http://ourenvironment.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Luskin-Potts-2011-BAAE-Microclimate-and-habitat-heterogeneity-through-the-oil-palm-lifecycle.pdf

Microclimate and habitat heterogeneity through the oil palm lifecycle

1 Although the weaver ant Oecophylla is the first written record of biological control, dating from 304 ad, there have been fewer than 70 scientific publications on this predator as a biological control agent in Asia, from the early 1970s onwards, and fewer than 25 in Africa.

2 Apart from crop-specific ecological and perceptual factors, a historical review shows that political and market forces have also determined the extent to which Oecophylla was incorporated into research and development programmes.

3 In Africa, research on weaver ants in biological control concentrated on export crops, such as coconut and cocoa, whereas, in Asia and Australia, research focused on fruit and nut crops, primarily destined for domestic markets.

4 Increased evidence of pesticide inefficiency under tropical smallholder conditions, changing paradigm shifts in participatory research and a growing scientific interest in local knowledge in the early 1990s opened up new avenues for research on conservation biological control.

5 Lobbying and advocacy have been needed to ensure that Oecophylla was recognized as an effective biological control agent.

6 With an increased market demand for organic produce, holistic approaches such as conservation biological control, particularly the use of Oecophylla, are increasing in importance.

7 Multi-stakeholder strategies for collaborative learning are proposed for a better control of major fruit, nut and timber tree pests in Africa, Asia and Australia.

/pdf/a-historical-review-of-research-on-the-weaver-ant-oecophylla-1a6xsjk6iq.pdf

A historical review of research on the weaver ant Oecophylla in biological control

Eurycoma longifolia Jack (known as tongkat ali), a popular traditional herbal medicine, is a flowering plant of the family Simaroubaceae, native to Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and also Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. E. longifolia, is one of the well-known folk medicines for aphrodisiac effects as well as intermittent fever (malaria) in Asia. Decoctions of E. longifolia leaves are used for washing itches, while its fruits are used in curing dysentery. Its bark is mostly used as a vermifuge, while the taproots are used to treat high blood pressure, and the root bark is used for the treatment of diarrhea and fever. Mostly, the roots extract of E. longifolia are used as folk medicine for sexual dysfunction, aging, malaria, cancer, diabetes, anxiety, aches, constipation, exercise recovery, fever, increased energy, increased strength, leukemia, osteoporosis, stress, syphilis and glandular swelling. The roots are also used as an aphrodisiac, antibiotic, appetite stimulant and health supplement. The plant is reported to be rich in various classes of bioactive compounds such as quassinoids, canthin-6-one alkaloids, β-carboline alkaloids, triterpene tirucallane type, squalene derivatives and biphenyl neolignan, eurycolactone, laurycolactone, and eurycomalactone, and bioactive steroids. Among these phytoconstituents, quassinoids account for a major portion of the E. longifolia root phytochemicals. An acute toxicity study has found that the oral Lethal Dose 50 (LD50) of the alcoholic extract of E. longifolia in mice is between 1500–2000 mg/kg, while the oral LD50 of the aqueous extract form is more than 3000 mg/kg. Liver and renal function tests showed no adverse changes at normal daily dose and chronic use of E. longifolia. Based on established literature on health benefits of E. longifolia, it is important to focus attention on its more active constituents and the constituents’ identification, determination, further development and most importantly, the standardization. Besides the available data, more evidence is required regarding its therapeutic efficacy and safety, so it can be considered a rich herbal source of new drug candidates. It is very important to conserve this valuable medicinal plant for the health benefit of future generations.

https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/21/3/331/pdf

Review on a Traditional Herbal Medicine, Eurycoma longifolia Jack (Tongkat Ali): Its Traditional Uses, Chemistry, Evidence-Based Pharmacology and Toxicology.

Traditional knowledge, promoted to make conservation and development more relevant and socially acceptable, is shown to have an important role in identifying critical research needs in tropical ecology. Botanists, foresters, and phytochemists, among others, from many countries have sought for decades to understand the process of resin formation in the genus Aquilaria, a tropical forest tree of South and Southeast Asia. Not every tree develops the resin and, despite extensive scientific research, this process remains poorly understood. Attempts at cultivating the valuable aromatic resin, gaharu, have been uneven at best. Thus, gaharu remains largely a natural forest product, increasingly under threat as the trees are overexploited and forest is cleared. In this paper, we compare scientific knowledge and traditional knowledge of the Penan Benalui and other forest product collectors of Indonesian Borneo. Although limited management of wildlings failed to bring the resinproducing species under cultivation, we found that the Penan recognize the complex ecology of resin formation involving two, or maybe three, living organisms—the tree, one or more fungi, and possibly an insect intermediary. Developing a sustainable production system for this resource will require a clear understanding of how these various natural elements function, separately and synergistically. Traditional knowledge can help fill gaps in our information base and identify promising areas for future research. Both correspondence and gaps in knowledge support the call for a greater role for ethnobiological research and interdisciplinary cooperation, especially between ethnobiologists and foresters, in developing sustainable management systems for this traditional resource and its natural habitat.

Learning from Traditional Knowledge of Non-timber Forest Products: Penan Benalui and the Autecology of Aquilaria in Indonesian Borneo

Effective monitoring is necessary to conserve mangroves from further loss in Malaysia. In this context, remote sensing is capable of providing information on mangrove status and changes over a large spatial extent and in a continuous manner. In this study we used Landsat satellite images to analyze the changes over a period of 25 years of mangrove areas in Iskandar Malaysia (IM), the fastest growing national special economic region located in southern Johor, Malaysia. We tested the use of two widely used digital classification techniques to classify mangrove areas. The Maximum Likelihood Classification (MLC) technique provided significantly higher user, producer and overall accuracies and less “salt and pepper effects” compared to the Support Vector Machine (SVM) technique. The classified satellite images using the MLC technique showed that IM lost 6740 ha of mangrove areas from 1989 to 2014. Nevertheless, a gain of 710 ha of mangroves was observed in this region, resulting in a net loss of 6030 ha or 33%. The loss of about 241 ha per year of mangroves was associated with a steady increase in urban land use (1225 ha per year) from 1989 until 2014. Action is necessary to protect the existing mangrove cover from further loss. Gazetting of the remaining mangrove sites as protected areas or forest reserves and introducing tourism activities in mangrove areas can ensure the continued survival of mangroves in IM.

Satellite Images for Monitoring Mangrove Cover Changes in a Fast Growing Economic Region in Southern Peninsular Malaysia

A preliminary study on the prospects for biological control of the mahogany shoot borer, Hypsipyla robusta (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), by ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).

Tropical forestry research in the new millennium: meeting demands and challenges. Proceedings of The International Conference on Forestry and Forest Products Research (CFFPR 2001) held in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia on 1-3 October 2001.

Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), Kepong 52109 Selangor * Corresponding author: khali@frim.gov.my Abstract: Mangrove is one of the forest type found in Malaysia. The habitat of mangroves normally occurs along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, notably in the coasts of Perak, Selangor, Johor, and Kedah. This forest type plays an important role in protecting the coastlines from the wave actions and acts as a buffer for the surrounding communities as well as a source of income for the state. However, due to various human activities, the mangroves areas are rapidly depleting. Land development including for urban and settlement, establishment of shrimp farms, and expansion of agricultural lands have been identified as the main factors that contribute to the depletion of mangrove areas. In addition, natural phenomena such as tsunami, el-nino and la-nina and coastal erosion have also significantly deteriorating the prominence of mangroves in the region. This study is carried out to detect changes in terms of magnitude and extent that occurred on the mangrove areas along the coast of Selangor for the last two decades. Several sets of Landsat -TM, -ETM+ and SPOT -XS satellite images dated between February 1989 and March 2007 were utilised to identify distribution and areas of currently existing mangroves and changes that have undergone within that period. Digital post classification change detection technique has been applied to the images and analysis was performed in GIS platform. From the study, it was found that the mangrove in Selangor has decreased from 28,954.6ha in 1989 to 19,456.1ha in 2007, a reduction of about 9,498.5ha or 32.8% with the average loss of some 527.7ha per year. If this trend continues, the impacts will not only affect the mangrove itself but also to the environment and communities as a whole. Urban and settlement developments and establishment of shrimp ponds were identified respectively in Klang and Sabak Bernam areas as the major reason for the mangrove loss. Hence, necessary management actions should be undertaken to minimise the mangrove reduction area in the near future. Key words: Mangroves, remote sensing, GIS, Selangor

Digital change detection of mangrove forest in selangor using remote sensing and geographic information system (gis)

Tropical forestry research in the new millennium: meeting demands and challenges.

The use of remote sensing imagery, to some extends geographic information system (GIS), have been identified as the most recent and effective technologies to assess forest biomass. Depending on the approaches and methods employed, estimating biomass by using these technologies sometimes can lead to uncertainties. The study was conducted to investigate appropriate methods for estimating aboveground biomass (AGB) by using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. A total of 60187 ha in Dungun Timber Complex (DTC) were selected as the study area. Thirty seven sample plots, measuring 30×30 m were established in early 2012 covering both natural and logged forests. Phase Array Type L-Band SAR (Palsar) images that were acquired in 2010 were used as primary remote sensing input and shapefile polygons comprised logging records was used as supporting information. By using these data, two estimation methods, which were ‘stratify and multiply’ (SM) and ‘direct remote sensing’ (DR) have been adopted and the results were compared. The estimated total AGB were about 20.1 and 22.3 million Mg, from SM and DR methods, respectively. The study found that the images that incorporated texture measures produced more accurate estimates as compared to the images without texture measures. The study suggests that SM method still a viable and reliable technique for quick assessment of AGB in a large area. The DR method is also relevant provided that an appropriate type and processing techniques of SAR data are utilized.

Khali Aziz Hamzah

Papers

A preliminary study on the prospects for biological control of the mahogany shoot borer, Hypsipyla robusta (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), by ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).

Tropical forestry research in the new millennium: meeting demands and challenges. Proceedings of The International Conference on Forestry and Forest Products Research (CFFPR 2001) held in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia on 1-3 October 2001.

Digital change detection of mangrove forest in selangor using remote sensing and geographic information system (gis)

Tropical forestry research in the new millennium: meeting demands and challenges.

Estimating biomass in logged tropical forest using L-BandSAR (PALSAR) data and GIS