the Philippines. It is called ''siyang'' by the Taubuwid Mangyan. It is a fluffy-coated, bushy-tailed rat and may have emerged from tre ...

)''.

Protected areas

About 16% of the ecoregion is officially protected. These protected areas include: *

Mounts Iglit–Baco National Park The Mounts Iglit–Baco National Park is a protected area of the Philippines and an ASEAN Heritage Park located in the island of Mindoro in central Philippines. The park covers an area of surrounding Mount Iglit and Mount Baco in the central inte ...

Naujan Lake National Park Naujan Lake is a freshwater lake in the Philippines located in the northeastern corner of the province of Oriental Mindoro on Mindoro Island. The lake is the fifth largest in the country and the main geographical feature of the Naujan Lake Nati ...

References

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