The Philippines is an archipelago that comprises 7,641 islands with a total land area of 300,000 square kilometers (115,831 sq mi). It is the world's fifth largest island country. The eleven largest islands contain 95% of the total land area. The largest of these islands is Luzon at about 105,000 square kilometers (40,541 sq mi). The next largest island is Mindanao at about 95,000 square kilometers (36,680 sq mi). The archipelago is around 800 kilometers (500 mi) from the Asian mainland and is located between Taiwan and Borneo.
The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by WWF, the global conservation organization, as priorities for conservation. According to WWF, an ecoregion is defined as a "relatively large unit of land or water containing a characteristic set of natural communities that share a large majority of their species dynamics, and environmental conditions". So, for example, based on their levels of endemism, Madagascar gets multiple listings, ancient Lake Baikal gets one, and the North American Great Lakes get none.
The Cordillera Central or Cordillera Range is a massive mountain range 320 km long north-south and 118 km east-west. The Cordillera mountain range is situated in the north-central part of the island of Luzon, in the Philippines. The mountain range encompasses all provinces of the Cordillera Administrative Region, as well as portions of eastern Ilocos Norte, eastern Ilocos Sur, eastern La Union, northeastern Pangasinan, western Nueva Vizcaya, and western Cagayan.
The Philippine archipelago is one of the world's great reservoirs of biodiversity and endemism. The archipelago includes over 7000 islands, and a total land area of 300,780 km².
The Sierra Madre del Sur is a mountain range in southern Mexico, extending 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) from southern Michoacán east through Guerrero, to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in eastern Oaxaca.
The Sierra Madre Occidental pine–oak forests are a Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of the Sierra Madre Occidental range from the southwest USA region to the western part of Mexico. They are home to a large number of endemic plants and important habitat for wildlife.
The Philippine crocodile, also known as the Mindoro crocodile, the Philippine freshwater crocodile, the bukarot in Ilocano, and more generally as a buwaya in most Filipino lowland cultures, is one of two species of crocodiles found in the Philippines; the other is the larger saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus). The Philippine crocodile, the species endemic only to the country, went from data deficient to critically endangered in 2008 from exploitation and unsustainable fishing methods, such as dynamite fishing. Conservation methods are being taken by the Dutch/Filipino Mabuwaya foundation, the Crocodile Conservation Society and the Zoological Institute of HerpaWorld in Mindoro island. It is strictly prohibited to kill a crocodile in the country, and it is punishable by law.
The Cordillera ground warbler, also known as Rabor's wren-babbler or the Luzon wren-babbler, is a species of bird currently placed in the family Locustellidae. It is endemic to the Philippines found in the Northwest Luzon in the foothills of the Cordillera Mountain Range. Some taxonomists continue to list the species in the Timaliidae, others in the Pellorneidae.There are no known photographs of live Cordillera ground warblers in the wild.
The white-browed jungle flycatcher, also known as the Luzon jungle-flycatcher and the Rusty-flanked jungle-flycatcher, is a species of bird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is endemic to Luzon island, in the Philippines. The natural habitat of the white-browed jungle flycatcher is tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The Luzon fruit bat is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is monotypic within the genus Otopteropus. It is endemic to the Philippines. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forest. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The New Guinea Highlands, also known as the Central Range or Central Cordillera, is a long chain of mountain ranges on the island of New Guinea, including the island's tallest peak, Puncak Jaya 16,024 ft (4,884 m), the highest mountain in Oceania. The range is home to many intermountain river valleys, many of which support thriving agricultural communities. The highlands run generally east-west the length of the island, which is divided politically between Indonesia in the west and Papua New Guinea in the east.
The wildlife of the Philippines includes a significant number of endemic plant and animal species. The country's surrounding waters reportedly have the highest level of marine biodiversity in the world. The Philippines is considered one of the seventeen megadiverse countries as well as global biodiversity hotspot. In the 2000 Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), 418 of the country's 52,177 species were listed as threatened.
The Luzon tropical pine forests are a tropical coniferous forest ecoregion of the Philippines in the western Pacific Ocean. These pine forests are home to a large number of the island's endemic plants and animals.
The Luzon rain forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion on the island of Luzon. Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines, and the Luzon rain forests is the most extensive rainforest ecoregion of the country. The ecoregion includes the lowlands of Luzon and neighboring islands below 1000 meters elevation. Very little of the original rainforest remains, and the status of this area is critical/endangered.
The Sierra Madre ground warbler is a species of passerine bird in the family Locustellidae. It is endemic the Philippines on the island of Luzon in its northeastern and eastern side by the foothills of Sierra Madre.Its habitat is in tropical moist lowland and the lower reaches of tropical montane Forest. It along with its closest relatives the Cordillera ground warbler and Bicol ground warbler are one of the most elusive birds in the country due to their extremely shy nature. While not officially threatened its populations are said to be declining to do habitat destruction through deforestation.
The Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park is the largest protected area of the Philippines covering the northern range of the Sierra Madre mountains of eastern Luzon. The park is located in the eastern part of the province of Isabela in Cagayan Valley containing a total of 359,486 hectares. It was first declared a wilderness reserve encompassing an area within a 45 kilometres (28 mi) radius of Palanan Point known as the Palanan Wilderness Area through Letter of Instructions No. 917-A signed by President Ferdinand Marcos on 7 September 1979. On 10 March 1997, the area was converted into a natural park with the signing of Proclamation No. 978 by President Fidel Ramos.
The Sierra Madre is the longest mountain range in the Philippines. Spanning over 540 kilometers (340 mi), it runs from the province of Cagayan down to the province of Quezon, forming a north–south direction on the eastern portion of Luzon, the largest island of the archipelago. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, Cagayan Valley to the northwest, Central Luzon to the midwest, and Calabarzon to the southwest. Some communities east of the mountain range, along the coast, are less developed and so remote that they could only be accessed by taking a plane or a boat.
The Santa Marta montane forests (NT0159) is an ecoregion in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a massif on the Caribbean coast of northern Colombia. The ecoregion covers altitudes from near sea level up to around 3,300 metres (10,827 ft), where it gives way to Santa Marta páramo. The isolation of the massif and the range of elevations and climates has resulted in a wide variety of species including many endemics. The lower levels contained tropical rainforest, which has largely been cleared. Higher up, this gives way to cloud forest. Much of this has also been cleared for coffee plantations, pasture for sheep and cattle, and farming.
The Mindanao montane rain forests ecoregion covers the montane forests - the zone between the lowland forest and the treeline - in the mountains on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Because the ecoregion covers only elevations above 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), it exists in seven discontinuous patches surrounded by lowland rainforest. Biodiversity is high, both because of the isolation of separate mountain ranges that have led to species variation within the island, and because of the altitude zonation. Because most of the surrounding lowland forest has been cleared for human use, the montane regions have become an important refuge for rare and endemic species.
