Although all the climatic regions of Papua New Guinea are basically tropical, they are nevertheless varied. In the lowlands, mean annual maximum temperatures range from about 86 to 90 °F (30 to 32 °C), and the minimums are between 73 and 75 °F (23 and 24 °C). Seasonal variation in temperature is slight, and the daily variation approximates the annual variation. Cooler conditions prevail in the Highlands, where night frosts are common above 7,000 feet (2,100 metres); daytime temperatures there generally exceed 72 °F (22 °C) regardless of season. Each variation in elevation creates new ecological zones for plant and animal life.

Rainfall, rather than temperature, is the determinant of season. Precipitation is dependent on two wind systems—the southeast trade winds and the northwesterly turbulence zone (the monsoon)—and on the three site characteristics of latitude, elevation, and exposure. The southeasterlies blow for approximately seven months (May to November) on the extreme southeast of the country (Milne Bay) and for gradually shorter periods in northern areas, predominating for only three months in the Admiralty Islands. Conversely, northwesterlies are more common on the north coast and in the Bismarck Archipelago, but they affect Port Moresby for only three to four months of the year (the rainy season, December through March). The Highlands seem to have their own airflow systems, receiving rain throughout the year—totaling between 100 and 160 inches (2,500 and 4,000 mm)—except for a midyear dry phase. With the northwesterlies, rain is frequently from heated saturated air that loses its moisture as it cools and rises (convectional storms), and rain shadow effects are reduced. With the southeasterlies, however, exposure is particularly important. The Port Moresby coastal area is parched throughout the period of the southeasterlies, which flow parallel to the coast, yet where mountainous land lies athwart the airflow, as in New Britain or the southward-facing slopes of the Highlands, rainfall is extremely heavy, frequently exceeding 300 inches (7,600 mm). Port Moresby receives less than 50 inches (1,300 mm) of precipitation annually, which affects the water supply and the generation of hydroelectric power.

Plant and animal life

Much of the coast is lined by mangrove swamp, succeeded inland by nipa palm (Nypa fruticans) in brackish waters. Large stands of sago palm are scattered farther inland, particularly along the valleys of the larger rivers in the north and along the deltas of the south coast. Primary lowland rainforest covers much of the island up to elevations of approximately 3,300 feet (1,000 metres). The forest is characterized by a large number of species, by the absence of pure stands of any one species, by fairly distinct layering of the forest into two or three levels, by the limited development of undergrowth, and by the small amount of human impact upon it. Dense undergrowth is usually a sign of human interference, except on soils that are particularly poor or where the low height of the forest allows sunlight to penetrate to the soil surface. In those lowland areas where drier conditions prevail, agriculture and the burning of vegetation to facilitate hunting have long sustained a grassland environment (for example, in the Sepik and Markham river valleys).

In the uplands above 3,300 feet, stands of single species become more common, and trees such as oaks, beeches, red cedars, and pines become increasingly dominant. Above about 6,500 feet (2,000 metres), cloud or moss forest characterized by conifers, tree ferns, and a wealth of fungi and epiphytes (such as mosses and orchids) appears.

Papua New Guinea possesses a rich variety of reptiles, marsupials (animals that carry their young in pouches), native freshwater fishes, and birds but is almost devoid of large mammals. This has assisted the evolution of some 40 species of birds-of-paradise. The largest animals are the cassowaries (large flightless birds) and crocodiles. For roughly the past 55 to 56 million years, New Guinea and Australia, to which it was joined, have been isolated from other landmasses by the sea, and the former land bridge between New Guinea and Australia explains the presence of marsupials, tree kangaroos, and echidnas on the island—species it has in common with the continent. New Guinea’s animals have evolved in isolation since the end of the last ice age (about 12,000 years ago), when sea levels rose and covered the land bridge between the two landmasses. New Guinea shares with the Indonesian archipelago many species of insects, carried by winds. Likewise, New Guinea has been a centre of dispersal for many plants to all neighbouring regions. The extraordinary profusion in Papua New Guinea of plants such as orchids, figs (genus Ficus), and false beech (Nothofagus) and of such animals as cassowaries, birds-of-paradise, parrots, butterflies, and marsupials—including tree kangaroos and cuscus (a type of phalanger)—gives the island an unparalleled biogeography.

Papua New Guinea’s unique biological species have long been sought by collectors throughout the world, but the government has established several conservation and protection measures. The export of birds-of-paradise is banned, and hunters thereof are restricted to the use of traditional weapons. Similarly, the export of many other birds and butterflies and of crocodile skins is strictly regulated. Other policies encourage the controlled expansion of selected exports of “farmed” orchids and crocodiles and of “cultivated” butterflies and other insects. A number of conservation projects, encouraged by foreign environmental groups, provide a small income for a few local landowners.

Ethnic groups

Papua New Guinea’s social composition is extremely complex, although most people are classified as Melanesian. Very small minorities of Micronesian and Polynesian societies can be found on some of the outlying islands and atolls, and as in the eastern and northern Pacific these people have political structures headed by chiefs, a system seldom found among the Melanesian peoples of Papua New Guinea.

The non-Melanesian portion of the population, including expatriates and immigrants, is small. At independence in 1975 the expatriate community of about 50,000 was predominantly Australian, with perhaps 10,000 people of Chinese origin whose ancestors had arrived before World War I. By the early 21st century most of those people had moved to Australia. The foreign-born community had not expanded but had become more mixed, with only some 7,000 Australians; the largest non-Western groups were from China and the Philippines. The government sponsored the immigration of Filipinos in the 1970s to provide workers in skilled professions, and many entered business and intermarried locally. The unauthorized, illegal entry of other immigrants, notably from China, was an ongoing concern of the government in the early 21st century.