The Irrawaddy moist deciduous forests cover the Irrawaddy River basin of central Myanmar, including the catchments of the Bago Yoma mountains. Dry-season deciduous trees form a tall, continuous canopy here, dominated by teak (Tectona grandis) and pyinkado ironwood (Xylia xylocarpa), alongside genera such as Terminalia, Pterocarpus, Gmelina, Lannea, and Vitex, with stands of bamboo scattered through the forest. The climate is strongly monsoonal, with rainfall concentrated in the wet season and followed by long dry spells, the basin sitting partly in the rain shadow of the Rakhine mountain range. The ecoregion is the stronghold of the Eld's deer (the thamin subspecies), whose largest surviving populations are now restricted to the Chatthin and Shwesettaw protected areas, and it supports Asian elephants and roughly 350 bird species, including the endemic white-throated babbler. Only about 3 percent of its area lies within protected areas.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 22.2°N, 94.6°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
11b-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
12a-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.7°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
53,421 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.
These plants fit the ecoregion as it is today, but the mid-century projection moves them outside their stated zone range — plan for them to struggle by 2070.
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: