Country: New Guinea
Administrative region: Papua (Province)
Central co-ordinates: 1.44281 S, 132.02200 E
Qualifying IPA Criteria
A(iii)Site contains one or more highly restricted endemic species that are potentially threatened
IPA assessment rationale
Two plant species endemic to the Teminabuan TIPA. The palm Areca mandacanii and ginger Alpinia porphyrea.
Site description
The varied topography and geology of the area means that there are a range of habitat types present from mangroves and swamp forests to limestone karst and sandstone ridge forest. Rivers flow from ridges to the sea ensuring the area also supports a riverine flora. This TIPA encompasses the small town of Teminabuan with a population size of 19,491 at the 2020 census. This is the administrative capital of South Sorong regency. This area includes the Nature Recreation Park of Beriat that has protected status and is monitored by BKSDA, the government conservation agency. The protected area covers little swamp forest habitat and no mangroves.
Botanical significance
Two plant species are endemic to the Teminabuan TIPA: Areca mandacanii (Arecaceae) and Alpinia porphyrea (Zingiberaceae). The site has an endemic weevil Pachyrhychus faisali (Bollino 2023), two freshwater crayfish Cherax woworae (Pakota et al. 2023) and Cherax pulcher (Widyasari et al. 2021) and the rainbowfish Melanotaenia sembrae (10.26028/cybium/2015-392-003).
Also, likely (and confirmed to be) home to populations of species first described around Sorong, these Sorong populations highly threatened by city expansion, oil palm, logging etc.
Habitat and geology
Mangroves, swamp, limestone karst and sandstone ridge forest.
Mainly two ecoregions; Southern New Guinea lowland swamp forest and New Guinea mangroves but borders Vogelkop-Aru lowland rainforest.
Underlying geology marl, siltstone, limestone and grewacke to marine sedimentary further inland (https://portal.onegeology.org/OnegeologyGlobal/).
Conservation issues
Oil palm plantations have been established to the east and west, and forest loss due to logging is visible along roads (Global Forest Watch 2024).
The Southern New Guinea swamp forest ecoregion is predicted to lose species due to climate change irrespective of increased deforestation (Cámara-Leret et al. 2019).
Ecosystem services
Species used by people are particularly threatened in the Southern New Guinea swamp forest ecoregion (Cámara-Leret et al. 2019).
These forests support major aboveground carbon stocks and blue carbon stocks in the mangroves .
Site assessor(s)
Liam Trethowan, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
General site habitats
| General site habitat | Percent coverage | Importance |
|---|---|---|
| Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland Forest |  |
Major |
Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland Forest
Percent coverage:
Importance:
Major
Bibliography
Climate Change Threatens New Guinea’s Biocultural Heritage.
Science Advances, Vol 5
Global Forest Watch
About some Indonesian Pachyrhynchus Germar 1824 with description of a new species (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Entiminae, Pachyrhynchini)
Zootaxa, Vol 5527, page(s) 495-500
Cherax woworae, a new freshwater crayfish (Decapoda: Parastacidae) from Southwest Papua Province, Indonesia
Zootaxa, Vol 5325, page(s) 582-592
Production, distribution and conservation analysis of Cherax crayfish endemic to Papua and West Papua Provinces, Indonesia.
Biodiversitas, Vol 22, page(s) 3271-3276
Recommended citation
Liam Trethowan (2024) Tropical Important Plant Areas Explorer: Teminabuan (New Guinea). https://tipas.kew.org/site/teminabuan/ (Accessed on 27/07/2024)