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 of northern Indochina, covering portions of Vietnam,

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

, Thailand,

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 Province.Encyclopedia of earth - Ecoregions
/ref>

Setting

The Northern Indochina subtropical forests occupy the highlands of northern Indochina, extending from northeastern Vietnam, where they cover the upper portion of the Red River watershed and the northern Annamite Range, across northern

, northernmost Thailand, and southeastern Yunnan to Shan State 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 and South China Sea 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 ('' Schima'' spp.), Magnoliaceae (''

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'' 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'' spp., '' Castanopsis'' 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, Hamamelidaceae,

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, and Elaeocarpaceae. 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'' var. ''nukiangensis''. The firs and hemlocks are accompanied by broadleaf trees of families Aceraceae, Hippocastanaceae, 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, and Taxaceae. Forests growing on limestone substrates have a distinct composition, with the trees '' Tetrameles nudiflora, Antiaris toxicaria,

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 ''Cleistanthus sumatranus'' is an accepted name of a tree species in the genus ''Cleistanthus'' (family Phyllanthaceae). No subspecies are listed in the Catalogue of Life. It is found in dense deciduous or evergreen forests, from sea level to ...

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 ''Pterospermum menglunense'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It is found only in China. References

Pterospermum, menglunense Endemic flora of China Critically endangered plants Taxonomy articles created by Polbot ...

Ulmus lanceaefolia ''Ulmus lanceifolia'' Roxburgh, ex Wall.
occasionally known as the Vietnam elm, is a very large tree endemic to a wide area of southern ...

, and

Xantolis stenopetala ''Xantolis'' is a genus of trees and shrubs in the family Sapotaceae described as a genus in 1838. ''Xantolis'' is native to Asia (India to southern China to Singapore and the Philippines. ;Species References

Chrysophylloideae Sapotac ...

Fauna

The ecoregion is home to over 183 species of mammals. They include the Asian elephant (''Elephas maxiumus''), tiger (''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 (''Bos gaurus''), mainland serow (''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 (''Ailurus fulgens''),

particoloured flying squirrel The particolored flying squirrel (''Hylopetes alboniger'') is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitat is su ...

(''Hylopetes alboniger''),

pygmy loris The pygmy slow loris (''Xanthonycticebus pygmaeus'') is a species of slow loris found east of the Mekong River in Vietnam, Laos, eastern Cambodia, and China. It occurs in a variety of forest habitats, including tropical dry forests, semi-everg ...

(''Nycticebus pygmaeus''), northern pig-tailed macaque (''Macaca leonina''), Assam macaque (''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 (''Cuon alpinus''), smooth-coated otter (''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 The inornate squirrel (''Callosciurus inornatus'') is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is found in China, Laos, and Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group=" ...

(''Callosciurus inornatus''). Several mammals are endemic to the ecoregion – the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey (''Rhinopithecus avunculus''), northern white-cheeked gibbon (''Hylobates leucogenys''), Owston's palm civet (''Chrotogale owstoni''), Roosevelt's muntjac (''Muntiacus rooseveltorum''), and the Chaotung vole (''Eothenomys olitor''). Fea's muntjac (''Muntiacus feae''), Anderson's squirrel (''Callosciurus quinquestriatus''), and

red-throated squirrel The red-throated squirrel (''Dremomys gularis'') is a rodent of the family Sciuridae. This species of rodent is distributed in parts of southeastern Asia, in areas of the Red River Valley of northern Vietnam and southern central Yunnan in China. ...

(''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