Seonaid Ferguson

Environmental Systems and Societies

20th October 2009

How humans are impacting Tropical Rainforests on Tioman Island,

Malaysia
A comparison between Primary and Secondary rainforests to compare
plant diversity and soils.
Data Collection and Processing:
Primary Rainforest
Human impact assessment: 1; minimal human damage/90% of habitat
intact

Figure 1; Primary Forest

Qualitative notes: There is a large amount of leaf litter on the forest floor.
There are some red ribbons on some of the larger trees marking the way
of the path, and impacted the rainforest. The trees are quite large and
very tall and there is a large canopy. There are a few well developed
strangler figs. The leaves on each of the trees are very large in order to
get the most amount of sunlight. The terrain is much different as there are
more hills, and there is more fauna here, with a lot more butterflies.

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Seonaid Ferguson

20th October 2009

Environmental Systems and Societies

Data to be used for the Simpsons Diversity Index:

Species
Species
Species
Species
Species
Species
Species
Species
Species
Total:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Quadrat 1
1
1
1
7
3
1
2
0
0
16

Quadrat 2
2
4
5
1
3
2
1
0
0
18

Quadrat 3
2
4
24
11
2
1
2
1
1
48

Simpsons Diversity Index =

Quadrat 4
2
5
20
18
1
3
1
1
1
52

N ( N 1)
n(n1)

SDI of All quadrats in Primary Rainforest=

(134)(133)
7 ( 6 )+ 3 ( 2 )+2 ( 1 ) +5 ( 4 ) +5 ( 4 )+3 ( 2 ) +2 ( 1 ) +2 ( 1 ) + 4 ( 3 ) +24 ( 23 )+11 ( 10 )+2 ( 1 ) +2 ( 1 )+2 ( 1 ) +5 ( 4 ) +20 (19 )+ 18 ( 17 )+
17822
= 42+6+2+20+6 +2+2+12+552+ 110+2+2+2+20+380+ 306+6

19822
1472

=13.46

Calculating Tree height:

Using the formula, we can calculate the height of the trees in the primary
rain forest:
Tree height= [tan (a)*b] + [tan(c)*b]
o

A
Co
B/m
Tree
height/
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Tree 1
69
-2
10
26.4

Tree 2
65
-13
10
23.75

Tree 3
75
4
10
38

Tree 4
89
30
3.27
189.23

Tree 5
80
27
3.54
21.88

Tree 6
86
15
3.66
53.32

Seonaid Ferguson

Environmental Systems and Societies

20th October 2009

Diameter at breast height:

DBH=

Circumference

Circumference/m
6.45
2.45
1.89
1.23
1.80
1.85

Diameter at breast height/m

2.05
0.77
0.69
0.39
0.57
0.58

Comparison of Seedlings and Saplings.

Number of seedlings
78

Number of saplings
7

Light Readings taken inside in the quadrats:

Average light reading=

Light reading
Light reading
Light reading
Light reading
Light reading
Light reading
Light reading
Light reading
Average light

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1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
reading

the of all thelight readings

number of light readings taken
Light readings/lux
252.9
140.4
487
131
97
163
49
147
183.41

Seonaid Ferguson

Environmental Systems and Societies

20th October 2009

Secondary Rainforest:
Human impact assessment: 4; 70% human impact/30% of habitat intact.

Figure 2; secondary forest quadrat

Qualitative notes:
There is a thin canopy layer in the rainforest; the trees used there are
mostly small and thin. There are pipes running through the forest, and
there was water running through these pipes which provided water to the
plants. Light levels are much larger here, and there is light on the floor.
There are a lot of ginger plants in the secondary rainforest which is being
grown by the local people. There are a lot of butterflies and ants in this
area.
Simpsons Diversity Index with 5m2 quadrats:
Quadrat 1
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Quadrat 2

Quadrat 3

Quadrat 4

Seonaid Ferguson
Species
Species
Species
Species
Species
Species
Species
Species
Species
Total:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

20th October 2009

Environmental Systems and Societies

12
3
2
3
99
2
0
0
0
121

190
3
8
1
2
1
1
1
1
208

103
1
4
3
22
2
0
0
0
135

Simpsons diversity index=

148
1
3
2
16
2
0
0
0
172

N ( N 1)
n(n1)

The Simpson Diversity Index of secondary rainforest=

636 (635)
12 ( 11 ) +3 ( 2 ) +2 ( 1 )+3 ( 2 ) +99 ( 98 )+ 2 ( 1 ) +190 ( 189 ) +3 ( 2 )+ 8 ( 7 ) +2 (1 ) +103 ( 102 ) +4 ( 3 )+ 3 ( 2 )+ 22 ( 21 ) +2 ( 1 )+148

403860
78818
=5.12

Calculating Tree height:

Using the formula, we can calculate the height of the trees in the primary
rain forest:
Tree height= [tan (a)*b] + [tan(c)*b]
Tree 1
47
-13
10
13.03m

A/o
C/o
B/m
Tree
height/
m

Tree 2
65
-4
10
22.14m

Tree 3
44
-11
10
11.6m

Tree 4
75
20
5.28
21.63

Tree 5
70
15
7.1
21.4

Tree 6
63
3
5.44
10.96

Diameter at breast height:

DBH=

Circumference

Circumference/m
0.62
1.1625
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Diameter at breast height/m

0.19
0.37

Seonaid Ferguson

Environmental Systems and Societies

0.58
3.45
1.17
1.00

20th October 2009

0.18
1.09
0.37
0.32

Comparison of Seedlings and Saplings.

Number of seedlings
9

Number of saplings
12

Light Readings taken from inside the quadrats:

Average light reading=

Light reading
Light reading
Light reading
Light reading
Light reading
Light reading
Light reading
Light reading
Average light

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1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
reading

the of all thelight readings

number of light readings taken
Light readings/lux
534
1135
176
345
1106
272
575
614
594.625

Seonaid Ferguson

Environmental Systems and Societies

20th October 2009

Simpson's Diversity Index comparison of Primary and Secondary Rainforest

14
12
10
8
6
4 Diversity Index
Simpsons
Simpson's Diversity Index
2
0
13.46

5.12

Rainforest Type

Comparision of Tree heights of Primary and Secondary Rainforest

189.23

200
180
160
140
120
Height of trees/cm

Primary

100

Secondary

80
53.32

60

38

40 26.4 23.75
20

21.88
11.6

10.96

0
13.03
1 22.14
2
3

21.63
4 21.4
5
6

Tree number

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Seonaid Ferguson

Environmental Systems and Societies

20th October 2009

Comparision of DBH in primary and secondary rainforest

250
205
200

DBH of secondary
rainforest

150
109

DBH/cm
100

77

57
39 37

19
0

69

37

50

DBH of primary rainforest

58
32

18

Tree number

Comparision of seedlings and saplings in Primary and Secondary Rainforest

80
70
60
50

Saplings

Number of Seedlings and Saplings 40

seedlings

30
20
10
0
Primary7Rainforest
78
12 9
Forest Type

8 | Page

Seonaid Ferguson

Environmental Systems and Societies

20th October 2009

Comparision of average light readings in the primary and secondary rainforest

600
500
400
Average light reading/lux

Average light reading/lux 300

200
100
0
Primary183.41
Rainforest
594.63
Forest type

Discussion, Conclusion and Evaluation

Firstly, I think we should define what exactly primary and secondary
rainforest is. Secondary rainforest is the rainforest which has
experienced disturbance by logging, clearing for plantations of the
collapse of primary rainforest trees. In the case of Tioman Island, it was
cleared a lot for plantations. The primary rainforest is the rainforest has
reached its climax community and had not experienced disturbances.
In most cases, the primary rainforest has most diversity, larger trees,
less sunlight and more mature trees than that of the secondary
rainforest which has a smaller biodiversity, smaller trees, more sunlight
due to a smaller canopy layer and younger, less mature trees.
My results show that there are large differences between the types of
forests in all tests conducted. By looking at the graph showing the
Simpsons diversity index (SDI), we can see that the SDI of the primary
rainforest is much larger at 11.34 compared to the secondary rainforest
whereas the SDI of the secondary rainforest was 5.12. The larger the
SDI, the more diversity of the area, so from my data, we can see that
primary rainforest is much more diverse. Henceforth, we can deduce
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Seonaid Ferguson

Environmental Systems and Societies

20th October 2009

that reforestation has a large effect on the diversity of the rainforest as

the secondary forest which was cleared in Tioman for rubber
plantations, had a smaller diversity than that of the primary rainforest
remaining.
We then looked at the tree heights of the trees, and the tree heights
shown in the graph show the differences in height. From the graph, we
can see that generally, the trees in primary rainforest are much larger
than in the secondary forest, as these trees in the primary rainforest
are part of the climax community and henceforth are much larger.
There is an anomaly on tree five in which the tree heights between
secondary and primary are of very similar sizes, which could be
because the light doesnt reach the primary forest and hence the speed
that trees grow at is slower than the secondary rainforest.
When we compared the diameter at breast height (DBH), we can see
that generally the diameter at breast height was much larger in the
primary rainforest than in the secondary rainforest.
When comparing seedlings and saplings, we should obviously define
what exactly each one is. A seedling is a young tree which is less than
1m high, whereas a sapling is a strong young tree which is taller than
1m, and smaller than 6m. The primary rainforest has fewer saplings
than in the secondary rainforest. The secondary rainforest has more
saplings as there is light coming through so there are more young trees
to grow quicker. In the primary rainforest, there are more seedlings
than in the secondary rainforest. There are a lot of seeds being
dropped in the forest floor but due to the lack of light on the forest
floor, they hardly ever grow that tall.
By comparing the average light sample between the two different
forest types, we can see that the light in the secondary rainforest is
much higher at 594.625 lux on average than in the primary forest
where its only 183.41 lux on average. This is because the canopy layer
on the secondary rainforest is much smaller than in the primary
rainforest and the light can still manage to get through to the forest
floor. But in the primary rainforest has a much smaller average light
reading because the canopy layer in the primary rainforest is very large
and not much light can get to the forest floor where the light readings
were taken.
I think that some of the weaknesss in the group were that there
werent enough repeats, as ideally there should be at least 5-10
repeats for each experiment, especially for the Simpsons diversity
index and for the comparison of tree heights and DBH. By repeating the
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Seonaid Ferguson

Environmental Systems and Societies

20th October 2009

experiments, there would be fewer inaccuracies and hence why you

could calculate more averages for each of the experiments for example
the Simpsons diversity index.
Additionally half of the quadrats were conducted by one group, and the
other two quadrats were conducted by the other. This could be a large
inaccuracy because there could be different methods conducted by
each group. Additionally for the Simpsons Diversity Index, the
identification of each species were different as not the same species
were in the same quadrats, even though it probably didnt affect the
results as the names werent required, only species numbers, it
wouldve been more accurate to have the same names on the tables. If
we had one group doing the whole identification process with keys
labelling each tree, then each species would be identified and named.
By having more replications we could get more accurate results as
ideally, they should be repeated 5-10 times but we only have 4
repeats. By repeating more times, there would be a better average for
all the experiments.
The quadrats used couldve been more precise as they were made out
of plastic string and sticks, if there was a more accurate quadrat, it
wouldve been better for the accuracy of the results
Additionally, we could do other experiments such as the Maturity Index
which would tell us how mature the total primary rainforest is and then
we would be able to compare it to the secondary rainforest, and I
would expect the primary rainforest would have a higher maturity
index. Also, we could do the leaf litter survey which we would measure
the amount of leaf litter in each forest. By performing more tests, we
could get a more accurate comparison between the two types of
rainforests.
Overall, we can see that the human impact on Tioman Island is very
large. Where humans have interfered with the ecosystem, the diversity
is much lower than that of no interference. The trees are much smaller
than what they are in the undisturbed area, and there is a lot more
light in the secondary forest than in the primary rainforest.

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