The year-around warm, wet climate together with thousands years of isolation from mainland India have resulted in the evolution of numerous plants and animal species that can only be found in rain forests in Sri Lanka.

[2] The thick forest canopy is made up of over 150 species of trees, some of the emergent layer reaching as high as 45 m (148 ft).

The lowland rain forests cover 124,340.8 ha (480.1 sq mi) in total and accounts for 2.14 percent of Sri Lanka's land area.

[3] Wet monsoon forests receive 2,500–1,800 mm (98–71 in) of annual rainfall and are situated belove 1,000 meters (3,281 ft) of altitude.

Kanneliya, Viharakele, Nakiyadeniya, and Sinharaja, which is a World Heritage Site, are the forests that represent this ecoregion.

Sri Lanka is a continental island, separated from the Asian continent only by shallow Palk Strait.

[4] Although the island has been connected with the mainland repeatedly by land bridges since the initial separation, Sri Lanka's moist forests and its wet forest-adapted biota have been identified as being ecologically isolated.

The ecoregion partially encircles the Central Massif, which reach above 2,500 m (8,202 ft) and detached Knuckles Mountain Range.

[3] Invertebrates Flora Botanical gardens Civil societies The vegetation of the region is determined primarily by climate, with topography and edaphic conditions contributing secondarily.

Freshwater swamp forests situated closer to the coastlines are a distinct plant community within the ecoregion.

Due to the warm and moist climate and long physical isolation, wet forest adopted species have promoted a high degree of endemism and specialization.

The lowland and sub montane forests are the floristically richest in Sri Lanka and of all South Asia.

Unlike in dry-zone forests, where they live in large numbers, this ecoregion's elephant population is faced with habitat loss and fragmentation.

[7] The mugger crocodile and the spineless forest lizard are listed as endangered along with eight freshwater fish species.

Most of the Sri Lanka's rain forests were cleared for plantations, originally for coffee and cinchona and then tea and rubber.

The two most notable are the world heritage site the Sinharaja Forest Reserve and the Peak Wilderness Sanctuary.