The Seram rain forests ecoregion covers the island of Seram and its satellite islands, including Ambon, Haruku, Saparua, Manipa, and the Gorong archipelago, in the Maluku Province of Indonesia. These islands lie within Wallacea, a part of the Australasian realm that was never connected to either the Asian or Australian continents, giving the region a distinctive blend of lineages and many species found nowhere else. The vegetation grades from tropical lowland evergreen and semi-evergreen rain forest into montane forest across a mountainous interior that rises to Mount Binaiya at 3,027 meters, with the endemic dipterocarp Shorea selanica in the lowlands and Castanopsis, Lithocarpus, and the resin-yielding conifer Agathis at higher elevations. The climate is humid tropical rainforest throughout. Conservation strongholds such as Manusela National Park protect a flora and fauna that includes endemic mammals like the Seram bandicoot and birds such as the blue-eared lory. For gardeners in warm, wet climates, native genera here include the kauri-like conifer Agathis and the tall hardwood Shorea.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 3.2°S, 129.5°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: +2.8°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
Australasia
Approximate area
7,474 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: