The New Guinea mangroves wrap the coastline of the island of New Guinea, spanning the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua alongside several provinces of Papua New Guinea, with the largest swamps lining the southern coast at the deltas of rivers such as the Fly, Kikori, and Purari. These tidal forests are dominated by classic mangrove trees, including pioneer Avicennia and Sonneratia on open mud, Rhizophora and Bruguiera in the body of the forest, and Xylocarpus, Heritiera, and stands of Nypa palm in brackish reaches. The setting is a tropical monsoon climate, and the wetlands are shaped by meandering rivers, flooding, and drought-related fires. This ecoregion holds the world's richest diversity of mangrove species and serves as vital nursery habitat for fish and crustaceans, while Bintuni Bay forms the largest continuous mangrove area in Indonesia, second only to the Sundarbans; the saltwater crocodile is its flagship species.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 5.0°S, 137.4°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: +3.0°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
Mangroves
Realm
Australasia
Approximate area
10,361 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Reach Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 2)
About the mangroves biome
Coastal tidal forests of salt-tolerant trees rooted in sheltered estuaries and shorelines of the tropics and subtropics. Mangroves buffer coasts from storms, store large amounts of carbon, and serve as nurseries for fish and shellfish.
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.