Papua New Guinea Photograph by John Morrison   Southeastern Asia: Central New Guinea Montane Grasslands and Shrublands   6,000 square miles (15,600 square kilometers) -- about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined Relatively Stable/Intact

· Mountain Meadows
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Mountain Meadows

Just below the ice caps of New Guinea’s central mountains, you will find alpine meadows that are quite unlike the tropical wet forests found in the lowlands. Here, conifer forests and grasslands form habitats for a select group of well-adapted animals.

Special Features

In this ecoregion’s upper montane forests, conifer species dominate, forming a thin canopy and supporting a dense understory. At higher altitudes, the landscape abruptly changes to savannas, bogs, and grasslands. Herbs, mosses, lichens, and low ferns become more abundant as the altitude increases, giving way at the highest points to fields of snow and ice.

	Because it is not a skittish bird, the MacGregor’s bird-of-paradise is all too easy to hunt. However, at the highest elevations of New Guinea’s Star Mountains, this rare species is protected because local people believe the bird harbors the spirits of their ancestors.

Wild Side

This extreme environment is inhabited by only four species of mammals--the western shrew mouse, glacier rat, lesser antechinus (a small, mouse-like marsupial), and alpine wooly-rat. The shrew mouse and glacier rat are endemic. The bird community is more diverse. More than 80 bird species are found in this ecoregion, four of which are endemic: the Snow Mountain quail, short-bearded melidectes, long-bearded melidectes, and the Snow Mountain robin.

Cause for Concern

More than 45 percent of this ecoregion lies in formally protected areas. However, no analysis has ever been performed to determine whether these areas adequately protect all of the ecoregion’s habitats. Mining exploration, and the increased access to sensitive areas that this activity provides, has become a significant threat to this alpine ecoregion. Human visitation has increased pollution and litter as well.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.