Huang Shan mountains, Anhui Province, China Photograph by Stephen Mann   Southern Asia, in China Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests   169,100 square miles (438,000 square kilometers) -- about twice the size of Idaho Critical/Endangered

· Forests of the Long River
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Forests of the Long River

Meaning "Long River," the Changjiang -- known also as the Yangtze -- is the third longest river in the world. After flowing from high mountains and passing through deep gorges, it twists across more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) of wet, fertile plains. The evergreen forests of the Changjiang Plain have grown on well-drained areas and lowlands. The shallow lake basins are surrounded by extensive wetlands that provide winter habitat for migratory birds, as well as the Yangtze river dolphin and the Yangtze alligator.

Special Features

One of the most important species for conservation is the Yangtze river dolphin -- fewer than 100 individuals, and possibly as few as 5, survive in Poyang Lake. The endemic Chinese and white sturgeons, the Chinese alligator, and giant salamander are also species of particular conservation concern.

	Poyang Lake is 36 feet (11 meters) deeper between the wet and dry seasons. And Dongting Lake becomes more than three times as large and more than 33 feet (10 meters) deeper during the summer rains.

Wild Side

Floodplains and low hills once supported extensive evergreen oak forests and reed swamps once surrounded seasonally inundated lake basins. Today some of this habitat remains. Most, however, has been converted to paddy rice agriculture. Wetland and aquatic habitats probably hold the greatest conservation significance for this ecoregion. Endangered birds such as oriental white storks, swan geese, and white-naped cranes also visit Poyang Lake during winter migrations, together with 98 percent of the world's population of Siberian cranes. When water levels in the Yangtze River, lakes, and wetlands change, the Chinese water deer moves to higher ground and the Eurasian otter hunts in deeper water.

Cause for Concern

Forests have mostly been destroyed and replaced by rice paddies, conifer plantations, and scrub vegetation. Aquatic habitat has been converted to rice and fish farming. Conservation measures are in place at Poyang and some other large, shallow lakes, but enforcement is difficult. The Three Gorges Dam Project is the largest waterworks project in human history, scheduled for completion in 2009. It is meant to reduce flood damage downstream and to generate clean electricity, but it threatens to dramatically alter the water cycles fundamental to the ecology of lakes like Poyang and Dongting.

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