The Marquesas tropical moist forests ecoregion covers the dozen volcanic islands of the Marquesas, a remote archipelago of French Polynesia in the Oceania realm, lying roughly 5,500 km west of South America. Vegetation grades sharply with elevation: lowland forests of Pisonia grandis, Thespesia populnea, Calophyllum inophyllum, and Terminalia glabrata give way at mid-elevations to Hibiscus tiliaceus, Pandanus tectorius, and Metrosideros collina, and finally to a low-canopied cloud forest of Cheirodendron bastardianum, Ilex anomala, and Metrosideros collina above about 1,000 meters. The climate is tropical but strongly shaped by trade winds, with annual rainfall ranging from about 500 mm on leeward lowlands to 4,000 mm or more on windward slopes. Extreme isolation has produced striking endemism, with 42% of the roughly 320 native vascular plant species found nowhere else, including the endemic palm Pelagodoxa henryana, while the Marquesan kingfisher serves as the ecoregion's flagship. Now classed as Critical/endangered, only about 43% of its natural vegetation remains relatively intact, the lowlands largely cleared for agriculture and pasture.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 8.9°S, 140.1°W.
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: +2.6°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
Oceania
Approximate area
416 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: