The Nansei Islands subtropical evergreen forests is a terrestrial

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 ...

of the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

, also known as the Nansei Islands, in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The Nansei Islands are an island arc that stretches southwest from

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

towards

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 ...

. The larger islands are mostly

high island Geologically, a high island or volcanic island is an island of volcanic origin. The term can be used to distinguish such islands from low islands, which are formed from sedimentation or the uplifting of coral reefs (which have often formed ...

s and the smaller ones mostly

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

. The largest is

Okinawa Island is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands of Japan in the Kyushu region. It is the smallest and least populated of the five main islands of Japan. The island is approximately long, an average wide, and has an ...

. The highest point is Mount Miyanoura on Yakushima Island at 1,936 metres (6,352 ft). The ecoregion is the northernmost in the

Indomalayan realm The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Indi ...

, and shares many plants with subtropical and tropical Asia.

Climate

The Nansei Islands have a humid climate, which ranges from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south. The warm Kuroshio Current runs offshore, and sustains

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

s and the northernmost

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in several ...

in the western Pacific.

Flora

The natural vegetation of the islands is subtropical broadleaf evergreen forest. The dominant trees are ''

Castanopsis sieboldii ''Castanopsis sieboldii'', also known as the Itajii chinkapin or Itajii, is a species of evergreen tree that lives in subtropical eastern Asia. This is a climax species that is commonly found in the Japanese temperate rainforest. Specimens are al ...

Quercus miyagii ''Quercus miyagii'' is a species of oak native to the Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Isl ...

Persea thunbergii ''Machilus thunbergii'' (syn. ''Persea thunbergii''), the Japanese bay tree, red machilus, or tabunoki, is a widespread species of flowering plant in the family Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true l ...

'', and '' Schima wallichii'' ssp. ''liukiuensis''. In the mountain forests of Yakushima Island,

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

s including '' Cryptomeria japonica,

Chamaecyparis obtusa ''Chamaecyparis obtusa'' (Japanese cypress, hinoki cypress or hinoki; ja, 檜 or , ) is a species of cypress native to central Japan in East Asia, and widely cultivated in the temperate northern hemisphere for its high-quality timber and orna ...

Tsuga sieboldii ''Tsuga sieboldii'', also called the southern Japanese hemlock, or in Japanese, simply tsuga (栂), is a conifer native to the Japanese islands of Honshū, Kyūshū, Shikoku and Yakushima. In Europe and North America the tree is sometimes used a ...

'', and '' Abies firma'', are mixed with the broadleaf evergreen trees above 1200 meters elevation.Tagawa, Hideo (1995). "Distribution of Lucidophyll Oak-Laurel Forest Formation in Asia and Other Areas". ''Tropics'' Vol. 5 (1/2): 1:40, December 1995. Coastal and swamp plant communities include plants characteristic of the tropical Pacific, including '' Ipomoea pes-caprae,

Spinifex littoreus ''Spinifex littoreus'' is a species of herb in the family Poaceae. The species is similar to '' Spinifex longifolius.'' It is native to tropical and subtropical areas of Asia and Australia. The species is dioecious. It has been suggested that ...

, Thespesia populnea, Terminalia catappa'', and ''

Macaranga tanarius ''Macaranga tanarius'' is a plant found in South East Asia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, South China, Taiwan, and eastern Australia. It is commonly seen as a pioneer species in disturbed rainforest areas. Easily recognised for the round veiny le ...

''. Mangrove species include ''

Bruguiera gymnorhiza ''Bruguiera gymnorhiza'', the large-leafed orange mangrove or oriental mangrove,) is a mangrove tree that grows usually to 7-20m high, but sometimes up to 35m, that belongs to the family Rhizophoraceae. It is found on the seaward side of mangrov ...

, Heritiera littoralis, Rhizophora stylosa,

Avicennia marina ''Avicennia marina'', commonly known as grey mangrove or white mangrove, is a species of mangrove tree classified in the plant family Acanthaceae (formerly in the Verbenaceae or Avicenniaceae). As with other mangroves, it occurs in the intertid ...

Sonneratia alba ''Sonneratia alba'' is a mangrove tree in the family Lythraceae. The specific epithet ' is from the Latin meaning "white", referring to the flowers. Description ''S. alba'' grows up to tall with a trunk diameter up to . The cracked to fissured ...

'', and ''

Nypa fruticans ''Nypa fruticans'', commonly known as the nipa palm (or simply nipa, from ms, nipah) or mangrove palm, is a species of palm native to the coastlines and estuarine habitats of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the only palm considered adapte ...

''. '' Satakentia liukiuensis'', the only species in the genus '' Satakentia'', is a palm tree that is

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 ...

Ishigaki Island , also known as ''Ishigakijima'', is a Japanese island south-west of Okinawa Hontō and the second-largest island of the Yaeyama Island group, behind Iriomote Island. It is located approximately south-west of Okinawa Hontō. It is within the ...

and Iriomote Island in the

Yaeyama Islands The Yaeyama Islands (八重山列島 ''Yaeyama-rettō'', also 八重山諸島 ''Yaeyama-shotō'', Yaeyama: ''Yaima'', Yonaguni: ''Daama'', Okinawan: ''Yeema'', Northern Ryukyuan: ''Yapema'') are an archipelago in the southwest of Okinawa ...

Fauna

The ecoregion corresponds to the Nansei Shoto Endemic Bird Area, and is home to several endemic bird species, including the

Ryukyu wood pigeon The Ryukyu wood pigeon (''Columba jouyi''), otherwise known as the silver-banded or silver-crescented pigeon is an extinct species of bird in the Columba genus in the family Columbidae. This wood pigeon was endemic to the Laurel forest habitat ...

(''Columba jouyi''),

Ryukyu green pigeon The Ryukyu green pigeon (''Treron permagnus'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to the Ryukyu Islands in Japan. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the Taiwan green pigeon (''T. formosae''), but phylogenetic evi ...

(''Treron permagnus''), and Ryukyu robin (''Larvivora komadori''). The

Okinawa rail The Okinawa rail (''Hypotaenidia okinawae'') is a species of bird in the rail family, Rallidae. It is endemic to Okinawa Island in Japan where it is known as the . Its existence was only confirmed in 1978 and it was formally described in 1981 a ...

(''Gallirallus okinawae'') and

Okinawa woodpecker The is a woodpecker endemic to the Okinawa Prefecture of Japan. It was previously placed in the monotypic genus ''Sapheopipo''. Other common names for this species are Noguchi's woodpecker, Okinawan woodpecker, Pryer's woodpecker and Ryukyu woo ...

(''Dendrocopos noguchii'') are limited to Okinawa, and the Amami woodcock (''Scolopax mira''), Amami jay (''Garrulus lidthi''), and Amami thrush (''Zoothera major'') are limited to the

Amami Islands The The name ''Amami-guntō'' was standardized on February 15, 2010. Prior to that, another name, ''Amami shotō'' (奄美諸島), was also used. is an archipelago in the Satsunan Islands, which is part of the Ryukyu Islands, and is southwest o ...

. The

Ryukyu minivet The Ryukyu minivet (''Pericrocotus tegimae'') is a species of bird in the family Campephagidae. It is Endemism, endemic to Japan. The species was previously thought to be a subspecies of the ashy minivet. Its specific name is named for the Japanes ...

(''Pericrocotus tegimae'') is formerly endemic, but in recent decades has spread to

, Shikoku, and western

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separ ...

.BirdLife International (2020) Endemic Bird Areas factsheet: Nansei Shoto. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 02/06/2020. Several threatened species live in the ecoregion and in neighboring ones. The

Japanese woodpigeon The Japanese wood pigeon (''Columba janthina'') is a species of columbid bird. It is found in East Asia along shorelines of the Pacific's Korea Strait, Philippine Sea and East China Sea. They are believed to be the largest representative of thei ...

(''Columba janthina'') lives in the Nansei Islands,

Ogasawara Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , are an archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands, some directly south of Tokyo, Japan and northwest of Guam. The name "Bonin Islands" comes from the Japanese word ''bunin'' (an archaic readi ...

, and islands off Korea's southern coast. The Ryukyu scops owl (''Otus elegans'') lives in the Nansei Islands as well as Taiwan and

Batanes Batanes, officially the Province of Batanes ( ivv, Provinsiya nu Batanes; Ilocano: ''Probinsia ti Batanes''; fil, Lalawigan ng Batanes, ), is an archipelagic province in the Philippines, administratively part of the Cagayan Valley region. It i ...

Protected areas

Protected areas include Yakushima National Park (325.53 km²) on Yakushima Island, and Yanbaru National Park (136.22 km²) on Okinawa Island.

External links

*
Nansei Shoto Endemic Bird Area (BirdLife International)

References

{{reflist Ecoregions of Japan Indomalayan ecoregions . Forests of Japan Natural history of the Ryukyu Islands Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Endemic Bird Areas