The Sumatran lowland rain forests blanket the low-elevation flanks of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, running roughly 1,600 km along both sides of the Barisan Mountains and reaching nearby offshore islands such as Nias, Simeulue, and Bangka. Towering dipterocarps in the family Dipterocarpaceae dominate the canopy, with well over a hundred species recorded here and several found nowhere else, alongside genera including Dipterocarpus, Shorea, Parashorea, and Dryobalanops, plus abundant figs (Ficus). The climate is hot and humid tropical rainforest, though rainfall is strikingly uneven: the western slopes are drenched with several thousand millimeters a year while the eastern lowlands sit in a rainshadow and stay considerably drier. This is one of Earth's richest forests, home to more than 450 bird species, a remarkable gathering of hornbills, and flagship mammals such as the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros, orangutans, and the Sumatran tiger. Yet only about seven percent is protected, with logging and sprawling palm oil and paper-pulp plantations the chief threats. For gardeners, the region is the native home of horticulturally familiar lineages including figs and members of the coffee and nutmeg families.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 0.4°S, 101.0°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: +2.7°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
100,286 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: