Xishuangbanna, China Photograph by WWF/ John MacKinnon   Southeastern Asia: China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   168,700 square miles (437,000 square kilometers) -- about the size of New Mexico and New York combined Vulnerable

· At the Edge of the Tropics
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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At the Edge of the Tropics

Visit these highlands and you might feel as if you have one foot in the Himalayas and the other in a tropical forest. That’s because this ecoregion straddles both, encompassing a vast array of hills and valleys--and a rich community of birds and mammals.

Special Features

Cool winter temperatures and high elevations foster the growth of montane forests filled with oaks, magnolias, and chestnut trees. Here, open-canopy pine forests in the higher elevations give way to patches of tropical forests in the moist valleys below. Tropical seasonal rain forests sustain dipterocarp and fig species, while tropical montane forests are comprised of Alstonia scholaris, Phoebe puwenensis, and Litsea pierrei trees. Oak, tea, and chestnut species dominate the evergreen broad-leaved woodlands. Fire--whether natural or started by man--is a frequent occurrence here, resulting in the growth of palms and other species that are fire-tolerant.

	Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys form interesting social communities. They occur in either all-male bachelor groups or groups with several females and only one male. Both kinds of groups may meet at sleeping and feeding sites.

Wild Side

Birds thrive in this ecoregion. More than 700 species can be found here, including several species of pheasants and hornbills. These birds are considered valuable indicators of healthy forests, because they require intact, mature woodlands untouched by human development. They are also important to several species of forest plants, including trees and lianas, because they help disperse seeds in their droppings. The pheasant species here include the Blyth’s tragopan, Temminck’s tragopan, ring-necked pheasant, blood pheasant, and Siamese fireback. Hornbills include the great hornbill, plain-pouched hornbill, rufous hornbill, and Oriental pied-hornbill. Several threatened mammals find shelter in these forests as well: The endangered Tonkin snub-nosed monkey, tiger, Asian elephant, and gaur share this ecoregion with more than 180 other mammalian species.

Cause for Concern

Threats to the biodiversity of this ecoregion stem from logging, land clearing for shifting cultivation, and hunting for food and income. Almost all of the ecoregion forests that occur in Vietnam have been cleared. Elsewhere, a few large blocks of habitat remain, but their future is uncertain unless large-scale forest clearing is stopped.

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