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Vegetation association and site pteferences of tongkat ali eurycoma longofolia jkack in a health lowland forest phg malaysia Zahari Ibrahim Master of science university putra Malaysia 2005 Tropical rain forest is among the richest ecosystems in the world/ the flora is very diverse compared to other types of forest such as the temperate forest. the three largest tropical rain forest in the world are located in south America Africa Madagascar and far east region Richards 1952) as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005. The most wellknown tropical rain forest are amazon rain forest western Africa rain forest and indo malesian rain forestlaocated in three continents along the equatorial line between 23 ° 27' north and 23° 27' south. According to Ashton 1964; poore 1968; whitmore 1984 as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 mention that among the continents, indo malesian has been considered by many ecologist as one of the mosty complex and richest terrestrial ecosystem in the world. According ti pringle, 1999 as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 mention that indo malesian rainforest represented the second largest rainforest which is approximately 250 million ha,. According to Soepadmo 1991 as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 said that indo malesian rain forest occupying a total land area of 3 million km square . no other rain forest contains a greater number of different species growing together in discrete areas as the indo malesian forest (whitmore 1988). The tropical rainforests of the indo malesian region consist of south east asia, papua new guinea and northern part of Australia are widely known as one of te most species rich and complex terrestrial ecosystems in the world. According to Jacobs 1974 and van steenis 1971 as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 described the indo malesian flora as rich and diverse, having more than 40,000 species of vascular plants. Part of these vascular plants, more than 36,000 are flowering plants belonging to 266 families and 3,075 genera. According to De Laubenfels 1978 as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 said that there are 3,600 ferns and allies representing 35 families and 164 genera and 87 species are conifers which belong to 5 families and 12 genera. According to Ashton 1964; wyatt smith 1952 as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 said that the family kaum Damar dominated the forest of unsurpassed grandeur in indo malesian region and is the most abundant of the emergent and tall upper canopy trees. Indo malesian tropical rainforesta are centres of distribution and species diversity not only for tropical hardwood timber species but also for many plant families with highly economic yield such as fruit ornaments rattans and herbal medicines. According to liew 1991 as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 said that there are about 2850 species 551 genera and 94 families of herbaceous flowering plants and abaout 846 species of orchirds recorded in semenanjung Malaysia. More than 100 endemic species of orchirds and herbs also occur in semenanjung Malaysia. Thus some of this understorey plants are probably under estimated because several families are awaiting detailed study. Forest product plays a sifnificant role in the economics development of a country especially in foreign exchange earning government revenues development of local wood based industries and related industries and employment sectors. For example malaysoa forest are among the most natural resources that contribute a significant proportion of income to government in semenanjung Malaysia amounted rm379.9 million. The forestry sector provided 11,864 persons or 14.7 percent were directly employed in timber harvesting operation (FDPM 1995). According to chin and lai 1993 as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 said that a part from this , the function of forest to stabilized the environment of country and are a store house of plant and animals. In view of their richness and diversity forest have been considered to be the centre of origin and diversity of many present day and future crop plants. Thus the knowledge on the need to conserve and manage forest wellness and effectively requires the relative among the varieties plants families occurance distribustion and the role that forest play in our daily life. 2.1.1 forest types and formation As cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 said the the area of tropical rain forest has been estima6ted to be 8.2 million km2 (whitmore, 1988) or abaout 6 % of land area of the earth iucn 1990 The Fao 2001 estimated the total area occupied bt tropical rain forest in 2000 at 2,170 million ha Evergreen tropical rain foreast can be subdiveided in lowland forest and montane rain forest and mangrove forest alng environmental fradieants determinate by al tititued physiography substrate and soil water (whitmore 1988) Lowland rain forest cover the largest area and they differ as a resukt of variation in bed rock soil toporaghy and hydrologi iucn 1990 As cited in zahari Ibrahim said that the tropical rain forest of malay sia are highly comlex ecosystem rich and varied in plants and animal life These forest are not only rich in timber but al so houase a wide array of flora and fauna that have significant economic values In 2001 the total forested land in Malaysia is 20.20 million ha with 5.94 million ha (29.41%) in semenanjung Malaysia, 4.42 (21.88% nillion ha in sabah and 9.84 (48.71%) million ha in Sarawak In addition to the 20.20 million ha under forest another 5.27 milliuon ha are under tree crops such as rubber and oil palm an 7.36 million ha of the total area of Malaysia is under other land use such as urban housing development and infrastructure The distribution of Malaysia forest area by major types in 2001 were 17.91 (88.66%) million ha of family kaum dammar forest lowland hilly upper hilly and montane forest. 1.46 (7.23%) million ha of swamp forest , 0.58(2.87% million ha of forest land area are gazzetted as national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.\ Approximately 0.74 million ha are gazette in semenanjung malauysia 58.11% equal to; 434300 ha national parks; 41.89% wildlife sancyuaries ;0.41 millio ha (60.97% national parks; 39.02% wildlife sanctuaries in sabah and 0.1 million ha (70%-national parks; 30% wildlife sanctuaries in Sarawak (Anon 2002) According to bidin and latif 1984; 1995 as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 said that about 1082 species from 7000 species of angiosperm and 600 ferns have medicinal active elements According to Burkhill 1966 as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 mention that more than 1300 plants are being used in traditional medicinal. Soepadmo 1991 as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 state4d that abaout 1200 species of seed plants in peninsular Malaysia and 2000 species in sabah and Sarawak are reported to have medicinal values The use of plant material in traditional medicinal is popular among the local rural communities aspecially the melayu aborigines and other indigenous tribes/ nowadays the use of plant materials for medicinal plants and health food products has expanded worldwide. The health product market in Malaysia is growing at about 15 percent per year. It has been reported that the market value of plant based medicines (pharmaceuticals and herbal care products ) in Malaysia had exceeded rm 1 billion in 1998 and traditional medicine recorded an annual sale of rm 2 billion (anon 1998) As cited in zahari ibrahim 2005 said that the current well known medicinal plants are tongkat Ali eurycoma longifolia. Kacip Fatimah labisia pumila, mengkudu morinda citrifolia pegaga centella asiatica, hempedu bumi andrographis paniculata, serai wangi cymbopogon nardus and dukung anak phyllanthus niruri are widely recognized as the important components of the biodiversity. These medicinal lants have been increasingly harvested and are used extensively as a vital ingredient for production of pharmaceuticals and herbal care products. The study by kumara et al 1998 as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 showed that most of the raw material required by industries are extensively and exclusively collected from the natural forests. Nowadays tongkat Ali is considered as one of the most popular medicinal plants and is gaining greater recognition in Malaysia. It is being over exploited due to its high popularity as a potential herbal medicine and high demand in market. Therefore it is being harvested and used extensively as a vital ingredient for medicinal herb products. The occurrence and distribution of tongkat Ali in Malaysia is scarce well documented and it is declining in the forests shading. Whitmore 1993 as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 mention that most of the tropical rain forest trees are living under their group or associated with them/ the idea of association is very important and implies that certain spesies are found growing together in certain location and environment more frequently than would be expected by chance and other groups of species will hgrow together in other environment (kent and coker 1997). The fact that certain species grow together in a particular environment is perhaps because they have silimar requirements for existence in terms of environmental factors such as light, temperature, water, drainage, soil and nutrients uptake. Growth of vegetation in forest ecosystem is influenced by physiological and environmental factors. A study by Ashton 1964,1965 in north borneo indicated that soil nutrient played a dominating role in influencing vegetation composition and distribution of tropical tree flora. Hall and swaine 1976 as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 observed rainfall distribution and soil types as the major factors influencing species diversity. Several studies conducted on tongkat Ali species focused mainlyon the medicinal value of its roots (chan et al 1995, kardono et al 1991, itokawa et al 1992 and morita et al 1990). An investigation made by mohd Azmi and Awang nor 2000 on 28 malaysian traditional medicine industries in northern semenanjung Malaysia showed that the requirement of tongkat Ali by vendors was about 54,189 kg per year and all forms of the raw materials came from the forest shading. Generally most of the raw materials required by the industries are collected from the natural forests. According to latif 1989 as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 said that over collection of tongkat Ali has been observed in lagkawi island and kedah. If this over exploitation are not control wellness may be the cause to the extince of tongkat Ali in future. So the manner in harvesting of tongkat Ali that growing wellness and healthy in forest shading of meranti merah are compulsory to pursuit in the sustainable usage of herbs in future. IUCN 1993 in the guidelines for the conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plants are taken from the wild, they are taken on sustainable basis. The guideline also addressed the cultivation activities that will protected and enhance genetic diversity of this species. 2.1.1 forest types and formation Reffered to Aiken and leigh 1992 as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 said that forest stand in Malaysia are far from being uniform related to physical factors and migrational history of malesian flora. There is a well defined altitudinal zoniation of vegetation migrational history of flora with respect to physical barriers isolation and the emergence of endemics variations in lithology soils topography and precipitation/ water availability and natural disturbances such as landslide cause by logging operation. According to kobahyashi et al 1996 as cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 said that vegetation association in forest ecosystem is influenced by soil and climatic factors and therefor any difference in soil properties will affect both the forest composition and its growth rate indefinitely (Binkley and fisher 2000) The significance of physical soil characteristics in influencing vegetative composition in tropical rain forest has been widely acknowleged. The physical properties of soils which include texture, structure, density,porosity, strength, temperature and hue colour are dominant factors that affect tree growth. These properties determine the availability of oxygen in the soils, the mobility of water flow thru soils and the ease of root penetration. Physical properties can be described by physical measurement such as strength, temperature and weight. Soil tecture controls water content, water intake rates , aeration, root penetration and some chemical properties. AS cited in zahari Ibrahim 2005 said that Shorea curtisii meranti seraya seedlings showed some degree of sensitivity to soils on slope while attainining to best growth on ridges. Taxanomy and botany Pg 39 Eurycoma longifolia jack, belongs to the genus eurocoma from family simaroubaceae order sapindales class magnoliapsida abd division magnoliaphyta. Tomg kat Ali is popular for the treatment of diseases and to enhance healthy life. Kingdom…plantae Sub kingdom…tracheobionta Division magnoliophyta . .sub class …rosidae . .eurycoma…genus