The East Melanesian Islands, also known as the Solomons-Vanuatu-Bismarck moist forests, is a biogeographic region notable for its unique flora and fauna and species richness. The region is designated a biodiversity hotspot by Conservation International (CI), and one of the outstanding Global 200 ecoregions by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). As defined by CI, the hotspot lies east and northeast of New Guinea and encompasses some 1,600 islands with a land area of nearly 100,000 km², including the Bismarck Archipelago, Admiralty Islands, Solomon Islands, and the islands of Vanuatu. Politically, the hotspot includes parts of Papua New Guinea (the Bismarck Archipelago, Admiralty Islands, and Bougainville), and all of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region that is both a significant reservoir of biodiversity and is threatened with destruction. ... Conservation International (CI) is a nonprofit organization headquarted in Washington, D.C., that seeks to protect Earths biodiversity hotspots, high-biodiversity wilderness areas as well as important marine regions around the globe. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Note: After losing a court case in 2002 on the use of the initials WWF, the organization previously known as the World Wrestling Federation has rebranded itself as World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE. WWF - The Conservation Organization was formerly known as World Wildlife Fund and Worldwide Fund for Nature. ... The Bismarck Archipelago is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean, named in honour of the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck and belonging to Papua New Guinea. ... The Admiralty Islands are a group of 18 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago. ... Bougainville and neighbouring islands Bougainville is part of Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Solomon Islands group. ...

This hotspot includes a number of ecoregions that make up the northeastern portion of the Australasia ecozone. The East Melanesian Islands have many plants and some animals whose ancestors arrived from neighboring New Guinea and New Caledonia, but differ from those islands in that they were never joined to a continent. An ecoregion, sometimes called a bioregion, is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities. ... The Australasia Ecozone The Australasian ecozone – is an ecological region that is coincident, but not synonymous (by some definitions), with the geographic region of Australasia. ... Color-coded regions of the world based on the seven commonly-recognised continents Dymaxion map by Buckminster Fuller shows land masses with minimal distortion as nearly one continuous continent A continent is one of several large areas of land on Earth, which are identified by convention rather than any strict...

Ecoregions of the East Melanesian Islands

• Admiralty Islands lowland rain forests (Papua New Guinea)
  
• New Britain-New Ireland lowland rain forests (Papua New Guinea)
  
• New Britain-New Ireland montane rain forests (Papua New Guinea)
  
• Solomon Islands rain forests (Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands)
  
• Vanuatu rain forests (Solomon Islands, Vanuatu)
  

Map of Papua New Guinea. ... The Solomon Islands rain forests are a terrestrial ecoregion which includes most of the Solomon Islands (except the Santa Cruz Islands) and the islands of Bougainville and Buka, which are part of Papua New Guinea. ... The Vanuatu rain forests are a terrestrial ecoregion that includes the islands of Vanuatu, as well as the Santa Cruz Islands group of the neighboring Solomon Islands. ...

External links

• East Melanesian Islands (Conservation International)
• Solomons-Vanuatu-Bismarck moist forests: A Global 200 ecoregion (World Wildlife Fund)