The Northern Indochina subtropical moist forests are a

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

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 northern

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

, covering portions of

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

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 ...

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 China's

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

Province.Encyclopedia of earth - Ecoregions
/ref>

Setting

The Northern Indochina subtropical forests occupy the highlands of northern

, extending from northeastern

, where they cover the upper portion of the Red River watershed and the northern

Annamite Range The Annamite Range or the Annamese Mountains (french: Chaîne annamitique; lo, ພູ ຫລວງ ''Phou Luang''; vi, Dãy (núi) Trường Sơn) is a major mountain range of eastern Indochina, extending approximately through Laos, Vietnam, ...

, across northern

, northernmost

, and southeastern

Shan State Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...

in eastern

. The ecoregion includes

Fan Si Pan Fansipan (Vietnamese: ''Phan Xi Păng'', ) is a mountain in Vietnam. The height of the mountain was in 1909, but now the height of the mountain is . It is the highest mountain in the Indochinese Peninsula (comprising Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia) ...

(), Vietnam's highest mountain. The Northern Indochina subtropical forests are a transition between the tropical forests of Indochina and the subtropical and temperate forests of China and the Tibetan Plateau.Wikramanayake, Eric; Eric Dinerstein; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (2002). ''Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment.'' Washington, DC: Island Press.

Climate

The ecoregion has a subtropical monsoon climate. Rainfall is highly seasonal, falling mostly with the summer monsoon 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 ...

and

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...

between April and October. From November to March westerly winds from continental Asia create cooler and dry conditions. January is the coldest month, and pre-monsoon spring temperatures are generally the hottest. Mean temperatures are generally lower as elevation increases, and infrequent frosts occur at higher elevations.

Flora

The predominant plant community is subtropical broadleaf evergreen forest. These forests include a mix of subtropical plants common to the Himalayas and southern China, along with tropical lowland forest species. Mature forests form a three-layered canopy up to high. Trees from the plant families

Theaceae Theaceae (), the tea family, is a family (biology), family of flowering plants comprising shrubs and trees, including the economically important tea plant, and the ornamental camellias. It can be described as having from seven to 40 genus, genera ...

(''

Schima ''Schima'' is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the tea family, Theaceae. The genus inhabits warm temperate to subtropical climates across southern and southeastern Asia, from the eastern Himalaya of Nepal and eastern India across Indochin ...

'' spp.),

Magnoliaceae The Magnoliaceae () are a flowering plant family, the magnolia family, in the order Magnoliales. It consists of two genera: ''Magnolia'' and ''Liriodendron'' (tulip trees). Unlike most angiosperms, whose flower parts are in whorls (rings), the ...

(''

Michelia ''Michelia'' is a historical genus of flowering plants belonging to the family (Magnoliaceae). The genus included about 50 species of evergreen trees and shrubs, native to tropical and subtropical south and southeast Asia (Indomalaya), including s ...

'' spp., ''

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

'' spp.), and

Fagaceae The Fagaceae are a family of flowering plants that includes beeches, chestnuts and oaks, and comprises eight genera with about 927 species. Fagaceae in temperate regions are mostly deciduous, whereas in the tropics, many species occur as evergre ...

(''

Quercus An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably '' ...

'' spp., ''

Castanopsis ''Castanopsis'', commonly called chinquapin or chinkapin, is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the beech family, Fagaceae. The genus contains about 140 species, which are today restricted to tropical and subtropical eastern Asia. A total o ...

'' spp., and ''

Lithocarpus ''Lithocarpus'' is a genus in the beech family, Fagaceae. Trees in this genus are commonly known as the stone oaks and differ from ''Quercus'' primarily because they produce insect-pollinated flowers on erect spikes and the female flowers have ...

'' spp.) are predominant. Other tree families represented are

Betulaceae Betulaceae, the birch family, includes six genera of deciduous nut-bearing trees and shrubs, including the birches, alders, hazels, hornbeams, hazel-hornbeam, and hop-hornbeams numbering a total of 167 species. They are mostly natives of the t ...

Hamamelidaceae Hamamelidaceae, commonly referred to as the witch-hazel family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales. The clade consists of shrubs and small trees positioned within the woody clade of the core Saxifragales. An earlier system ...

Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). They are dicotyledons, and occur ma ...

Sapotaceae 240px, '' Madhuca longifolia'' var. ''latifolia'' in Narsapur, Medak district, India The Sapotaceae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants belonging to the order (biology), order Ericales. The family includes about 800 species of ev ...

, and

Elaeocarpaceae Elaeaocarpaceae is a family of flowering plants. The family contains approximately 615 species of trees and shrubs in 12 genera."Elaeocarpaceae" In: Klaus Kubitzki (ed.). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' vol. VI. Springer-Verlag: Be ...

. Montane broadleaf evergreen forests occur from elevation up to elevation. The subtropical montane species are predominant, and the tropical lowland species are absent. Deciduous broadleaf trees and conifers are found at higher elevations. Montane deciduous forests are found on the Shan Plateau of northern Myanmar. On Fan Si Pan in northern Vietnam, a distinct fir-hemlock forest grows above elevation, and is found nowhere else in Southeast Asia. The characteristic trees are the conifers ''

Tsuga dumosa ''Tsuga dumosa'', commonly called the Himalayan hemlock or in Chinese, Yunnan tieshan (), is a species of conifer native to the eastern Himalayas. It occurs in parts of Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar, Vietnam and Tibet. Within its native range t ...

'' and ''

Abies delavayi ''Abies delavayi'', the Delavay's silver-fir or Delavay's fir, is a species of fir, native to Yunnan in southwest China and adjoining border areas in southeastern Tibet, far northeastern India, northern Myanmar, and far northwestern Vietnam. It ...

'' var. ''nukiangensis''. The firs and hemlocks are accompanied by broadleaf trees of families

Aceraceae Aceraceae were recognized as a family of flowering plants also called the maple family. They contain two to four genera, depending upon the circumscription, of some 120 species of trees and shrubs. A common characteristic is that the leaves are ...

Hippocastanaceae Hippocastanoideae is a subfamily of flowering plants in the soapberry family Sapindaceae. The group was formerly treated as the separate families Aceraceae and Hippocastanaceae. Molecular phylogenetic research by Harrington et al. (2005) has s ...

, Fagaceae, Magnoliaceae, and Lauraceae, and conifers of

Cupressaceae Cupressaceae is a conifer family, the cypress family, with worldwide distribution. The family includes 27–30 genera (17 monotypic), which include the junipers and redwoods, with about 130–140 species in total. They are monoecious, subdio ...

Podocarpaceae Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly Southern Hemisphere conifers, known in English as podocarps, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs.James E. Eckenwalder. 2009. ''Conifers of the World''. Portland, Oregon: Timber Pre ...

, and

Taxaceae Taxaceae (), commonly called the yew family, is a coniferous family which includes six extant and two extinct genera, and about 30 species of plants, or in older interpretations three genera and 7 to 12 species. Description They are many-bran ...

. Forests growing on limestone substrates have a distinct composition, with the trees ''

Tetrameles nudiflora ''Tetrameles'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Tetramelaceae with one species, ''Tetrameles nudiflora''. It grows as a large deciduous tree and is found across southern Asia from India through southeast Asia, Malesia, and into northe ...

Antiaris toxicaria ''Antiaris toxicaria'' is a tree in the mulberry and fig family, Moraceae. It is the only species currently recognized in the genus ''Antiaris''. The genus ''Antiaris'' was at one time considered to consist of several species, but is now regarded ...

Celtis cinnamomifolia ''Celtis'' is a genus of about 60–70 species of deciduous trees, commonly known as hackberries or nettle trees, widespread in warm temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The genus is part of the extended hemp family (Cannabaceae). Desc ...

, C. wightii, Cleistanthus sumatranus,

Garuga floribunda ''Garuga'' is a genus of shrubs and trees in the family Burseraceae (the incense or torchwood family). Members are found in Asia and America. Description ''Garuga'' species are deciduous trees. The flowers are bisexual. The fruits are drupes (i ...

, Pterospermum menglunense, Ulmus lanceaefolia, and Xantolis stenopetala.

Fauna

The ecoregion is home to over 183 species of mammals. They include the

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 maxiumus''),

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 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''),

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''),

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 sumatraensis milneedwardsii''),

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''),

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''),

red panda The red panda (''Ailurus fulgens''), also known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzzle ...

(''Ailurus fulgens''), particoloured flying squirrel (''Hylopetes alboniger''), pygmy loris (''Nycticebus pygmaeus''),

northern pig-tailed macaque The northern pig-tailed macaque (''Macaca leonina'') is a vulnerable species of macaque in the subfamily Cercopithecidae. It is found in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Traditionally, ''M. leonina'' w ...

(''Macaca leonina''),

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''),

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''),

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''),

back-striped weasel The back-striped weasel (''Mustela strigidorsa''), also called the stripe-backed weasel, is a weasel widely distributed in Southeastern Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List in view of its presumed large population, occurrence ...

(''Mustela strigidorsa''), and inornate squirrel (''Callosciurus inornatus''). Several mammals are

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 ...

to the ecoregion – the

Tonkin snub-nosed monkey The Tonkin snub-nosed monkey or Dollman's snub-nosed monkey (''Rhinopithecus avunculus'') is a slender-bodied arboreal Old World monkey, endemic to northern Vietnam. It has black and white fur, a pink nose and lips, and blue patches around the ey ...

(''Rhinopithecus avunculus''),

northern white-cheeked gibbon The northern white-cheeked gibbon (''Nomascus leucogenys'') is a Critically Endangered species of gibbon native to South East Asia. It is closely related to the southern white-cheeked gibbon (''Nomascus siki''), with which it was previously con ...

(''Hylobates leucogenys''),

Owston's palm civet Owston's palm civet (''Chrotogale owstoni'') is a civet native to Vietnam, Laos and southern China. It is listed as Endangered by IUCN because of an ongoing population decline, estimated to be more than 50% over the last three generations, inferr ...

(''Chrotogale owstoni''),

Roosevelt's muntjac A single specimen of the Roosevelt's muntjac or Roosevelt's barking deer (''Muntiacus rooseveltorum'') was presented to the Field Museum in 1929 following the Kelley-Roosevelts expedition organized by Theodore (Jnr) and Kermit Roosevelt. The ...

(''Muntiacus rooseveltorum''), and the

Chaotung vole The Chaotung vole (''Eothenomys olitor'') is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found only in Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of C ...

(''Eothenomys olitor'').

Fea's muntjac The Fea's muntjac or Tenasserim muntjac (''Muntiacus feae'') is a rare species of muntjac native to southern Myanmar and Thailand. It is a similar size to the common muntjac (adult weight is 18 – 21 kg (40 - 46 lb)). It is diurnal and ...

(''Muntiacus feae''),

Anderson's squirrel Anderson's squirrel (''Callosciurus quinquestriatus'') is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is found in forests in China (Yunnan only) and Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's ...

(''Callosciurus quinquestriatus''), and red-throated squirrel (''Dremomys gularis'') are near-endemic species, native to the ecoregion and one or more adjacent ecoregions. The ecoregion has 707 species of birds.

Protected areas

A 2017 assessment estimated that 30,724 km², or 7%, of the ecoregion is in

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

s. Another 34% of ecoregion's area is forested but outside of protected areas. A 1997 assessment found a total of 15,948 km² protected in 19 protected areas.

References

External links

* * {{NatGeo ecoregion, id=im0137, name=Northern Indochina subtropical forests Ecoregions of Asia Ecoregions of China Ecoregions of Laos Ecoregions of Myanmar Ecoregions of Thailand Ecoregions of Vietnam * * * * * * Forests of China Forests of Myanmar Forests of Vietnam Indomalayan ecoregions Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests