The Northern Khorat Plateau moist deciduous forests stretch along the Mekong River for some 350 kilometers across the border of northeastern Thailand and Laos, occupying the transition between the drier Khorat Plateau to the south and the wetter mountain ranges to the north. This is a moist, semi-evergreen deciduous forest whose canopy is dominated by trees such as Lagerstroemia angustifolia, Afzelia xylocarpa, Xylia xylocarpa, Peltophorum dasyrrhachis, and Pterocarpus macrocarpus, with Lagerstroemia sometimes forming almost single-species stands. The climate is tropical monsoon (Koppen Aw), with warm, fairly even year-round temperatures, a pronounced dry season, and roughly 1,600 millimeters of seasonal rainfall. Much of the ecoregion has been cleared for agriculture along the Mekong floodplain, leaving only a small fraction protected within reserves such as Phou Khao Khouay and Phu Kao-Phu Phan Kham National Parks; the pileated gibbon serves as its flagship species, alongside wild Asian elephants. For gardeners, the region is home to ornamental genera including crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia) and Burma padauk (Pterocarpus).
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 17.9°N, 102.8°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12a-13a
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
12b-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.3°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
6,504 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.
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: