Palms of Pasoh

Abstract

The diverse biological factors of palms and their economic importance make palms a particularly interesting group for biodiversity studies. The objective of the present study was to analyze species diversity in relation to soil types within the primary forest and the impact of logging on the palm communities in Pasoh Forest Reserve (Pasoh FR). The study has shown that there were distinct differences in palm species diversity between dry alluvial and wet alluvial soils in the primary forest of Pasoh FR. Both these soil types differ in palm species diversity and density from that on lateritic and shale-derived soils. Both soil types have large numbers of palm individuals. The greatest number of species was on wet alluvial soils. Dry alluvial soils were generally poor in terms of both species and abundance of palms. Higher moisture content is an important component in growth of plants in tropical rain forest. Low water retention of dry alluvial soils that contain a large amount of coarse sand may be the limiting factor for the successful germination, survival and the growth of palm species that avoids this soil. The diversity of palms can be associated with a few factors besides edaphic ones. The impact of Sus scrofa (pigs/wild boars) activities is particularly significant at Pasoh FR. The species richness and density, and the recovery of palms at Pasoh FR were affected by tree harvesting operation. The impact of logging on the palm communities at Pasoh FR is evidently clear even 42 years after logging. The effect of light intensity was not clearly determined and requires further investigation.