Satellite view of Tonle Sap (upper left) and the surrounding peat forest in Cambodia and southern Vietnam Photograph by USGS   Southeastern Asia: Southern Vietnam and Cambodia Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   11,400 square miles (29,400 square kilometers) -- about the size of Vermont and Delaware combined Critical/Endangered

· Wonders of the Wetlands
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Wonders of the Wetlands

Water rules these forests. From the mighty Mekong River in Cambodia and Vietnam to the large Tonle Sap Lake to a stunted swamp forest, water is the main element upon which this ecoregion depends. Yet most of the forest has been exploited or altered, making life difficult for its remaining inhabitants.

Special Features

This is not a land of contiguous forests. Rather, the forests are interspersed with agricultural fields, forming a mosaic. Stands of large trees give way to open areas filled with floating aquatic plants. Two tree species, Barringtonia acutangula and Diospyros cambodiana, dominate the forest, and they are usually entwined with woody vines called lianas. Around the Mekong river delta, mangroves and Melaleuca forests can be found amid brackish water.

	It is relatively easy to tell male and female bantengs apart. Females have a shorthaired chestnut coat and short, tightly curved horns. Mature males, by contrast, have blue-black or dark chestnut coats and long horns that arc upward, as well as a distinctive hump on their backs above their shoulders.

Wild Side

Among other wonders, these swamps are believed to conceal a small population of wild water buffalo, Bubalus arnee, which may be extinct. The animal is difficult to spot because it is diurnal in areas where it is well protected; yet if its habitat is substantially disturbed, as in this ecoregion, the buffalo will roam at night. Other mammals include the Eld’s deer, the Indochinese hog deer, and the banteng, a type of wild cattle. In the ecoregion’s extensive reed beds, waterfowl can find ample feeding grounds. It is a haven for ibises in particular, including the giant ibis, the white-shouldered ibis, and the black-headed ibis.

Cause for Concern

Less than 10 percent of this ecoregion’s original habitat remains. Excessive forest exploitation has reduced many areas to scrub or secondary forest composed of non-indigenous species. Dams or irrigation channels, which alter the flow of the river systems, are causing frequent and violent floods in the wet season and very low water levels in the dry season. However, mangroves that were affected during periods of war are now recovering through replanting programs.

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