The Chao Phraya freshwater swamp forests occupy the lowlands of the Chao Phraya River watershed in central Thailand, a broad floodplain extending roughly 400 km north to south. Historically these wetlands carried tall stands of Dipterocarpus alatus on the higher ground, with screw pine in swampier spots and a matrix of reeds, grasses, and sedges, grading into mangroves toward the estuary. The climate is monsoonal, bringing around 1,400 mm of annual rainfall, with maximum temperatures near 33°C and minimums around 24°C. Almost all of the original swamp forest has been cleared for rice agriculture and cities, including Bangkok, and large mammals such as tigers, Asian elephants, and Javan rhinoceroses have vanished, while Schomburgk's deer is believed extinct. The Lyle's flying fox now serves as a flagship species, and the plain still holds the world's largest populations of the Asian openbill stork.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 14.7°N, 100.4°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12b-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
12b-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.8°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 10 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
At a glance
Dominant biome
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Realm
Indomalayan
Approximate area
15,057 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Imperiled (Dinerstein NNH 4)
About the tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome
Warm, wet, highly productive forests — including tropical rainforests — with closed canopies, near year-round growing seasons, and the richest terrestrial biodiversity on Earth. Low seasonality and high rainfall sustain dense, layered vegetation from canopy to forest floor.
Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion
Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.
Climate-resilient picks · 4
These plants fit this ecoregion today AND remain in range under the mid-century SSP3-7.0 projection. Lead with these for a planting that holds up as the climate shifts.
No curated collection's plants all fit this ecoregion's zone range. We surface a collection only when every member would grow here — partial fits get filtered out rather than mislead. As the catalog and the curated set both grow, this section will fill in.
Related ecoregions
Other tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregions to explore: