NPP Tropical Forest: Gunung Mulu, Malaysia, 1977-1978

Data Citation

Cite this data set as follows:

Proctor, J. 1999. NPP Tropical Forest: Gunung Mulu, Malaysia, 1977-1978. Data set. Available on-line [http://www.daac.ornl.gov] from Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, U.S.A.

Description

Biomass, litterfall, and nutrient content of different vegetation components and soil were measured for four lowland rain forest types on contrasting soils at Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia. Studies were carried out by the joint Sarawak Forest Department/ U.K. Royal Geographical Society expedition of 1977-78. Net primary production (NPP) was not determined, although estimates of litter fall give a minimum estimate of above-ground production.

The Gunung Mulu study sites, each about 1.0 hectare, were centred on approx. 4.08 N 114.85 E, spread along a 20-km line, from the Alluvial Forest sub-site to the southwest, then Dipterocarp Forest, Limestone Forest and finally Heath Forest to the northeast. Soils range from peaty-podsolic, through red-yellow podsolic, to a shallow black organic soil (overlaying limestone) and a humus podzol. Climate is dominated by the Indo-Australian monsoon system, with the wet northeast monsoon from December to March and the slightly drier southwest monsoon from May to October.

Gunung Mulu National Park covers 544 km2, ranging in elevation from 50 m to 2376 ma . It is situated close to the southern border of Brunei with Malaysia, about 100 km east-southeast of the town of Miri and 100 km due south of Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. Further details on the proposed Gunung Mulu World Heritage Site may be found on the Web pages maintained by UNESCO and the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Center.

Detailed data are available on biomass, different components of litter and litter-fall for all four sub-sites. Annual litter-fall was relatively high at all sub-sites, ranging from 880 g/m2 to 1200 g/m2.

Climate data are available for Miri (4.33 N 113.98 E), and precipitation for Marudi (4.20 N 114.30 E), about 50-60 km from the study site.

Contact Information

Contact: Prof. John Proctor
Department of Biological and Molecular Sciences
University of Stirling
Stirling FK9 4LA
U.K.

Tel. +44 (1786) 467805/ 467755
Fax: +44 (1786) 464994
E-mail: john.proctor@stir.ac.uk

Click on the following linked phrase to view references and summaries for the Gunung Mulu sites.