1. Last week, on the 1-2nd June 2010 more than 60 scientists and forestry officers met and discussed the findings of the Gunung Belumut Scientific Expedition organised on 10-14 August 2009, in a seminar held at Johor Bahru. It was officially opened by Johor Exco, a member of State Legislative Assemby from Paloh. On the night of opening ceremony we were entertained with various shades of zapin, a portpouri of traditional dances, originated from Persia but made popular in Johor. A total of 28 scientific papers were presented.
2. The papers covered forest management, ecotourism, water quality, flora, fauna, and the Orang Asli communities. It was reported that more than 60,000 people per year visited the Recreational Forest there and this augurs very well for the state of Johor which attempt to lure the Singaporeans across. There is a possibility of a new species of Scaphochlamys (Zingiberaceae) being described from the area; 11 new records of mosses were made and several other records of both the flora and fauna.
3. Many findings of great significance to the heritage of Johor were recorded and discussed. Among them are (a) the conservation and survival of the populations of Paphiopedlim barbatum which is iconic for Gunung Belumut, (b) four new records of orchids including Corybas carinatus and Anoectochilis, (c) the rare and important Hopea johoriensis, Androtium astylum, Kopsia teoi, Dichapetalum griffithii and Croton kelantanicus.
4. The productivity of the forest at Gunung Belumut whaih was presented by Dr. Mohd. Nizam et al. at 498.44 t/ha; an area of 0.5 ha support more than 772 tree species, H = 4.58 and a possible carbon stock of 289 t/ha
5. The seminar was officially closed by State Forestry Director, Hj. Yahya bin Mahmood.
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1 comment:
That is very true sir, since those days we had improved our knowledge of forest biod quite a lot
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