Kampong Phluk, at the northeast end of the Tonle Sap, Cambodia Photograph by Gordon Sharpless, http://talesofasia.com   Southeastern Asia: Vietnam and Cambodia Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   10,000 square miles (26,000 square kilometers) -- about the size of New Hampshire and Rhode Island combined Vulnerable

· Life in the Floodplains
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Life in the Floodplains

During the dry season, the Tonle Sap Lake is huge but shallow. The lake spills into the Tonle Sap River, which flows into the Mekong River. During the rainy season, however, this region floods, transforming the lake into a vast reservoir. In this moist ecoregion, the ample vegetation and wildlife here have found a way to survive the changing water levels.

Special Features

Unlike other areas in Asia, these swamps do not harbor continuous forests of a few species. Rather, trees are varied, small in diameter, only 50 feet (15 m) in height, and dispersed in clumps on higher ground. In some places, pure stands of palms can be found. Beyond the areas of brackish water, which are more favorable to mangroves, Melaleuca trees grow either alone or amid shrubs. Mangrove and Melaleuca forests were severely affected by military activities during the wars in Indochina; however, they have partially recovered through replanting programs.

	Considered the world’s tallest flying bird (it stands up to six feet), the sarus crane pairs up with its mate for life. If one of the pair is killed or wounded, the other refuses to leave its mate’s body for a long period of time.

Wild Side

Although habitat loss is a constant threat, several endangered and threatened mammals find shelter in these forests. Tigers can be found in areas of dense vegetation, where they prey on deer and wild pigs. Pileated gibbons swing through the trees in search of fruit and leaves to eat. Other mammals include wild dogs, sun bears, clouded leopards, common leopards, bantengs, and one species of endemic bat (Hipposideros halophyllus). Areas that have been degraded and transformed into reed beds are important watering holes for waterfowl, including the sarus crane, the white-shouldered ibis, and the giant ibis.

Cause for Concern

Excessive forest exploitation -- for agricultural production and water catchments -- has reduced many swampland areas to scrub or secondary forests of non-native (alien) species.

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