The Solomon Islands rain forests blanket the high oceanic islands of the Solomon archipelago, spanning the nation of Solomon Islands together with Bougainville and Buka in Papua New Guinea, while excluding the eastern Santa Cruz group. Most of the land carries lowland and montane rainforest alongside mangroves, freshwater swamp forest, and coastal strand, with seasonally dry forest and grassland confined to Guadalcanal; characteristic canopy trees include Vitex cofassus, Pometia pinnata, Calophyllum, Elaeocarpus, Canarium, and Syzygium, and the widespread Asian families Dipterocarpaceae and Fagaceae are notably absent. The climate is humid and tropical with heavy year-round rainfall and only slight cooling in the highlands. These isolated islands are strongly endemic, home to 69 of their 199 native bird species found nowhere else, though commercial logging that began in the 1920s has stripped large areas of lowland forest. For gardeners, the montane flora here includes familiar ornamental genera such as Rhododendron, Metrosideros, and Podocarpus.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 6.2°S, 155.3°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
13,844 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: