The Sundaland heath forests stretch across the island of Borneo, shared by Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and reach the Indonesian islands of Belitung and Bangka. Known locally as kerangas, an Iban word for land that cannot grow rice, these forests grow on extremely nutrient-poor, acidic, sandy soils and form a low, densely packed, single-layered canopy roughly 20 meters tall, with closely spaced trunks, abundant moss and epiphytes, and small, hard, sclerophyll leaves adapted to scarce nitrogen. Dipterocarps such as Shorea and Hopea grow alongside conifers including Agathis, Podocarpus, and Dacrydium. The poor soils favor a striking diversity of carnivorous plants, including Nepenthes pitcher plants, Drosera sundews, and Utricularia bladderworts, though the heath forest generally holds less wildlife than the surrounding lowland rainforest and is considered threatened by fire and logging. For gardeners drawn to unusual flora, these forests are the native home of celebrated horticultural curiosities like Nepenthes and Drosera.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 0.6°S, 115.9°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: +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
Indomalayan
Approximate area
29,564 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Recover (Dinerstein NNH 3)
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: