Moluccas Moist Forests - A Global Ecoregion

Contains more endemic bird species for its area than any other place on Earth

About the Area
This Global ecoregion is made up of these terrestrial ecoregions: Seram rain forests; Halmahera rain forests.

The Moluccan archipelago, which lies between the islands of Sulawesi and New Guinea, includes hundreds of islands ranging in size from 18,000 km² to uninhabited islets with an area of only a few hectares.

All told, the islands have an estimated 56,000 km² of lowland and mountain rainforests, covering 80 per cent of the land area.

The Moluccas are part of a biogeographical zone called 'Wallacea' which contains a mixture of Asian and Australian fauna including macaques, tarsiers (small nocturnal primates), squirrels, and cuscuses (possum-like marsupials related to kangaroos). These forests also contain many interesting species of cockatoos and other parrots.

Local Species
Moluccan tree species include Damar (Agathis spp.), Batai (Albizzia falcata), Pterocarpus indicus, and Octomeles sumatran.

Mammal species endemic to these forests include the Moluccan flying fox (Pteropus chrysoproctus), Ceram bandicoot (Rhynchomeles prattorum), Mansuela melomys (Melomys fraterculus), and the largest native mammal - Ornate cuscus (Phalanger ornatus).

Among the numerous bird species found here are Salmon-crested cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis), Moluccan woodcock (Scolopax rochussenii), Flame-breasted flowerpecker (Dicaeum erythrothorax), Blue-and-white kingfisher (Todirhamphus diops), Grey-collared oriole (Oriolus forsteni), Moluccan scrubfowl (Megapodius wallacei), and Cinnamon-chested flycatcher (Ficedula buruensis) - the latter two being non endemic.

Threats
Many parts of this ecoregion include intact forests. Threats include logging, tapping of damar trees, and illegal collection of plants and animals.

Resources
• NationalGeographic.com