The Luzon rain forests cover the lowland tropical moist broadleaf forest below roughly 1,000 meters on Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines, wrapping around isolated volcanic peaks such as Mount Isarog, Mayon, and Bulusan. Towering dipterocarp trees of genera including Shorea and Dipterocarpus dominate, building a dense canopy that reaches about 60 meters and emerges above it. The climate is wet and equatorial, with steady temperatures near 27 degrees Celsius and annual rainfall around 2,100 millimeters that is heaviest from May to January. Long geographic isolation has produced exceptional endemism: most native mammals are small and found nowhere else, the great Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) reigns as top predator, and five species of the parasitic, carrion-scented flower Rafflesia occur here, four of them endemic to the island. The ecoregion is critically threatened, having lost more than three-fourths of its original forest, with only about a tenth now protected.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 15.4°N, 120.8°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
13a-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: +2.8°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
36,767 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Recover (Dinerstein NNH 3)
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: