The Mentawai Islands rain forests cover an Indonesian archipelago in the Indian Ocean, set 80 to 120 kilometers off the west coast of Sumatra and spanning Siberut, Sipura, North and South Pagai, and Enggano. The dominant habitat is tropical rainforest with a closed canopy near 36 meters and emergents topping 45 meters, built around dipterocarp trees such as Dipterocarpus and Shorea alongside genera including Mallotus, Knema, Santiria, Artocarpus, and Dillenia. The climate is wet and tropical, with roughly 4,500 mm of annual rainfall concentrated in an October-to-March wet season and temperatures averaging about 30 degrees Celsius year-round. Long isolation from Sumatra has driven exceptional endemism: the islands host seventeen endemic mammals, including six endemic primate species such as the flagship Kloss's (Mentawai) gibbon, plus the endemic Mentawai scops owl. About 31 percent of the ecoregion lies in protected areas, including Siberut National Park, though logging and oil-palm clearing remain serious pressures. Gardeners may recognize native genera such as Artocarpus and the flowering tree Dillenia from tropical horticulture.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 1.4°S, 98.9°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: +2.2°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
2,509 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: