Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
geographical regions; Peninsular Malaysia on mainland Asia and the states of Sabah and Sarawak on the island of
Borneo. Peninsular Malaysia has over 8,300 plant species and Sabah and Sarawak in a recent estimate have about
12,000 species. Total species endemism for Peninsular Malaysia is about 30%; its tree endemism is 26.3%. For
Sabah and Sarawak, the endemism level is higher, recently revised gures gave a tree species endemism of 42.1%.
Malaysia has recently published its national strategy for plant conservation, which now forms the basis of conservation
activities for the country. Since 2004, we have been running a project entitled Conservation Monitoring of Rare and
Threatened Plants of Peninsular Malaysia, in which conservation status assessment is scored for a number of families.
Results of the assessment of 458 taxa included 46.1% in some threat category. Detailed conservation studies
are in progress for 33 species of threatened plants. Initial work on these species include spatial distribution
studies at regional level based on herbarium records, and at a more local level, population studies to determine
demography of populations. Regular phenological observations were also made for many of the species.
Key Words. Conservation assessment, Dipterocarpaceae, Malaysia.
Introduction
Malaysia is located close to the equator, lying between
051'N and 733'N, with an equatorial climate, characterised by annual south-west (April to October) and
north-east (November to February) monsoons. The
country has no distinct dry season except for northwest Peninsular Malaysia (in the states of Perlis and
Kedah); rainfall averages 200 300 cm/yr in the
lowlands and 300 350 cm/yr in the mountains.
Lowland temperature averages about 30 C throughout the year. Malaysia has two major geographical
regions; Peninsular Malaysia with its connection to
mainland Asia and the states of Sabah and Sarawak on
the island of Borneo, sited on the continental Sunda
Shelf. The highest mountains are Mount Kinabalu
(4,100 m) in Sabah and Mount Tahan (2,188 m) in
Peninsular Malaysia.
The ora of Malaysia is estimated to be about
15,000 species (Saw & Chung 2007), with 8,300 species
for Peninsular Malaysia and about 12,000 species for
the states of Sabah and Sarawak. In spite of a long
history of botanical exploration, the Malaysian ora is
not fully documented. A review of the botanical
history of Malaysia, including collections and publications of revisions, in the two regions of Peninsular
Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak is provided in Saw &
Chung (2007). Peninsular Malaysia with a longer
botanical history now has a working checklist (Turner
682
Table 1. Comparison of tree species diversity revised under the Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak (TFSS) volumes and similar families
of Tree Flora of Malaya (Saw & Chung 2007 and updated for volume 6).
Tree Flora of Sabah & Sarawak
TFSS Volumes
Families
Genera
Species
Families
Genera
Species
1
2*
3
4
5
6
Total
31
21
4
6
4
4
70
99
73
30
21
28
18
265
306
243
357
292
361
189
1748**
31
21
4
6
4
4
70
91
63
27
21
27
21
250
227
186
246
202
225
128
1214**
* Two families Scyphostegiaceae and Winteraceae are not recorded in Peninsular Malaysia and are excluded in the comparison
** Sabah & Sarawak have roughly 44% more tree species than Peninsular Malaysia
The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2011
683
684
Map 1. Distribution of Anisoptera laevis with areas for Extent of Occurrence (EOO) and Area of Occupancy (AOO).
685
Number of taxa*
Extinct (EX)
Critically Endangered (CR)
Endangered (EN)
Vulnerable (VU)
4 (0.9%)
62 (13.5%)
69 (15.1%)
80 (17.5%)
Threatened total
211 (46.1%)
87 (19.0%)
143 (31.2%)
13 (2.8%)
Total
458 (100%)
Notes
Only known from Bukit Larut (Maxwell Hill) on the
isolated Bintang Range, last collected in 1952 and
since then not collected. Maxwell Hills and its adjacent
hills and valleys have been repeatedly botanised in the
20th century. The fact that the species has never
been re-collected indicates a degree of rarity.
G. Ledang (Mount Ophir) is an isolated mountain and
is a well collected area. The species was last collected
in 1880 in G. Ledang (Mount Ophir), and since
then has not been seen or collected. G. Ledang has
been repeatedly botanised.
Known only from one locality in Penang, now a farm.
Known only from one locality in Pahang, now an oil palm estate.
686
Table 4. Analysis of the criteria applied in the conservation assessments of taxa from Peninsular Malaysia.
Criteria
CR
EN
VU
Total
17
38
0
7
0
62
10
55
1
3
0
69
28
43
0
9
0
80
55
136
1
19
0
211
26.1
64.4
0.5
9.0
0
100
Table 5. The number of taxa in Peninsular Malaysia, grouped according to genus, under their respective IUCN categories.
Genus
EX
CR
EN
VU
NT
LC
DD
Total
Anisoptera
Cotylelobium
Dipterocarpus
Dryobalanops
Hopea
Neobalanocarpus
Parashorea
Shorea
Vatica
Total
Percentage
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0.6
0
0
3
0
4
0
1
5
2
15
9.1
1
1
7
1
6
0
0
12
7
35
21.3
4
0
10
0
11
0
0
12
5
42
25.6
0
1
7
1
9
1
1
19
7
46
28.0
1
0
4
1
3
0
1
12
1
23
14.0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
2
1.2
6
2
32
3
33
1
3
62
22
164
100
687
Table 6. Criteria used in the assessment of threatened taxa of Dipterocarpaceae from Peninsular Malaysia.
Criteria
CR
EN
VU
Total
12
3
15
5
25
30
16
30
46
33
58
91
36.3
63.7
100
Table 7. Species assessed as possibly extinct in Symington (2004) compared with current assessment, the criteria following IUCN
(2001) are provided with the conservation category.
Species
Cotylelobium melanoxylon (Hook. f.) Pierre
Dipterocarpus coriaceus Slooten
Dipterocarpus obtusifolius Teijsm. ex Miq. var. subnudus
Dipterocarpus sarawakensis Slooten
Dipterocarpus semivestitus Slooten
Hopea coriacea Burck
Hopea pachycarpa (F. Heim) Symington
Hopea polyalthioides Symington
Shorea inappendiculata Burck
Shorea kuantanensis P. S. Ashton
Vatica flavida Foxw.
Vatica havilandii Brandis
Current assessment
Symington (2004)
EN B2ab(iii)
CR A4c
EN B2ab(iii)
CR A4c
CR A4bc, B2ab, C1
EN B2ab(iii)+c(iii)
EN B2b(iii)+c(ii)
EN B2ab(iii)
EN B1b(iii)+c(iii)
EX
CR A4c, B1ab(iii)
EN A4c, B2b(iii)+c(ii)
EX (possibly)
EX (may now be)
EX (may now be)
EX (possibly)
EX (possibly)
EX (may now be)
CR & perhaps EX
EX (may be)
EX (possibly)
EX (may now be)
EX (may now be)
CR, possibly EX
688
Table 8. The number of threatened Dipterocarp taxa, including extinct taxon, occurring in each Peninsular Malaysian state
ranked according to the total number of threatened taxa.
State
EX
CR
EN
VU
Total
Pahang
Johor
Perak
Terengganu
Selangor
Kedah
Negeri Sembilan
Kelantan
Malacca
Penang
Perlis
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
2
10
1
3
0
1
0
0
1
0
20
17
15
15
6
5
3
3
1
1
2
37
35
28
31
25
23
21
21
8
8
7
59
54
53
47
34
28
25
24
9
10
9
Number of species
Dipterocarpaceae
Begoniaceae
Cycadaceae (Cycas)
Palmae (Johannesteijsmannia)
Gesneriaceae (Senyumia)
Total
21
5
4
2
1
33
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for
the invitation to present this paper in this very special
250th anniversary. We appreciate the contributions
made by the team members of the Conservation
Unit, Forest Research Institute Malaysia. Their efforts
provided much impetus to this important project. This
project is funded by the Ministry of Science,
Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) of Malaysia
under a special science fund (Project No. 01-04-010000 Khas 2).
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