The Sunda Shelf mangroves

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 ...

, in the

mangrove 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 severa ...

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 ...

, are on the coasts of the islands of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

and eastern Sumatra 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

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. They are home to the proboscis monkey. As well as being an important habitat for terrestrial and marine wildlife, mangroves preserve the shape of the coastline.

Flora

There are more plant species here than in most mangrove forests in the world, with five different types of mangrove dominating parts of the region as follows: ''

Avicennia ''Avicennia'' is a genus of flowering plants currently placed in the bear's breeches family, Acanthaceae. It contains mangrove trees, which occur in the intertidal zones of estuarine areas and are characterized by its "pencil roots", which are ...

'' and ''

Sonneratia ''Sonneratia'' is a genus of plants in the family Lythraceae. Formerly the Sonneratia were placed in a family called Sonneratiaceae which included both the ''Sonneratia'' and the ''Duabanga'', but these two are now placed in their own mono ...

'' species on the coast where water is saltiest and the tidal wash strongest; ''

Rhizophora ''Rhizophora'' is a genus of tropical mangrove trees, sometimes collectively called true mangroves. The most notable species is the red mangrove (''Rhizophora mangle'') but some other species and a few natural hybrids are known. ''Rhizophora'' ...

s'' and ''

Bruguiera ''Bruguiera'' is a plant genus in the family Rhizophoraceae. It is a small genus of five mangrove species and three hybrids of the Indian and west Pacific Ocean region, its range extending from East Africa and Madagascar through coastal India ...

s'' in the swampy areas just behind them; 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 adapt ...

'' palms in the freshwater streams further inland still.

Fauna

Mammals of the mangroves include the proboscis monkey ('' Nasalis larvatus''), which solely inhabits these swampy coastal habitats. There are also many species of birds.

Threats and preservation

Mangroves are vulnerable ecosystems as trees are cut for timber, firewood and to clear land for agriculture and urban development such as shrimp farming. This loss of habitat persists despite the mangroves being part of a large number of protected areas including: on Borneo

Bako National Park Bako National Park is a national park in Kuching Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. Established in 1957, it is the oldest national park in Sarawak. It covers an area of at the tip of the Muara Tebas peninsula at the mouth of the Bako and Kuching Rive ...

in Malaysia and

Tanjung Puting Tanjung Puting National Park is a national park in Indonesia located in the southeast part of West Kotawaringin Regency in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan (Central Borneo). The nearest main town is the capital of the Regency, Pa ...

and

Gunung Palung National Park Mount Palung National Park ( id, Taman Nasional Gunung Palung) lies on the island of Borneo, in the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, north of Ketapang and east of Sukadana. History Mount Palung was first protected in 1937 as a forest nat ...

s in Indonesia, and on Sumatra Berbak and

Sembilang National Park Sembilang National Park is a national park covering 2,051 km2 along the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The park is dominated by swamps as peat forests, like the neighbouring Berbak National Park, and both parks are Ramsar wetlands of in ...

References

{{Reflist Central Indo-Pacific Ecoregions of Asia Ecoregions of Brunei Ecoregions of Indonesia Ecoregions of Malaysia * * * Forests of Indonesia Forests of Malaysia Indomalayan ecoregions Mangrove ecoregions Natural history of Brunei