Abstract:
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and the second tropical largest island after Papua. Located in the center of the Southeast Asian archipelago, Borneo play a pivotal role in the evolution and dispersal of plants species in the region. Moreover, in Borneo has been documented an exceptional rate of plant speciation throughout many families. In the central part of the island run a mountain region with the highest pick, located in the norther west of the island. Mount Kinabalu with its over 4000 m asl, it the tallest mountain between the Himalaya region and the pick of Papua Island. Over 70% of the island is dominated by lowland and hilly landscape. Over the last century, and particularly in the last fifty years large part of the forest has been converted to agriculture, urban areas, mining and logging. In this presentation I present three major forest type of Borneo, Mix Dipterocarp Forest, Heath Forest and Peat swamp forest, with examples from Brunei Darussalam. In my research in fern ecology, results document the richness of lowland forest and how soil properties are the driving factors in the community composition, with indicator species that characterize the forest peculiarity. In a climate change scenario, it is pivotal to integrate the species distribution with their physiology in real condition. In my integration between fern physiology and conservation, results have documented that ferns species have a wide range of thermotolerance condition, however, a selection of them are already above the critical stress, which in a long term will compromise the population condition with the possibility for local extinction.
To summaries, in this seminar I will present the extraordinary diversity of Borneo Forest, and how the exceptional ferns species richness indicates the different forests. Furthermore, we will move into the fern physiology to see how variable is ferns thermotolerance, and how several species are already experienced a thermotolerance stress. These results are leading to gather further functional traits data to have a more comprehensive understanding of tropical plants in a physiological stressful condition.
Speaker: Dr. Daniele Cicuzza
Affiliation: University of Brunei Darussalam
Time: 4:30 PM, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025
Venue: Offline: The Conference Hall in Xishuangbanna Headquarter
Online: Tencent Meeting ID：778 507 482
