Assessment of rattan abundance and species composition at Kuala Keniam, Taman Negara Pahang

Rattan is one of the most important non-timber forest products after timber that has been used in many applications. Rattan is belonging to the family Arecaceae or Palmae and subfamily Calamoideae. While Malaysia is known to have abundant resources of rattan, there is no comprehensive publication available on the distribution patterns, species abundance and species composition of rattan, especially in the protected forest areas of the country. Information such as these is useful to complement the conservation efforts, while enhancing knowledge on its diversity in the natural habitats. The objectives of this study are to determine the species distribution, abundance and diversity of rattan in the natural population of Kuala Keniam forests in Taman Negara Pahang. The species abundance, composition and distribution of rattan were determined in three established 100m × 20m transects. All rattans were tagged and the variables such as the diameter, stem length, number of culms and habit of rattan were recorded. A total of 69 rattan plants were found in the three transects studied. Three species with highest species richness are Calamus lumidus (Rotan kerai), Calamus caecius (Rotan sega) and Daemonorops didymorphylla (Rotan jernang). In Kuala Keniam forest, rattans are found to be highly distributed at the diameter class of 10mm –15mm. In terms its abundance, it was estimated that there are 115 number of rattan clumps per ha and 520 number of rattan culms per ha are available in this area. Information from this study provides baseline information on the distribution, population structure and density and perhaps an informed basis for in situ conservation and management of this resource.