The Eastern Java-Bali montane rain forests cover the higher mountain country of eastern Java and most of central Bali in Indonesia, a region shaped by a chain of active and dormant volcanoes along the Ring of Fire. Across elevations that climb from the lowlands toward Java's high peaks, the ecoregion holds a mosaic of forest types: lower evergreen rainforest and moist deciduous stands with trees such as Artocarpus elasticus and Lansium domesticum, giving way above about 1,000 metres to montane oak-laurel forest dominated by Lithocarpus, Quercus, and Castanopsis, and finally to high Ericaceae shrubland of Rhododendron and Vaccinium near the summits. The climate is tropical monsoonal, with relatively even year-round temperatures and a pronounced dry season, average annual rainfall in Java around 1,900 mm, and a wetter period from December to February. More than 100 mammal species have been recorded here, including the critically endangered Javan leopard, and the ecoregion's flagship is the Java mouse deer, one of the smallest ungulates in the world; only a small fraction of the area is protected, mostly as isolated mountaintop reserves. For gardeners, the native high-elevation flora is notable for tropical montane Rhododendron and Vaccinium, ornamental genera familiar from cooler gardens.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 8.0°S, 113.3°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +2.9°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
6,136 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Reach Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 2)
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
No catalog plants intersect this ecoregion's zone range. As the catalog grows to cover this region's climate band, suggestions will surface here.
Collections for this ecoregion
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: