The Vogelkop montane rain forests is a

tropical moist 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, discon ...

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 ...

in western

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

. The ecoregion covers the mountains of western New Guinea's

Bird's Head The Bird's Head Peninsula ( Indonesian: ''Kepala Burung'', nl, Vogelkop) or Doberai Peninsula (''Semenanjung Doberai''), is a large peninsula that makes up the northwest portion of the island of New Guinea, comprising the Indonesian provinces ...

and Bomberai peninsulas.

Geography

The ecoregion includes the montane forests above 1000 meters elevation on the Bird's Head (also known as Vogelkop) and Bomberai peninsulas. The largest area is in the

Arfak Mountains The Arfak Mountains is a mountain range found on the Bird's Head Peninsula in the Province of West Papua, Indonesia. The term "arfak" came from the language of the coastal Biak people, meaning "inferior." This is due to how big the mountains are ...

and

Tamrau Mountains The Tamrau Mountains, also known as the Tambrauw Mountains or the Tamarau Mountains, is a mountain range located in the north central region of the Bird's Head Peninsula in the province of West Papua (province), West Papua. It is made up of an isol ...

on the Bird's Head Peninsula, with smaller areas in the

Fakfak Fakfak () is a town in West Papua and seat of the Fakfak Regency. It had a population of 12,566 at the 2010 Census, which rose to 18,900 at the 2020 Census.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. It is served by Fakfak Airport. It is the only town i ...

and Kumafa mountains on the western Bomberai Peninsula, and the mountains of the eastern Womberoi Peninsula on

Cenderawasih Bay Cenderawasih Bay ( id, Teluk Cenderawasih, "Bird of Paradise Bay"), also known as Sarera Bay ( id, Teluk Sarera) and formerly Geelvink Bay ( nl, Geelvinkbaai), is a large bay in northern Province of Papua, Central Papua and West Papua, New Guine ...

Mount Arfak Mount Arfak is the highest point in the province of West Papua (province), West Papua. It is located on north-east side of the Bird's Head Peninsula. It is a popular hiking area and is the highest peak of the Arfak Mountains. From the summit, Mano ...

(2955 m) is the highest point in the ecoregion. The Vogelkop-Aru lowland rain forests ecoregion occupies the surrounding foothills and lowlands.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 montane tropical rain forest climate.

Flora

The ecoregion's forests are of several types, which vary with rainfall, elevation, and underlying soils. The lower montane forests are dominated by ''

Castanopsis acuminatissima ''Castanopsis acuminatissima'' is an evergreen tree native to Southeast Asia and New Guinea. It is known by a variety of common names over its range, including white oak, New Guinea oak, Papua New Guinea oak, ''ki riung, ko-duai, ko-soi, ko-mat, ...

'', along with ''

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. and trees in the laurel family (

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 ...

), myrtle family (

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All speci ...

), and others. At higher altitudes, forests of Antarctic beech (''Nothofagus'') are predominant, draped with mosses and other epiphytes. Conifers are predominant at the highest elevations, including species of ''

Dacrycarpus ''Dacrycarpus'' is a genus of conifers belonging to the family Podocarpaceae.Christopher N. Page. 1990. "Podocarpaceae" pages 332-346. In: Klaus Kubitzki (general editor); Karl U. Kramer and Peter S. Green (volume editors) ''The Families and Gene ...

Dacridium ''Dacrydium'' is a genus of conifers belonging to the podocarp family Podocarpaceae. Sixteen species of evergreen dioecious trees and shrubs are presently recognized. The genus was first described by Solander in 1786, and formerly included man ...

'', and ''

Papuacedrus ''Papuacedrus papuana'' is a species in the conifer family Cupressaceae, the sole species in the genus ''Papuacedrus''. Some botanists do not consider this species as forming a distinct genus, but include it in the related genus '' Libocedrus''. ...

''. There are also areas of limestone forest and semi-evergreen montane rain forest.

Fauna

The ecoregion has 42 species of mammals, including

marsupial Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a po ...

s, murid rodents, and bats. There are three

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 ...

marsupials, the

Vogelkop tree-kangaroo The ursine tree-kangaroo (''Dendrolagus ursinus'') is a long-tailed, furry, bear-like mammal found only in tropical forests on the island of New Guinea (in Indonesia). Slightly larger than a cat, it lives alone in trees and is active at night to ...

(''Dendrolagus ursinus''),

Wondiwoi tree-kangaroo The Wondiwoi tree-kangaroo (''Dendrolagus mayri'') is a critically endangered, bear-like mammal native to tropical mountain forests on the island of New Guinea (in eastern Indonesia). Elusive and rare, it was considered extinct until rediscovery ...

(''Dendrolagus mayri''), and

Arfak ringtail The Vogelkop ringtail possum (''Pseudochirulus schlegeli'') is a species of marsupial in the family Pseudocheiridae. It is endemic to the Vogelkop Peninsula, West Papua, Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a coun ...

(''Pseudocheirus schlegeli''). ''

Leptomys arfakensis ''Leptomys arfakensis'' is a species of rodent in the family of Muridae. It is found in the Arfak Mountains of West Papua, Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between th ...

'' is a species of rodent endemic to the Arfak Mountains. Several mammal species are threatened or have a limited range. The ecoregion has 304 species of birds, of which seven are endemic. The endemic species are the

white-striped forest rail The white-striped forest rail (''Rallicula leucospila'') is a species of bird in the family Sarothruridae. It is endemic to West Papua, Indonesia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habit ...

(''Rallina leucospila''), Vogelkop whistler (''Pachycephala meyeri''),

grey-banded munia The grey-banded mannikin (''Lonchura vana''), or grey-banded munia, is a species of estrildid finch known to be found in Anggi Gigi, Tamrau Mountains, and Arfak Mountains in the Vogelkop Peninsula in north-western Papua, Indonesia. This species ...

(''Lonchura vana''),

Vogelkop bowerbird The Vogelkop bowerbird (''Amblyornis inornata''), also known as the Vogelkop gardener bowerbird, is a medium-sized, bowerbird of the mountains of West Papua (New Guinea). Description The birds are about 21–35 cm in length, with the femal ...

(''Amblyornis inornata''), Vogelkop honeyeater (''Melidectes leucostephes''), Arfak honeyeater (''Melipotes gymnops''),

Arfak astrapia The Arfak astrapia (''Astrapia nigra'') is a species of astrapia, a group of birds found in the '' Paradiseidae'' family of the birds-of-paradise. In the wild, the bird has hybridised with the black sicklebill creating offspring that were once co ...

(''Astrapia nigra''), and

western parotia The western or Arfak parotia (''Parotia sefilata'') is a medium-sized, approximately 33 cm long, bird-of-paradise with a medium-length tail. Parotia comes from the Greek ''parotis'', a lock or curl of hair by the ear, alluding to the head wi ...

(''Parotia sefilata''). It encompasses the West Papuan highlands

endemic bird area An Endemic Bird Area (EBA) is an area of land identified by BirdLife International as being important for habitat-based bird conservation because it contains the habitats of restricted-range bird species (''see below for definition''), which are the ...

Protected areas

A 2017 assessment found that 11,958 km², or 55%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. About half of the unprotected area is still forested. Protected areas include Tamrau Utara Nature Reserve (3683.65 km²), Pegunungan Tamrau Selatan Nature Reserve (2478.75 km²),

Pegunungan Arfak Nature Reserve The Pegunungan Arfak Nature Reserve lies in the north-east corner of the Bird's Head Peninsula in the Indonesian province of West Papua (province), West Papua. It is located 25 km south of the provincial capital Manokwari. It spans from near ...

(683.25 km²), Pegunungan Kumawa Nature Reserve (1881.5 km²), Pegunungan Fakfak Nature Reserve (343.91 km²), and Pegunungan Wondiboi Nature Reserve (795.0 km²)."Indonesia". ''Protected Planet''. Accessed 4 June 2020

/ref>

External links

*
West Papuan highlands endemic bird area (BirdLife International)

References

{{reflist Australasian ecoregions Ecoregions of Indonesia Ecoregions of New Guinea Montane forests Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests