The Pasoh Forest Reserve, a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

located about 8 km from

Simpang Pertang Simpang Pertang ( Jawi: سيمڤڠ ڤرتڠ; zh, 葫芦顶) is a small town in Jelebu District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. It is a few kilometres away from the town of Pertang, which the intersection is named after. It is most well known as t ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and around 70 km southeast of

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

. It has a total area of 2,450 hectares, with a core area of 600 ha surrounded by a buffer zone.

Palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...

plantations surround the reserve on three sides while the other side adjoins a selectively logged

dipterocarp Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = fru ...

forest. An average of 2 metres of rain fall each year, ranging from 1,728 to 3,112 mm. In 1987, a 50 hectare

forest dynamics Forest dynamics describes the underlying physical and biological forces that shape and change a forest ecosystem. The continuous state of change in forests can be summarized with two basic elements: disturbance and succession. Disturbance Fore ...

plot was established in the reserve, which began as a collaboration between the

Forest Research Institute Malaysia The Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM; Malay: ''Institut Penyelidikan Perhutanan Malaysia'') is a statutory agency of the Government of Malaysia, under the Ministry of Land, Water and Natural Resources (KATS). FRIM promotes sustainab ...

, the Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO; previously

Center for Tropical Forest Science The Center for Tropical Forest Science, or CTFS, was a consortium of forest researchers who pursued long-term research on tree populations using comparable census method. The work developed out of a study of 50 hectares of forest on Barro Colorado I ...

), and the

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI, es, Instituto Smithsonian de Investigaciones Tropicales) is located in Panama and is the only bureau of the Smithsonian Institution based outside of the United States. It is dedicated to understa ...

. Three censuses of the tree population in the plot have been carried out, the first in 1989, and have counted about 340,000 trees belonging to 800 species in that plot. The reserve has largely been destroyed by loggers and miners.

References

Further reading