Luzon tropical pine forests

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Luzon tropical pine forests
Mt. Ulap.jpg
Pine forest in Benguet
Ecoregion IM0302.svg
Location of the Luzon tropical pine forests
Ecology
Realm Indomalayan
Biome tropical and subtropical coniferous forests
Borders Luzon montane rain forests and Luzon rain forests
Geography
Area7,052 km2 (2,723 sq mi)
Country Philippines
Conservation
Conservation status Critical/endangered
Protected1,373 km² (19%) [1]

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.

Contents

Location and description

Pine forest in Zambales Tarlac - Zambales Superloop - 9.jpg
Pine forest in Zambales

Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines and lies at the north of the group of islands. These pine forests are found at elevations over 1000m in the Cordillera Central mountains in the north of the island, where they are mixed in with areas of Luzon montane rain forests especially at the northern end of the range. The Cordillera Central includes Luzon's highest peak Mount Pulag along with other high peaks such as Mount Puguis, Mount Polis and Mount Data. Pine forests are also found in the Zambales Mountains of west-central Luzon, particularly in Mount Tapulao and Mount Redondo near Subic, Zambales.

Rainfall is high (over 2500mm per year) but concentrated in the July/August monsoon with a long dry season from November to April. [2]

Flora

Luzon has long been isolated from other land masses so a unique flora has developed. In this ecoregion Benguet pine ( Pinus insularis ) trees are thinly spread over the grasslands that cover the slopes. Regular fires in the dry season maintain the balance of pines and grassland and prevent other deciduous trees and shrubs from taking hold.

Fauna

There are a number of mammals endemic to the Cordillera Central, mainly species of mice and rats including large squirrel-like cloud rats. Three larger mammals of the forest are the Philippine long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis), Philippine warty pig (Sus philippensis), and Malayan civet (Viverra tangalunga) all of which are vulnerable to forest clearance while the pig and the macaque are prey for hunters. Birds of the pine forest include the pine-nut eating common crossbill, which is found in pine forests all over the world.

Threats and preservation

Pine trees along a road in Mountain Province The road to Maligcong (3300021100).jpg
Pine trees along a road in Mountain Province

Pine trees have been cut down for timber, firewood and turpentine production for centuries and today this is intensified as forest is cleared for agriculture and copper and gold mining projects as the population of the Philippines grows and remains impoverished in these rural areas. In the dry season it is a straightforward process to set fires for forest clearance. Protected areas include Mount Pulag, home to a number of endemic plants and birds.

See also

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The Upper Agno River Basin Resource Reserve is a protected area located on the southeast flank of the Cordillera Central in the Philippine province of Benguet along its border with Ifugao and Nueva Vizcaya. It is a resource reserve located high in the Central and Polis ranges protecting the headwaters of the Agno River. According to section 4 of the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act, a resource reserve is an extensive and relatively isolated area designated as such to preserve the natural resources of the area. The reserve comprises 77,561 hectares of the catchment area that feeds the Ambuklao and Binga dams, two of the country's oldest hydroelectric plants that supply power to the city of Baguio and entire Benguet province. Upper Agno is north of and contiguous with the Lower Agno Watershed Forest Reserve that preserves the immediate downstream of the Binga Dam where the Agno River is impounded by a third dam, the San Roque Dam, the largest in the Philippines and the main source of water, electric energy and irrigation for surrounding regions in Luzon.

Lower Agno Watershed Forest Reserve

The Lower Agno Watershed Forest Reserve is a Philippine protected area that straddles the Cordillera and Ilocos regions encompassing land from the provinces of Benguet and Pangasinan. Operated by the Lower Agno WFR Protected Area Management Board under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Lower Agno follows the Agno River corridor from the northern villages of Itogon to just north of the municipalities of San Manuel and San Nicolas. The reserve also known as the San Roque Watershed protects the mid-Agno River basin with its meandering river and short tributaries in a pine-forested mountainous terrain at the southern end of the Cordillera Central, around 30 kilometres (19 mi) southeast of Baguio. It is located in an important mining district and includes the reservoir of the San Roque Dam, the largest dam in the country and the prime source of water, hydropower and irrigation for surrounding regions in Luzon.

References

  1. Eric Dinerstein, David Olson, et al. (2017). An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience, Volume 67, Issue 6, June 2017, Pages 534–545; Supplemental material 2 table S1b.
  2. "Luzon tropical pine forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.