A checklist of vascular plants and uses of some species for livelihood-making in Setiu Wetlands, Terengganu, Malaysia

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Abstract

The Setiu Wetlands, a unique area with nine interconnected habitats, comprises a considerable fraction of the total Peninsular Malaysia’s wetland flora. Although botanical collecting in the area has been active in the past 10 years, only a few studies dealing with the wetland flora have been published. Thus, a detailed checklist of this area is urgently needed to ensure the continuity of its inter-relating flora and fauna, as well as the livelihood of the local people. In this work we conducted a survey of the vascular plant flora of Setiu Wetlands and investigated the most important plants used by the local communities. Our checklist accounts for 406 taxa from 277 genera and 106 families, including 24 (6%) species of ferns and lycophytes, three gymnosperms, 257 (64%) dicotyledons and 122 (30%) monocotyledons. This comprehensive plant checklist will be a primary reference for the management of the newly gazetted Setiu Wetlands State Park covering more than 400 hectares of lands and water bodies.

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Species diversity, carapace width-body weight relationship, size distribution and sex ratio of mud crab, genus Scylla from Setiu wetlands of Terengganu coastal waters, Malaysia

M Ikhwanuddin, Z Bachok, MG Hilmi … (2010)

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Orchid diversity in anthropogenic-induced degraded tropical rainforest, an extrapolation towards conservation

Edward E. Besi, Dome Nikong, Muskhazli Mustafa … (2019)

Abstract The uncontrolled logging in Peninsular Malaysia and the resulting mudslides in the lowland areas have been perilous, not to just humans, but also to another biodiversity, including the wild orchids. Their survival in these highly depleted areas is being overlooked due to the inaccessible and harsh environment. This paper reports on the rescue of orchids at risk from the disturbed forests for ex-situ conservation, the identification of the diversity of orchids and the evaluation of the influence of micro-climatic changes induced by clear-cut logging towards the resilience of orchids in the flood-disturbed secondary forests and logged forests in Terengganu and Kelantan, located at the central region of Peninsular Malaysia, where the forest destruction by logging activities has been extensive. 109 orchid species belonging to 40 genera were collected from the disturbed areas. The diversity and data analyses show that the disturbed secondary forests had a higher orchid density (0.0133 plants/m2) than the logged sites (0.0040 plants/m2) as the habitat conditions were more dependable. Nevertheless, the logged forests harboured a higher diversity of orchids (H=4.50 and D=0.99) of which 97.9% were epiphytes. Eleven rare species were found along with six species endemic to Peninsular Malaysia, with two species new to science. The results highlighted the factors that allow the orchids to flourish or suffer in the disturbed forests. The logged forests had a higher ambient temperature and lower moisture level than the mud flood-disturbed and canopy-covered secondary forests. Apart from the extensive ground vegetation due to logs dragging extraction, low soil moisture and absence of leaf litter were believed to be the major attributes causing the low abundance of terrestrial orchids. The high abundance and diversity of epiphytic orchids and the large difference of their densities between the logged sites were influenced by the densities of fallen trees hosting orchid(s), disturbance induced dryness stresses, durations of exposure to the anthropogenic-induced disturbance, and less favourable soil conditions for the terrestrial orchids.