Sundaland: A Biodiversity Hotspot

Sundaland: A Biodiversity Hotspot

Further Measures

Long-term conservation will need to focus on social and economic development, education, public awareness

Threats to Hotspot

Protection

Deforestation result of: commercial logging, major agricultural projects, government policies, small-scale agriculture

180,000 km of land (12% of total land area) is protected

Leptophyrne

Lanthanotus borneensis

Simias

Scyphostegia borneensis

The more diverse/important land is still vulnerable to agricultural and timber development

Logging operations create flammable conditions by leaving fuelwood on forest floor, exposing the understory to drying

To ensure that protected areas adequately preserve biodiversity, key biodiversity sites (those that hold populations of globally threatened or endemic species), should be prioritizied and conserved first

Transboundary conservation areas (peace parks) promote international cooperation and ecosystem protection

In 2004, Indonesian government created 12 new protected areas

Few tropical plants are adapted to fires, so tropical forests are slow to regenerate after burning

Conservation Action Network Program, Indonesia allows local and international conservation groups to exchange info, coordinate field activity, develop sustainable financing for protected area management

Under intense exploitation pressure in region, these forests may never return

Endemic Animals

Endemic Plants

Orangutan (Bornean, Sumatran)

Rafflesia (corpse flower)

Feed predominantly on fruits, including some that contain large seeds, and ultimately disperse the seeds over a huge area

Flower buds are applied in traditional medicine to promote delivery and recovery during and after childbirth

If removed, tree species with the largest seeds are either dispersed over much shorter distances, are dispersed less often, or won't be dispersed at all

Also used as an aphrodisiac

Also play active role in seed germination for some species

Fruits are eaten by ground squirrels and tree shrews

Removal can lead to a reduction of the carbon stock in a forest, since large-seeded tree species tend to contain more carbon

General Info

Area covers: small portion of southern Thailand, nearly all of Malaysia, Singapore at the tip of the Malay Peninsula, all of Brunei Darussalam, all of western half of Indonesia

700,000 km of Sundaland's forest remains, but only 7% (105,000 km) of the original 1.5 million km remain intact

17,000 islands cover 1% of Earth's land surface

Area is host to: 25% of the world's fish species, 17% of the world's birds, 12% of the world's mammals, 10% of the world's flowering plant species

Biome: tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests

Endemic species percentages: amphibians (80%), plants (60%), reptiles (54%), mammals (45%), freshwater fishes (37%), birds (19%)

By: Sarah Bang