New Tree Species Discovered In Pasoh Forest Reserve - FRIM

KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 (Bernama) -- A new tree species, 'Timonious pasohensis' was discovered at the Pasoh Forest Reserve, Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan.

Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) Director-General Datuk Dr Ismail Parlan said the rare species was collected during the first re-census of the Pasoh 50-hectare (ha) plot in 1985 and was recently published as a new species in 2024.   

"The establishment of permanent ecological plots allow researchers to study the demographics and dynamics of forests over a long period of time.The Pasoh 50 ha long-term demographic plot is the second oldest large dynamic plot among the other 78 plots around the world.

"All trees with a diameter at breast height (dbh) 1 cm and above (in the plot) are measured, mapped, tagged, and identified. The tree census is carried out once every five years," he said in his opening speech at the Pasoh Seminar 2025, themed 'Pasoh: Nature’s Lab of Discovery' here today.

He said the research at Pasoh Forest Reserve had started since 1964, and in 1970, the FRIM Pasoh Research Station (SPF Pasoh) was established to study forest ecology in tropical lowland forests.

  According to him, an area of 1,840 ha of Pasoh Forest Reserve was gazetted as a research forest by the Forestry Department of Negeri Sembilan in 1977.

"I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to the Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia through the State Forestry Department, Negeri Sembilan for continuously supporting the research activities in the state," he said.

He said the number of research activities conducted at Pasoh has increased as FRIM collaborates with research institutions locally and abroad, such as the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM), Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO), The National Institute for Environmental Studies, Hiroshima University, Kyoto University as well as Forestry and Forest Product Research Institute of Japan.

 "As a result of the collaboration, several long-term study plots have been established and the research focus has expanded from ecology to other aspects such as hydrology, climate, and zoology," he said.

Ismail said other than tree ecology, fauna monitoring studies were also conducted in Pasoh through the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) research project which is one of the 16 plot networks globally involved in this research and 60 camera traps were installed to capture images of fauna found in this forest.

"Since 2011, various species of fauna have been captured, including species categorised as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN)," he said.

 Apart from that, the Carbon Initiative Research Project is carried out to determine the amount of carbon in the forest as well as its mechanisms that lead to time and space variation in the change of carbon pool in the Pasoh forest.

Another long-term study conducted continuously at SPF Pasoh is the Seed and Seedling Monitoring Project led by researchers from National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan since 2001 which is a joint venture between FRIM, CTFS-ForestGEO and STRI.  

He noted that a new project under ForestGEO in Pasoh is “Integrating physiological and demographic data to improve predictions of tropical forest dynamics in an Earth System Model” (NGEE Tropics) that studies the effects of environmental changes on plant physiology.

"Ecological studies are gaining increasing importance due to the escalating environmental challenges facing humanity, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource management.

"With this, a 52 metre high aluminium tower was built at SPF Pasoh to install research equipment used to record various types of data such as temperature, wind, rain and sunlight radiation. These data were used to study the effect of climate change on the forest environment," he said.

 Ismail said since its establishment, publications from the research in Pasoh have exceeded 411, which include journals, books, proceedings, and other technical and semi-technical papers while the total Impact Factors accumulated from Journal Articles exceeded 675,734 points, with four publications recording Impact Factors higher than 35 points.

 In line with the increase of research activities at Pasoh, the infrastructure and facilities at the Pasoh station have also been improved with a new building under construction at the station designed to support various research and workspace activities, including offices, meeting rooms, laboratories, and a mini herbarium.

 Meanwhile, FRIM Forestry and Environment Division Director Dr Mohd Zaki Abdullah in his welcoming speech said the seminar was to highlight the wide range of research conducted at the Pasoh Forest Reserve.

He said 108 participants have registered for the event, representing 12 different agencies, both local and international.

  -- BERNAMA