Floristic Composition and Species Diversity of Tree Communities at Lesong Forest Reserve, Pahang, Malaysia Hasya Hannani Ruziman (a), Faezah Pardi (a,b*)
(a) Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA. 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
(b) Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, Universiti Teknologi MARA. 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
*faezahpardi[at]uitm.edu.my
Abstract
Forested areas in Pahang include Lesong Forest Reserve have been gazetted as Permanent Reserved Forest (PRF) under the National Forestry Act 1984 for the purpose of sustainable forest management practices that offer economic, social, and environmental benefits. However, forest degradation and over-exploitation are threatening the biodiversity and ecological services provided by these forests. As a conservation measure, a study was conducted to quantify the community structure and species diversity of tree communities at Lesong Forest Reserve (LFR), Pahang, Malaysia. Eight sampling plots of 25 m x 25 m each were established randomly covering a total area of 0.5 ha in the study site. All trees with diameter at breast height (DBH) of 10 cm and above were measured, tagged, and identified. The floristic composition of trees at LFR consisted of 61 families, 192 genera and 601 species. Dryobalanops aromatica (Dipterocarpaceae) was the most dominant species at LFR with 520 trees, followed by Elateriospermum tapos (Euphorbiaceae) (307 trees) and Endospermum diadenum (Euphorbiaceae) (179 trees). Euphorbiaceae was the most speciose family with 48 species, followed by Dipterocarpaceae with 41 species and Myrtaceae with 38 species in total. The highest Important Value Index (IVi) at family level for LFR was Euphorbiaceae at 14.77% whilst at species level, Dryobalanops aromatica (Dipterocarpaceae) recorded IVi of 6.7%. The total biomass estimation at LFR was high with 3524.06 t/ha, represented by 2857.16 t/ha of above ground biomass and 666.89 t/ha of below ground biomass. The total basal area (BA) of trees at LFR was 281.14 m2/ha, which mostly contributed by Euphorbiaceae with 64.9 m2/ha. LFR was found to be the most diverse with Shannon-Weiner Diversity Index of 5.44, high richness index of 65.14 and moderate evenness index 0.42. This study showed that LFR has diverse tree species composition and significant amount of tree biomass, depicting the importance of the forest reserve as a carbon sink for terrestrial ecosystems.
Keywords: forest, Lesong Forest Reserve, species diversity, tree species
