The Peninsular Malaysian rain forests is an

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 ...

on Malay Peninsula and adjacent islands. It is in the

tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests 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, discon ...

biome A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...

Geography

The ecoregion covers most of the southern Malay Peninsula in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and southern

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 b ...

, and extends southwards to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, the

Riau Archipelago The Riau Archipelago is a ''geographic'' term (as opposed to administrative region) for the core group of islands within the Riau Islands Province in Indonesia, and located south of Singapore and east of Riau on Sumatra. Before the province of R ...

, and

Lingga Islands The Lingga Regency ( id, Kabupaten Lingga) is a group of islands in Indonesia, located south of Singapore, along both sides of the equator, off the eastern coast of Riau Province on Sumatra island. They are south of the populated Riau Archipela ...

, and east to the

Anamba Islands Anambas Islands Regency ( id, Kabupaten Kepulauan Anambas) is a small archipelago of Indonesia, located northeast of Batam Island in the North Natuna Sea between the Malaysian mainland to the west and the island of Borneo to the east. Geographi ...

. The peninsula is fringed with mangroves, including the

Indochina mangroves The Indochina mangroves are a large mangrove ecoregion on the coasts of Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia in Southeast Asia. Location and description Mangrove forests occur on coasts that are regularly washed with saltwater by tidal moveme ...

on the eastern shore, and the

Myanmar coast mangroves The Burmese or Myanmar Coast mangroves are an ecoregion in Burma, Malaysia, Thailand and Bangladesh where there were once thick forests of mangroves but today most has been cleared, resulting in loss of habitat for wildlife. Location and descript ...

on the western shore. The ecologically distinct

Peninsular Malaysian peat swamp forests The Peninsular Malaysian peat swamp forests is an ecoregion on Malay Peninsula, which includes portions of Malaysia. It is in the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome. Setting The ecoregion covers an area of on both the eastern ...

ecoregion are found in waterlogged lowlands on the east and west sides of the peninsula. The

Titiwangsa Mountains The Titiwangsa Mountains ( Malay: ''Banjaran Titiwangsa,'' بنجرن تيتيوڠسا, ), also known as ''"Banjaran Besar"'' (Big Range) by locals, is the chain of mountains that forms the backbone of the Malay Peninsula. The northern section ...

form the mountainous backbone of the peninsula, and the range's higher elevations are home to the Peninsular Malaysian montane rain forests ecoregion.

Flora

The predominant trees are

dipterocarp 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'' = f ...

s, including species of ''

Anisoptera A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threa ...

Dipterocarpus '' D. retusus'' in Köhler ''Dipterocarpus'' is a genus of flowering plants and the type genus of family Dipterocarpaceae. ''Dipterocarpus'' is the third-largest and most diverse genus among the Dipterocarpaceae. The species are well known for ...

Dryobalanops ''Dryobalanops'' is a genus of flowering plants and the genus of family Dipterocarpaceae. The name ''Dryobalanops'' is derived from Greek (''dryas'' = a nymph associated with oaks and ''balanops'' = acorn) and describes the acorn-like nut. The ge ...

Hopea ''Hopea'' is a genus of plants in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The genus was named after John Hope, 1725–1786, the first Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. It contains some 113 species, distributed from Sri Lanka and south ...

'', and ''

Shorea Fruit of a ''Shorea'' species ''Shorea'' is a genus of about 196 species of mainly rainforest trees in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The genus is named after Sir John Shore, the governor-general of the British East India Company, 1793–1798. T ...

''. The forests are home to over 6000 tree species, and trees of the families

Burseraceae The Burseraceae are a moderate-sized family of 17-19 genera and about 540 species of flowering plants. The actual numbers differ according to the time period in which a given source is written describing this family. The Burseraceae are also kno ...

and

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 ...

are also common. Trees form a canopy 24-36 meters high, with emergent trees rising up 45 meters or more. The tallest emergent is ''

Koompassia excelsa ''Koompassia excelsa'' (known as tualang in Peninsula Malaysia, tapang in Sarawak, mangaris in Sabah, and bangris in Kalimantan ) is an emergent tropical rainforest tree species in the family Fabaceae. It is found in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Phi ...

'', known as tualang, which can grow more than 76 meters high.

Fauna

The ecoregion home to 195 mammal species, including several large and endangered species –

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''),

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 ...

(''Panthera tigris''),

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''), and clouded leopard (''Neofelis nebulosa''). The

Sumatran rhinoceros The Sumatran rhinoceros (''Dicerorhinus sumatrensis''), also known as the Sumatran rhino, hairy rhinoceros or Asian two-horned rhinoceros, is a rare member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant species of rhinoceros. It is the o ...

(''Dicerorhinus sumatrensis'') once inhabited the forests, but Malaysia's last rhinoceroses died in 2019, and the species' few remaining members survive only in Sumatra.

Conservation

A 2017 assessment found that 20,113 km², or 16%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. Protected areas in the ecoregion include

Endau Rompin National Park Endau-Rompin National Park ( Malay: ''Taman Negara Endau-Rompin'') is a protected tropical rainforest in the southernmost prolongation of the Tenasserim Hills, Malaysia. It is south of the state of Pahang and northeast of Johor covering an area of ...

(1191.59 km²), Endau-Kota Tinggi (West) Wildlife Reserve (805.49 km²), Endau-Kota Tinggi (East) Wildlife Reserve (106.5 km²), Krau Wildlife Reserve (623.96 km²), Mersin Wildlife Reserve (74.13 km²), and Ulu Muda Wildlife Reserve (1152.57 km²).

Taman Negara National Park Taman Negara is a national park in Peninsular Malaysia. It was established in 1938/1939 as the King George V National Park after Theodore Hubback lobbied the sultans of Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan to set aside a piece of land that covers the ...

(4524.54 km²) and

Royal Belum State Park Belum-Temengor is the largest continuous forest complex in Peninsular Malaysia. Specifically, it is located in the Malaysian state of Perak (Hulu Perak) and crosses into Southern Thailand. Belum-Temenggor is divided into two sections. Belum is lo ...

(2072.0 km²) include portions of the ecoregion along with portions of the Peninsular Malaysian montane rain forests.Wikramanayake, Eric; Eric Dinerstein; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (2002). ''Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment.'' Washington, DC: Island Press.

References

External links

*{{WWF ecoregion, name=Peninsular Malaysian rain forests, id=im0146 Biota of Singapore Ecoregions of Asia Ecoregions of Indonesia Ecoregions of Malaysia Ecoregions of Malesia Ecoregions of Thailand Environment of Singapore Flora of Malaya Indomalayan ecoregions Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests