The Sichuan Basin evergreen broadleaf forests are a critically endangered WWF
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 ...
. The ecoregion occupies the
Sichuan Basin
The Sichuan Basin (), formerly transliterated as the Szechwan Basin, sometimes called the Red Basin, is a lowland region in southwestern China. It is surrounded by mountains on all sides and is drained by the upper Yangtze River and its tributar ...
in China and covers an area of . The broadleaf forest
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
once covered the Sichuan Basin, but today is limited to mountains and preserved temple grounds in the basin and around the basin's rim. An especially well-preserved example of remaining forest exists on
Mount Emei
Mount Emei (; ), alternately Mount Omei, is a mountain in Sichuan Province, China, and is the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. Mount Emei sits at the western rim of the Sichuan Basin. The mountains west of it are know ...
at the western edge of the Sichuan Basin. The original forests are thought to have been made up of subtropical oaks,
laurel
Laurel may refer to:
Plants
* Lauraceae, the laurel family
* Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel
People
* Laurel (given name), people with the given name
* Laurel (surname), people with the surname
* Laurel (mus ...
s, and
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 Ind ...
. Much of the remaining Sichuan Basin has been converted to anthropogenic agricultural use in the last 5,000 years.
Fauna
Endangered and critically endangered animal species that have traditionally inhabited the Sichuan Basin evergreen broadleaf forests include:
Amphibians
* Boulenger's paa frog
*
Baer's pochard
Baer's pochard (''Aythya baeri'') is a diving duck found in eastern Asia. It is a resident bird in North and Central China, formerly bred in southeast Russia and Northeast China, migrating in winter to southern China, Vietnam, Japan, and Indi ...
*
Far Eastern curlew
The Far Eastern curlew (''Numenius madagascariensis'') is a large shorebird most similar in appearance to the long-billed curlew, but slightly larger. It is mostly brown in color, differentiated from other curlews by its plain, unpatterned brown ...
*
Oriental stork
The Oriental stork (''Ciconia boyciana''; Japanese: コウノトリ ''Konotori'') is a large, white bird with black wing feathers in the stork family Ciconiidae.
Taxonomy
The species was first described by Robert Swinhoe in 1873. It is close ...
*
Scaly-sided merganser
The scaly-sided merganser or Chinese merganser (''Mergus squamatus'') is an endangered typical merganser (genus ''Mergus''). It lives in Manchuria and extreme Southeast Siberia, breeding in the north and wintering in the south.
Description
Thi ...
*
Sichuan partridge
The Sichuan partridge (''Arborophila rufipectus'') is a bird species in the family Phasianidae. It is found only in China where it is classified as a nationally protected animal. Its natural habitat is temperate forest. It is threatened by habit ...
Chinese pangolin
The Chinese pangolin (''Manis pentadactyla'') is a pangolin native to the northern Indian subcontinent, northern parts of Southeast Asia and southern China. It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2014, as the ...
*
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 ...
*
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 ...