Threatened ecosystems of Myanmar An IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Assessment Nicholas J. Murray, David A. Keith, Robert Tizard, Adam Duncan, Win Thuya Htut, Nyan Hlaing, Aung Htat Oo, Kyaw Zay Ya and Hedley Grantham 2020 | Version 1.0 Threatened Ecosystems of Myanmar. An IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Assessment. Version 1.0. Murray, N.J., Keith, D.A., Tizard, R., Duncan, A., Htut, W.T., Hlaing, N., Oo, A.H., Ya, K.Z., Grantham, H. License This document is an open access publication licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non- commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Authors: Nicholas J. Murray University of New South Wales and James Cook University, Australia David A. Keith University of New South Wales, Australia Robert Tizard Wildlife Conservation Society, Myanmar Adam Duncan Wildlife Conservation Society, Canada Nyan Hlaing Wildlife Conservation Society, Myanmar Win Thuya Htut Wildlife Conservation Society, Myanmar Aung Htat Oo Wildlife Conservation Society, Myanmar Kyaw Zay Ya Wildlife Conservation Society, Myanmar Hedley Grantham Wildlife Conservation Society, Australia Citation: Murray, N.J., Keith, D.A., Tizard, R., Duncan, A., Htut, W.T., Hlaing, N., Oo, A.H., Ya, K.Z., Grantham, H. (2020) Threatened Ecosystems of Myanmar. An IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Assessment. Version 1.0. Wildlife Conservation Society. ISBN: 978-0-9903852-5-7 DOI 10.19121/2019.Report.37457 ISBN 978-0-9903852-5-7 Cover photos: © Nicholas J. Murray, Hedley Grantham, Robert Tizard Numerous experts from around the world participated in the development of the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems of Myanmar. The complete list of contributors is located in Appendix 1. Please refer to the website for any recent updates: https://www.myanmar-ecosystems.org Myanmar National Ecosystem Assessment | 2020 | 1 Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................. 2 Foreword .......................................................................................................................................... 6 Preface ............................................................................................................................................. 7 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................... 8 Coordinating Organisations............................................................................................................... 9 Wildlife Conservation Society ........................................................................................................ 9 Centre for Ecosystem Science, University of New South Wales .................................................... 9 အကျဉ်းချျုပ် ...................................................................................................................................... 10 Summary ........................................................................................................................................ 12 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 13 1.1 Background ...................................................................................................................... 13 1.2 The ecosystems of Myanmar: an overview ....................................................................... 15 1.3 Introduction to the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems.............................................................. 19 1.3.1 Definitions .................................................................................................................. 20 1.3.2 IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Categories and Criteria .............................................. 21 1.3.3 Assessment process.................................................................................................. 26 1.4 Methods ............................................................................................................................ 27 1.4.1 Overview ................................................................................................................... 27 1.4.2 Ecosystem Typology.................................................................................................. 27 1.4.3 Ecosystem Mapping .................................................................................................. 28 1.4.4 IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Assessment ............................................................... 36 1.4.5 Expert review ............................................................................................................. 39 2. Terrestrial ecosystems of Myanmar ......................................................................................... 40 3. Ecosystem description and assessment .................................................................................. 47 Tanintharyi island rainforest ........................................................................................................ 49 Tanintharyi Sundaic lowland evergreen forest ............................................................................. 53 Tanintharyi limestone tropical evergreen forest ........................................................................... 57 Tanintharyi upland evergreen forest ............................................................................................ 61 Kayin evergreen tropical rainforest .............................................................................................. 65 Myanmar National Ecosystem Assessment | 2020 | 2 Southern Rakhine evergreen rainforest ....................................................................................... 69 Western Shan Plateau subtropical evergreen rainforest .............................................................. 73 Kachin-Sagaing low elevation evergreen subtropical rainforest ................................................... 77 Kachin-Sagaing mid elevation subtropical rainforest ................................................................... 83 Kachin Hills subtropical rainforest................................................................................................ 89 Tanintharyi semi-evergreen forest ............................................................................................... 94 Rocky Tanintharyi Karst .............................................................................................................. 99 Mixed canebrake ....................................................................................................................... 103 Bago semi-evergreen forest ...................................................................................................... 107 Dry zone foothills spiny scrub .................................................................................................... 111 Rakhine hills bamboo brake ...................................................................................................... 115 Rakhine hills semi-evergreen dry forest..................................................................................... 119 Magway dry cycad forest ........................................................................................................... 123 Magway semi-evergreen dry gully forest ................................................................................... 127 East Myanmar dry valley forest ................................................................................................. 131 Eastern Shan semi-evergreen forest ......................................................................................... 135 Western Shan semi-evergreen forest ........................................................................................ 139 Indaing forest ............................................................................................................................ 143 Northern semi-evergreen forest ................................................................................................. 148 Tanintharyi cloud forest ............................................................................................................. 154 Kachin mountain conifer forest .................................................................................................. 158 Shan warm temperate rainforest ............................................................................................... 162 Chin hills warm temperate rainforest ......................................................................................... 166 Sagaing warm temperate rainforest ........................................................................................... 170 Kachin warm temperate rainforest ............................................................................................. 174 Mountain bamboo brake ............................................................................................................ 179 Kachin montane temperate broadleaf forest .............................................................................. 183 Rakhine coastal savanna .......................................................................................................... 188 Central Ayeyarwady Than-Dahat grassy forest ......................................................................... 192 Central Ayeyarwady palm savanna ..........................................................................................