Mu Ko Ranong National Park supports at least 26 species of mammal. Coral reefs are found around Mu Ko Chang and small islands. Magnificent sea arches and sea caves are scattered in the area.

The national park includes 15 inshore islands covered by rainforest, mangrove swamp and sandy beach. Part of this old-growth mangrove forest is overlapping with the Ranong Biosphere Reserve. The coastal area is covered with pristine mangrove swamp forest result in high biodiversity in the area.

This property includes mangrove swamp, rainforest, islands, beaches and coral reefs with approximately 70% of the sea area. However, the nominated area is 27,200 ha. The total area of this park is around 35,670 ha. Complex and intricate human and ecological interactions among all ecosystem types, transition zones, and socio-economic industries exist. Within the nominated areas, a range of lifestyles and socio-economic industries exist, ranging from small-scale in-shore fisheries, shrimp farming, rubber plantations, and oil-palm plantations. The geology of the mangrove ecoregion consists of granite outcrops adjacent to limestone in a complex topology. The remaining coastal areas are dominated by low islands and Casuarina forests along sandy beaches. This is probably the largest undisturbed area of old-growth mangrove remaining in the eastern Indian Ocean and supports commensurately rich biodiversity. However, mangroves are the most representative ecosystem within this biosphere reserve. The Ranong Biosphere Reserve incorporates a range of diversified natural and intact habitats including mangrove forests, tropical evergreen forests, open sea, seagrass beds and urban and agricultural land. As such, this small area represents an unparalleled concentration of biogeographic complexity.Įxtensive mangrove forests within protected areas are contiguous with relatively undisturbed areas as well as those outside national park boundaries which are managed by the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources. The influence of the Indo-Himalayan biota interacting with the dominant Indo-Chinese biota of northern Thailand can also be detected here. The area has also been identified as the northern limit of Malesian flora (the equatorial biota that characterizes the Indo-Malayan Archipelago) on the Indo-Chinese mainland. Wells (1976) located the avifaunal transition between Indo-Chinese and Sundaic fauna in this area after finding that three times more species of lowland forest birds had their range limits near the Isthmus of Kra than at any other site along the 1600 km Thai-Malay peninsula. The core area that represents this ecoregion is comprised of Mu Ko Ranong National Park, Laem Son National Park, Ranong Biosphere Reserve and mangrove conservation areas. The nominated property that make up the Andaman Bioregion of Thailand are 6 national parks, Ranong Biosphere Reserve and mangrove conservation areas 1) the Mangroves and Inshore Islands, 2) the Offshore Islands and 3) the Beaches and Coastal Gallery Forests.These ecoregions each display geological, characteristic, faunal and floral features that contribute to the overall narrative of Andaman biogeography together, they combine to create a unique synergy of unparalleled beauty and natural history.

Kra isthmus ecotone