The Sulawesi lowland rain forests cover Sulawesi and its satellite islands, including the Banggai, Sula, Sangihe, Talaud, Buton, Muna, and Selayar groups, all in Indonesia. These islands belong to Wallacea, a region that was never joined to either the Asian or Australian continents, so its lowland evergreen and semi-evergreen rain forest, monsoon forest, and freshwater and peat swamp forest blend Asian and Australasian lineages. The canopy includes Hopea and Shorea dipterocarps (only seven species here, against hundreds on nearby Borneo) along with ebonies and palms, while ultrabasic soils carry highly endemic plant communities that include ancient gymnosperms. The climate is tropical and consistently wet. This ecoregion holds the highest number of endemic mammals in Asia, with a fauna famous for the babirusa, dwarf buffalo, and tarsiers, though it is classed as critical or endangered with little of it formally protected.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 2.0°S, 121.1°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)
13a-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
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Realm
Australasia
Approximate area
44,938 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: