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Assessment of biophysical properties of Royal Belum tropical forest, Malaysia
Author(s) -
Kanniah Kasturi Devi,
Tan Kian Pang,
Cracknell Arthur P,
Huete Alfredo R,
Idris Nurul Hawani,
Lau Alvin Meng Shin,
Abd Rahman Muhammad Zulkarnain,
Rasib Abd Wahid,
Ahmad Anuar
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
singapore journal of tropical geography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1467-9493
pISSN - 0129-7619
DOI - 10.1111/sjtg.12215
Subject(s) - diameter at breast height , tree allometry , rainforest , allometry , canopy , tropical rainforest , biomass (ecology) , tree canopy , forestry , ecology , tropics , geography , amazon rainforest , agroforestry , environmental science , biology , biomass partitioning
The Royal Belum forest reserve is one of the oldest tropical rainforests in the world and it is one of the largest virgin forest reserves in Malaysia. However, not many studies have been conducted to understand the ecology of this forest. In this study we estimated the aboveground biomass (AGB) of the forest using diameter at breast height (DBH) and height of trees ( h ), tree species and hemispherical photographs of tree canopy. We estimated AGB using five allometric equations. Our results demonstrated that the AGB given by the one tree species specific allometric equation does not show any significant differences from the values given by the non‐tree species specific allometric equations at tree and plot levels. The AGB of Intsia bijuga species, Koompassia malaccensis species and Shorea genera were comparatively higher, owing to their greater wood density, DBH and h. This has added importance because some of these species are categorized as threatened species. Our results demonstrated that mean AGB values in this forest (293.16 t ha ‐1 ) are the highest compared to some studies of other areas in Malaysia, tropical Africa and tropical Bazilian Amazonia, implying that the Royal Belum forest reserve, is an important carbon reservoir.