The Role and Function of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Permanent Forest Reserve in Research and Education

The UKM Permanent Forest Reserve is an area within the main campus of UKM in Bangi, developed in an area formerly known as Bangi Forest Reserve (BFR). This 138 ha (340 acres) of recovering logged-over forest, inclusive of some 81 ha of ecological research area was formally gazetted in 1993 as UKM Permanent Forest Reserve to safeguard and prevent further development of this green area. This was further reiterated in the UKM Sustainable Forest Policy which was introduced in 1997. The BFR was part of what was used to be known as Langat Basin Forest area which is now very much fragmented into various pieces of small left-overs. The close vicinity of the forest to the campus has been one of the main reasons for the extensive utilisation of the area for student research projects. Since the early days of its development, the planners of UKM have envisaged holistic concept of having the campus to resemble a botanic garden as a whole to serve as living laboratories for the use of UKM students in education and research. As a result, UKM has set an example and currently hold one of the best germplasm collections of ornamental plants, especially palms and ferns collections in Malaysia. The UKM Permanent Forest Reserve is an important carbon sink green area in the Langat Basin as well as a biological laboratory and open classroom for UKM students

Accelerated Rates of Floral Evolution at the Upper Size Limit for Flowers

SummaryEvolutionary theory explains phenotypic change as the result of natural selection, with constraint limiting the direction, magnitude, and rate of response [1]. Constraint is particularly likely to govern evolutionary change when a trait is at perceived upper or lower limits. Macroevolutionary rates of floral-size change are unknown for any angiosperm family, but it is predicted that rates should be diminished near the upper size limit of flowers, as has been shown for mammal body mass [2]. Our molecular results show that rates of floral-size evolution have been extremely rapid in the endoholoparasite Rafflesia, which contains the world's largest flowers [3]. These data provide the first estimates of macroevolutionary rates of floral-size change and indicate that in this lineage, floral diameter increased by an average of 20 cm (and up to 90 cm)/million years. In contrast to our expectations, it appears that the magnitude and rate of floral-size increase is greater for lineages with larger flowered ancestors. This study suggests that constraints on rates of floral-size evolution may not be limiting in Rafflesia, reinforcing results of artificial- and natural-selection studies in other plants that demonstrated the potential for rapid size changes [4–6]

A new species of Rafflesia and notes on other species from Trus Madi Range, Sabah (Borneo)

A new species of Rafflesia, R. tengku-adlinii Mat Salleh & Latiff, is described herein, with illustration and remarks on its distribution. In addition, R. keithii Meijer is reported from another locality in the Trus Madi Range, Sabah, and its distribution is also discussed

The Note on Morphology of Rafflesia hasseltii Surigar from Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park, Riau

The detail observation had been done on the morphological characters of Rafflesia hasseltii from Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park (BTNP). Currently, this endangered and rare flower found in two populations in this park, Aek Telap and Mandi Urau, Tanah Datar. The preliminary study on morphological characters of flowers from this site shows blotches and dot pattern variability. The detail observation of morphology of R. hasseltii from BTNP, presented the similarity to its type except the blotches pattern in perigone lobe. However, the further monitoring research is still needed to observe more flowers in this site. Due to its rarity, study on all Rafflesia species must be carefully done especially in using the characters of blotch for taxonomy evidence, as this characters show the variability among the flowers within population

The chemical constituents of the stem bark and roots of goniothalamus tomentosus (Annonaceae)

A new species from the Goniothalamus genus, G. tomentosus, was investigated. Two alkaloids, aristololactam BII 1 and ouregidione 2 together with a stigmasterol isolated from the stem bark and roots were identified using spectroscopic techniques

Alkaloid and Phenolic Compounds of Rafflesia hasseltii Suringar and its host Tetrastigma leucostaphylum (Dennst.) Alston ex Mabb. in Bukit Tigapuluh National Park, Riau: A Preliminary Study

Two alkaloid compounds (nicotine and caffeine) together with three phenolic compounds (catechin, proanthocyanidin and phenolic acid) were firstly detected in Rafflesia hasseltii and its host, Tetrastigma leucostaphylum in Bukit Tigapuluh National Park, Riau. The content of all compounds is higher in R. hasseltii than its host

Effect of salinity, temperature, light intensity and photoperiod on reproduction, larval development and life cycle of cyclopoid copepod, Oithona simplex (Farran, 1913)

Background and Objective: Copepods are being used widely as live feed in aquaculture industry particularly for larval rearing of fish and crustacean. Several marine copepods have been cultured successfully before but the numbers of species documented is still limited. Cyclopoid copepod, Oithona simplex is readily available in the Malaysian coastal waters and their high abundance is observed in the coastal waters of Port Dickson, Malaysia. It is targeted as a potential live food for larval rearing of marine fish species. The present study was conducted to determine the effect of environmental parameters viz. salinity, temperature, light intensity and photoperiod on the reproductive cycle of cyclopoid copepod, Oithona simplex under laboratory condition. Materials and Methods: Four different salinity levels (20, 25, 30 and 35 ppt), three different temperatures set up (25, 30 and 35°C), three light intensities expose (5, 20, 35 μmol m–2 sec–1) and three different photoperiod phases (12 h light (L):12 h dark (D), 1 h (L):23 h (D), 24 h (L):0 h (D) were adopted during this experiment. Results were subjected to one-way ANOVA. Results: The results showed that the optimum salinity was recorded at 30 ppt for the highest production of off springs. Similar highest production was found at 35°C temperature setup. The optimum light intensity expose was under 5 μmol m–2 sec–1 and this was reflected by the increase in reproductive activity and decreased in development period. Subsequently, 12 h light:12 h dark treatment resulted in the highest reproduction process. Conclusion: It could be recommended that optimal environmental condition which comprised of 30 ppt salinity, 35°C temperature, 5 μmol m–2 sec–1 light intensity and alternate 12 h light and dark photoperiod is required for culturing of O. simplex in captivity. This is the first attempt to breed and mass production in controlled environment. The information gathered from the experiment could be helpful to produce a mass culture of O. simplex indoor for the purpose of live food supply in the hatchery

Embroidered dual band textile antenna for ISM band application on bending performance

This research proposes a development of embroidered dual band textile antenna that could integrate wearable telecommunication device with a garment. The proposed antenna could operate at 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz of WLAN applications. Two versions of the presented antennas are developed from the conventional rectangular patch. Two types of slot structures are loaded on each antenna and the antenna performances are investigated. The research uses silver patted nylon and cotton wearable as conductive and nonconductive materials. Both antennas have successfully achieved reflection coefficient of less than -10dB at the targeted bands. Besides that, the antennas have directional pattern with a gain of more than 2.5dBi. Moreover, antenna performances on bending conditions of 20°, 30°, 40°, 50°, 60°, 70° and 80° have been carried out in simulation in terms of the reflection coefficient. The proposed antenna could be potential for closed point to point communication such as wireless power transfer for pacemaker application