Palau Photograph by Jack Stein Grove   Island group of Palau in the western Pacific Ocean Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   200 square miles (500 square kilometers) -- about three times the size of Washington DC Vulnerable

· Remarkable Rock Islands
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Remarkable Rock Islands

If you visited the archipelago of Palau (also known as Belau) you'd come across an extraordinary cluster of more than 200 rounded rocks called the Rock Islands. The islands’ steep sides rise sharply from the sea and their tops are covered with forests. These are just some of the amazing sights one can find in this Pacific island group, home to the greatest diversity of land plants and animals in all of Micronesia.

Special Features

Palau is the westernmost archipelago of the Caroline Islands of Micronesia. To get there, you'd need to travel 500 miles (800 km) east from the Philippines or 3,700 miles (6,000 km) southwest from Hawaii. The ecoregion consists of six main island groups in a chain that’s about 125 miles (200 km) long. The largest of the islands--Babeldaob--accounts for more than 75 percent of Palau's land area. With a hot, humid rainy season typical of the tropics, these islands are occasionally battered by tropical storms. Dense tropical broadleaf forests cover most of the islands, although the forests of Babeldaob have been mostly cleared and replaced by grassland.

	The Pandanus skink is found only in the crowns of Pandanus trees on Babeldaob, Malakal, and Koror islands!

Wild Side

The plants and animals of Palau are distributed in different habitats and on different islands. The upland forests of Palau are home to a diverse community of plants that includes six native species of palms. None of the bird species endemic to the ecoregion are considered threatened. However, Micronesian megapodes (large-footed, mound-building birds) that nest on the beaches of the Rock Islands are disturbed by tourists and introduced rats, and are considered threatened throughout their range. The endemic bird species considered most at risk are the Palau ground dove and giant white-eye because they have very small ranges within the ecoregion and are also threatened by rats.

Cause for Concern

Once almost completely forested, Palau now has about 75 percent forest cover. Large areas of southern Babeldaob were cleared for pineapple and sugar plantations while the islands were under Japanese rule during World War II. A current threat to a local palm species is an introduced cockatoo that destroys its crowns. Habitat loss from development is threatening some native birds, particularly on Babeldaob and Koror.

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