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This study was conducted at the Tranum Forest Reserve, Raub, Pahang to determine the community structure, species diversity and biomass of trees in the area. Four study plots, each measuring 25 m x 20 m, were established at the study site, which covered a total area of 0.2 ha. All trees with diameter at breast height (DBH) of 5 cm and above were measured and recorded. A total of 175 trees was enumerated in the study plots, comprising 106 species and 79 genera from 40 families. The largest family was Lauraceae, represented by 11 species from six genera, followed by Myrtaceae with eight species from one genus. Tree species diversity of the study area was high, as reflected by a Shannon Diversity Index (H') value of 4.49 (Hmax = 4.66). Margalef Richness Index (R') and Shannon Evenness Index (E) showed values of 20.33 and 0.84, respectively. The most important family, based on the highest Family Important Value Index (FIVi), was Dipterocarpaceae, with a value 17.31%. Shorea platyclados was the most important species with Important Value Index (IVi) of 17.04%. The tree density of the study area was 875 indidivuals per hectare (ind/ha), with Lauraceae being the densest family at 85 ind/ha. Vitex gamosepala was the densest species at 40 ind/ha. The total basal area of trees was 66.23 m²/ha, with Dipterocarpaceae showed the highest basal area of 31.69 m²/ha and Shorea platyclados had the highest basal area of 31.69 m²/ha at species level. The total biomass of trees was estimated at 1,307.56 t/ha, of which the above ground biomass and the below ground biomass were 1,091.33 t/ha and 216.23 t/ha, respectively. Dipterocarpaceae contributed the highest biomass with an estimate of 743.83 t/ha and Shorea platyclados showed the highest biomass at species level with 743.83 t/ha. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The petiole anatomy of 26 species of Madhuca from Peninsular Malaysia was studied. Methods used in this study were petiole sectioning using a sliding microtome, staining, mounting and observation under light microscope. This is the first report on a comprehensive petiole anatomy of selected Madhuca species from Peninsular Malaysia. The results had shown that there were five types of petiole outlines, and ten types of vascular bundles on the petiole of species studied. All species have sclerenchyma cells in the abaxial side except in M. motleyana, which has clusters of sclerenchyma cells scattered throughout the cortex. The findings showed that two types of crystals and latex canal were shared in all species studied. Only five species out of 26 have trichomes on their petiole. The evaluated petiole anatomical characteristic features proved to be a useful tool for the taxonomic discrimination of the 26 studied species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A land snail checklist based on multiple collections between 2009 and 2011 on the Batu Caves limestone hill yielded a total of 48 species of land snails. Eight species are synanthropic and non-native, two are restricted to Selangor limestone hills and 11 are known only from Sgr 01 Batu Caves to date. This collection did not account for the 20 species reported from previous studies at Batu Caves. Systematic malacofaunal surveys are recommended for Batu Caves and all limestone hills in its vicinity to better understand endemism and biogeography of land snails on these hills. The ecological effects of activities like open burning, land clearing and infrastructure developments must be investigated to identify and mitigate threats to the land snail community on Batu Caves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildlife crime is a major issue for the sustainable conservation and protection of wildlife species. In this study, we report on the statistics of wildlife crimes that occurred in Peninsular Malaysia from 2011 to 2018. Wildlife crime data were extracted from the annual reports of Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Peninsular Malaysia (DWNP) and were classified into eight categories: illegal possession, smuggling, technical offenses, illegal hunting, encroachment, cruelty, business and zoo or exhibition. A total of 7,106 wildlife crime cases were reported within this period, with the highest number of cases being illegal wildlife possession (86.55%). In general, wildlife crimes showed an increasing trend in Peninsular Malaysia, where the highest number of cases were recorded in Selangor, Johor and Kedah. Overall, the enactment of Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 [Act 716] showed a positive impact from the enforcement perspective, but seemed to be less effective in deterring wildlife crime in Peninsular Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ulu Muda is the most important water catchment area in the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia. The Muda Reservoir, among the main reservoirs located within the Ulu Muda forest complex, supplies water to Perlis, Kedah and Penang, in order to meet their daily water needs. We made preliminary observations on the freshwater zooplankton community by sampling at five locations. The community was dominated by Rotifera, primarily in the genera Keratella and Trichocerca at all sampling stations. Species richness and abundance were not significantly different among the five sampling stations. However, all physicochemical parameters were significantly different among the stations. Margalef Richness Index was found to be the highest in Station 1 (2.87) indicates that the number of species present in the sample was high. The variability in the zooplankton distribution pattern is expected to be associated with the current water quality condition. Some species might occupy and adapt to new environments outside their native range, thus contributing to the diversity in the ecosystem. The outcome will serve as a baseline for changes that may occur in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A revision of Aglaonema for Peninsular Malaysia is presented. Seven species are recognized of which two, A. cochinchinense Engl. and A. pumilum Hook. f. are new records for the peninsula and the others are A. costatum N. E. Br., A. flemingianum A. Hay, A. nebulosum N. E. Br., A. nitidum (Jack) Kunth and A. simplex (Blume) Blume. A distribution map, key to species are presented and all Aglaonema species in Peninsular Malaysia are illustrated. Two species are described from living specimens, five based on secondary data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ectropothecium Mitt. is a pleurocarpous moss with a global distribution notably in the tropical countries. Several features of Ectropothecium were outlined such as regular pinnate branching arrangement, leaves that are falcate with two costae, prorate cell surface and linear in shape, indistinct alar cells, small capsules and pendulous with long seta. The number of taxa reported for Ectropothecium in Peninsular Malaysia is 24. The aim of this paper is to outline the characteristics that can be applied for species and genus delimitation as well as providing an introductory framework for all the taxa documented from this region. All the specimens from various herbaria are carefully examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A taxonomic revision of Vatica L. in Peninsular Malaysia is given. A total of 32 species is recognised in three sections, sect. Vatica (11 species), sect. Sunaptea (13 species and sect. Pachynocarpa (8 species), the last is resurrected herein. The types, full synonyms, distribution, ecology, vernacular names (if known), uses (if known), figures and taxonomic notes where appropriate are also included. Full descriptions are excluded as they are available elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species of Madhuca Buch,-Ham. ex J. F. Gmelin occur in six types of forests in Peninsular Malaysia, namely lowland dipterocarp hill dipterocarp, upper dipterocarp, swamp, limestone and montane forests. Most of them are mainly distributed in the lowland dipterocarp and hill dipterocarp forests. The geographical distribution maps of Vatica in Peninsular Malaysia are also included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herbaria play important roles in providing information for plant research. However, the data in a herbarium are often hard to obtain unless visits are made to the particular herbarium. Digitalizing the herbaria data becomes a vital move to enable efficient work especially when targeted plant materials could not be easily accessed. There is a lack of efficiency in field data collections due to different constraints limiting the assessment of conservation status of orchids, especially the epiphytic ones. With digital data available from various herbaria abroad and herbarium specimens in local herbaria, a database of orchids in Aeridinae was constructed and used to estimate the Extent of Occurrence of endemic vandaceous orchids in Peninsular Malaysia and their extinction risks were assessed. There are 48 endemic vandaceous orchids in Peninsular Malaysia and most of the species are currently categorized as threatened species. Conservation status and extinction risks of these orchids which were not assessed previously could be used as guidelines in decision making and for effective conservation plans to protect them from risk of extinction as these orchids are highly depending on the forest for survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The remarkable discovery of a female Rafflesia flower with 10 petals (perigone lobes) represents the highest number of Rafflesia flower petals to be the first ever recorded species discovered at Perak, Malaysia in 2012. The unique flower is based on a combination of characteristics which includes coalesced blotches on the perigone lobes and its ramenta types, this individual is now identified as Rafflesia azlanii Latiff & Wong. The characteristics of this individual are best described and illustrated in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants and environment play important roles in Bateq culture. They possessed a high level of knowledge related to forests based on their intimacy with the forests and their heavy dependents on forests for their daily lives. The indigenous knowledge among Bateq was inherited from generation to generation through verbal communication passed from the eldest, but none of this knowledge has been regarded as important, neither has it been documented systematically. An ethnobotanical survey was conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire method to obtain information on the use of medicinal plants for traditional healthcare among Bateq in a designated study area located in Kuala Koh, Kelantan. The objective of this study is to identify and document the traditional uses and remedies of various medicinal plants, which commonly used among Bateq and to identify the plant part, the modes of preparation and routes of administration used for medication of each medicinal plant. In this study 50 medicinal plant species from 35 families were used as traditional health care were recorded. Leaves were the most frequently used plant's part (42%). Fifty percent of medications were prepared as decoctions and preparations are mostly administered orally. This study provides the first ethnobotanical study on medicinal plants used among Bateq in Kuala Koh. Future studies towards conserving the reported species and administration of traditional herbal medicine are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morphological and anatomical studies of ten selected species of Cyatheaceae in Peninsular Malaysia namely, Alsophila alleniae (Holtt.) Tryon, A. excavata (Holtt.) Tryon, A. hymenodes (Mett.) Tryon, A. incisoserrata (Copel.) C. Chr., A. latebrosa Wall., A. lurida (Bl.) Hook., Sphaeropteris glauca (Blume) Tryon, S. obscura (Bedd.) Tryon, S. polypoda (Bak.) Tryon and S. squamulata (Blume) Tryon were conducted to identify the significant morphological and anatomical characteristics that can be used for species identification. Significant morphological characteristics in differentiating species studied includes pinnae margins, stipe colour, types of scales on stipe, presence of hairs or thorns on the surface of rachis, costae, costule and veins, presence of indusia and position of sori. Only one significant anatomical characteristic which is the type of stipe outlines can be used to group the Cyatheaceae species studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hill dipterocarp forest (HDF) in the Ulu Muda Forest Reserve was logged under supervised logging (SLo)(Compartment 25A) and conventional logging (CL) (Compartment 28A) 14 and 16 years ago, respectively. A systematic sampling layout was used to assess forest recovery after supervised and conventional loggings. In 60 subplots (50 m × 20 m) all stems with DBH ≥ 1 cm were enumerated, measured and identified. Data were compared between SLo and CL in order to assess forest recovery after logging. In terms of species composition 468 species belonging to 198 genera and 68 families were recorded. The tree species composition of the study sites contributed to 16.5%, 38.6% and 68.0% of the total tree species, genera and families found in Peninsular Malaysia; of these 57 are endemic including four rare species and one very rare species. Four new records for Kedah, Diospyros apiculata, Macaranga recurvata, M. constricta and Cryptocarya bracteolata were found. The forests are still rich in biodiversity; this is shown by Margalef index of SLo and CL sites of 49.58 and 33.38, respectively. Shannon-Weiner, Simpson and Fisher indices for SLo and CL sites were 5.44 and 4.89, 151.4 and 84.5, and 119.7 and 70.36, respectively. Smith and Wilson evenness values of SLo and CL sites were 0.46 and 0.38, respectively. The difference between diversity indices of SLo and CL sites were significant at 5% level. Sorensen and Jaccard similarity indices between SLo and CL sites were 0.60 and 0.43, respectively. In terms of species composition and diversity, the SLo site recovered three times more than CL site which was 46.5% and 14.3%, respectively. Aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, total biomass and total carbon were much higher in SLo which were 282.8, 76.4, 359.2, 179.6 t ha-1 while CL gave values of 216.7, 58.5, 275.2, 137.6 t ha-1, respectively. The recovery of biomass in SLo was 23.4% higher than CL site although the difference was non-significant (Sig. = 0.19 and α = 0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fissidens Hedw. is characterized by distichous leaves which are vertically placed, differentiated into a vaginant lamina consisting of two lamellae that clasp the stems, a dorsal lamina which is located opposite of the vaginant lamina, and an apical lamina above the vaginant lamina, peristome teeth split into two up to middle, with longitudinal stripes. At present, 28 species of Fissidens have been recognized in Peninsular Malaysia. This paper is based on evaluation of all the characters used to circumscribe the genus and the species from Peninsular Malaysia. Features which are useful for distinguishing species within the genus such as the characters of leaves, limbidium, lamina cell, costa, axillary hyaline nodule, seta and plant sexuality are being carefully examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted on two species of Pandanus to investigate the habitat classifications of P. immersus Ridley and P. tectorius Parkinson in Peninsular Malaysia. Traditionally, their leaves are used as woven materials to produce mats, baskets and hats. They also have been used for medicinal purposes. The objective of this study is to identify the type of habitat for these two species. Field data on plant localities were recorded. Digital images of the habitats and plants were captured for comparative analysis. Soils were sampled for soil type classification. P. immersus could be easily found in swampy areas, meanwhile, P. tectorius is commonly found in the coastal areas including rocky and sandy beaches. Most of P. immersus and P. tectorius can also inhabit sandy clay loam soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Asian elephant was recognised as being 'endangered' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017. Given that Malaysia is one of the 194 parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Malaysia should address the CBD obligations that influence the current wildlife conservation trend across the globe. In Peninsular Malaysia, the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 (WCA) was implemented to tackle primary issues related to Asian elephants; hence, it is imperative to analyse the CBD obligations related to Asian elephant conservation and the extent that the WCA addresses the CBD obligations. The CBD convention text and decisions between 2004 and 2014 were analysed to gather the obligations and sub-obligations related to Asian elephant conservation. Next, the obligations and sub-obligations were categorised into themes and subthemes inductively and presented as a CBD checklist. Then, the WCA was read and examined against the checklist to determine to what extent the WCA addresses the obligations and sub-obligations. The study indicates that the WCA mainly addresses the protection and conservation of elephant habitats and the genetic resources, including sustainable use through a system of licences, permits, and special permits. However, disputes between the Federal and State governments, abuse of permits, the possible de-gazettement of protected areas, and the penalisation involving immature elephants bred in captivity should be considered and revised. The WCA also addressed the access to elephants' genetic resources and the sharing of the benefits brought about by the utilisation of elephants' genetic resources through a similar system of licences, permits, and special permits. Nevertheless, the WCA has excluded provisions to address issues relating to access to technology and the transfer of technology related to conservation and the sustainable use of elephants' genetic resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new species, Vanilla norashikiniana R. Go et A. Raffi, from Peninsular Malaysia is described and other aspects of interest discussed. It is so far known from a population in lower dipterocarp forests in Hutan Lipur Chemerong, Hulu Dungun, Terengganu and Hutan Simpan Semangkok, Selangor. A field key to the Peninsular Malaysian taxa (including Vanilla shenzhenica) is also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A botanical inventory was conducted in the primary upper hill dipterocarp and hill dipterocarp forest at Tranum Forest Reserve, Pahang. A total of 466 species from 269 genera and 102 families was recorded. Angiosperms represented by 101 families while gymnosperm by a single family, Gnetaceae. Dicotyledons represented by 85 families while monocotyledons represented by 16 families. Rubiaceae was the most speciose family with 37 species (7.94 %) followed by Annonaceae and Lauraceae, each with 27 species (5.79 %). The largest genus was Syzygium with 14 species (3.00 %) followed by Diospyros with 10 species (2.15 %). A total 32 taxa were endemic to Peninsular Malaysia whilst another 23 taxa were categorized as new records for Pahang state. A total of 235 taxa was also listed as the new additional list for Fraser's Hill flora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asian Openbill (Anastomus oscitans) has been recorded in Peninsular Malaysia since 2008 and their distribution appears to be concentrated particularly in Penang, Perak, Melaka, and Johor. This bird plays a potentially important ecological role as a biological agent, particularly in paddy fields. However, its distribution and ecology in Peninsular Malaysia are poorly known. We compiled historical data on the occurrence of the stork in Peninsular Malaysia from published and unpublished reports, and determined its distribution pattern and habitat use. We also conducted field surveys to examine its current distribution, abundance, and macro- and microhabitat preference. Macrohabitat analyzed with ArcGIS indicated the stork occurred mainly in paddy fields along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. This can be explained by the abundance of the Golden Apple Snails (Pomacea canaliculata) on-site especially during higher flood levels. In respect to roosting, the birds selected trees containing numerous wide branches and an average height of seven meters. Due to their increasing and persistent sightings in Peninsular Malaysia, conservation priorities should also be channeled towards protecting their habitat and preventing illegal hunting. However, more studies needs to be carried out in monitoring their density and population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]