Ecoregional Assessment of Biological Diversity in East Kalimantan

East Kalimantan Ecoregional Assessment: Chapter 2 – Target Ecological Systems
• Climate Change
While there is little that can be done to attenuate the effects of global climate change on
the scale of consideration in this report, it should be mentioned that the Upper
Montane/Cloud Forest ecological system type is the most vulnerable to the likely
outcome of global warming. By incorporating the full altitudinal range of elevation for
forest types in portfolio sites recommended in this ECA, it is hoped that the more mobile
and facile species, both plants and animals, will have time and the genetic predilection for
adaptation to differing altitudinal climate factors such as rainfall amounts, ambient
humidity and temperatures, as well as unobstructed access to microhabitat refuges within
the future changed landscapes. Contiguity of this system type with the lower elevation
forests in Conservation Area design and management will at least provide the opportunity
to accommodate such behavioral and functional adaptations.
Occurrence Unit Determination
Significant Upper Montane /Cloud Forests occurrences were identified first using LandSat
imagery to locate them in the East Kalimantan province. The ECA team then consulted with
individual experts and literature sources, followed by limited ground-truthing for those sites
proposed for inclusion in the portfolio.
While Upper Montane Forests cover large expanses around the upper to mid-elevation of
some mountains, Cloud Forests have historically been small and limited by biophysical
factors to the peaks of mountains. The occurrences of this forest type usually are regular in
shape - ovoid. Generally, as mentioned before, these two higher mountain types occur above
1400-1500m a.s.l. However, due to compression effects, some may be found as low as 800m
a.s.l. Each isolated patch, no matter how close to other patches, was regarded as a separate
occurrence.
Portfolio Design
The East Kalimantan ECA goal was to capture 100% of all Upper Montane Rainforest/Cloud
Forest occurrences. There were 7 occurrences of this forest type in East Kalimantan, and the
goal of 100% was achieved in the recommended portfolio of conservation sites. The table
below presents the selected proportion of this target ecological system type and its RePPProT
Landsystem subdivisions within each stratigraphic unit (all occurrences are within
precipitation zone > 3000 mm; none were present in stratigraphic units 2 or 4).
Results
Seven sites were selected for the portfolio capturing 100% of the occurrences of this forest
type. The extent of this target varied greatly in each stratigraphic unit, with most (62,785
hectares) located in stratigraphic unit 1. Stratigraphic unit 3 was the only other section
containing this target system with only 2,252 hectares. All occurrences were located in
precipitation zone 3 (>3000mm) as would be expected for such a moist tropical ecological
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