New Guinea is in the
Australasian realm, which also includes the islands of
Wallacea to the west, the Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu to the east, and Australia and New Zealand.[1]
Sea levels were lower during the
Ice Ages, which exposed the shallow continental shelf and connected New Guinea to Australia into a single land mass. Several nearby islands, including the
Aru Islands, most of the
Raja Ampat Islands, and
Yapen, were also connected to the mainland, which allowed the flora and fauna of New Guinea and the continental shelf islands to mix.[2]
The oceans around New Guinea are part of the
Central Indo-Pacificmarine realm. The realm is divided into marine provinces, which are further divided into marine ecoregions.[3]
^ Wikramanayake, Eric; Eric Dinerstein; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (2002). Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment. Island Press;
Washington, DC.
^Jared Diamond, K. David Bishop "Origins of the upland avifauna of Yapen Island, New Guinea region," Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club, 140(4), 423-448, (9 December 2020)
^Mark D. Spalding, Helen E. Fox, Gerald R. Allen, Nick Davidson, Zach A. Ferdaña, Max Finlayson, Benjamin S. Halpern, Miguel A. Jorge, Al Lombana, Sara A. Lourie, Kirsten D. Martin, Edmund McManus, Jennifer Molnar, Cheri A. Recchia, James Robertson, Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas, BioScience, Volume 57, Issue 7, July 2007, Pages 573–583,
https://doi.org/10.1641/B570707
Robin Abell, Michele L. Thieme et al. (2008). "Freshwater Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Biogeographic Units for Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation". BioScience, Volume 58, Issue 5, May 2008, Pages 403–414,
https://doi.org/10.1641/B580507