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The Republic of Palau (Belau)
Palau has a wide diversity of terrestrial and aquatic habitats
Palau’s remarkable diversity of plant and animal species is due not only to its geographic location in relationship to southeastern Asia and the Philippines, but also its wide diversity of terrestrial and aquatic habitats. For example, coral reef habitats include barrier reefs, channels through barrier reefs, lagoon patch reefs, outer fringing reefs, island fringing reefs, fringing reefs, sunken barrier reefs, offshore banks and reefs, and atolls. Other habitats include shallow-water and deep-water seagrass beds; beaches and rocky shores; estuaries; stratified and vertically-mixed marine lakes; shallow and deep lagoon areas, Halimeda meadows; sediment-laden bottoms; coastal, riverine, and marine lake mangrove forests; forest and grassland vegetation, including volcanic soil forest, riverine forest, swamp forest, atoll forest, rock island forest, limestone forest, strand vegetation, and savanna grasslands; and freshwater streams, lakes, and marshes. There are also reproductive, nesting, feeding, and other aggregation sites, such as fish spawning aggregation sites for transient and resident fishes, turtle nesting beaches and cays, green turtle feeding areas, hawksbill turtles feeding areas, dugong concentration areas, crocodile nesting areas and corridors, Micronesian megapode nesting areas, fruit bat roosting areas, and nesting cliffs and caves for birds.