Tenompok Forest Reserve is a protected forest reserve in

Ranau District The Ranau District ( ms, Daerah Ranau) is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the West Coast Division which includes the districts of Kota Belud, Kota Kinabalu, Papar, Penampang, Putatan, Ranau and Tuaran. The c ...

West Coast Division West Coast Division ( ms, Bahagian Pantai Barat) is an administrative division of Sabah, Malaysia. It occupies the northwest portion of Sabah. With an area of 7,588 square kilometres, it occupies 10.3% of Sabah's territory. It also has approxim ...

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

, Malaysia. It was designated as a Class 1 Forest Reserve by the Sabah Forestry Department in 1984. Its area is . A former reserve, the Kampung Bundu Tuhan Native Residence Reserve, occupied what is now the eastern portion of Tenompok. The reserve is mountainous, reaching above sea level. Vegetation consists of lower montane forest and montane

kerangas The Sundaland heath forest, also known as ''Kerangas'' forest, is a type of tropical moist forest found on the island of Borneo, which is divided between Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia, as well as on the Indonesian islands of Belitung and Bangk ...

forest. Both share a similar

species composition Species richness is the number of different species represented in an community (ecology), ecological community, landscape or region. Species richness is simply a count of species, and it does not take into account the Abundance (ecology), abunda ...

, although trees in montane keranga forests are smaller. The reserve's Tomis River is a tributary of the

Tuaran River The Tuaran River ( ms, Sungai Tuaran) is a river in West Coast Division, northwestern Sabah of Malaysia. It has a total length of from its headwaters in the mountains of northwest Sabah to its outlet at the South China Sea, northwest of Tuaran ...

. The area of the reserve has never received significant logging, aside from small amount near what are now its borders. This small logging is thought to be carried out by nearby villages for local use. There is also some agricultural encroachment. The reserve lies between

Kinabalu Park Kinabalu Park ( ms, Taman Kinabalu), established as one of the first national parks of Malaysia in 1964, is Malaysia's first World Heritage Site designated by UNESCO in December 2000 for its "outstanding universal values" and the role as one of ...

and

Crocker Range National Park Crocker Range National Park ( ms, Taman Negara Banjaran Crocker) was established in 1984, although the area had previously been under protection as a forest reserve. It covers the north-south Crocker Range, of 1200-1800 metre mountains in Sabah, ...

. One farmer has a house within the reserve. There are several settlements around the reserve, along with agricultural land.

Flora

Most of the reserve consists of lower montane

old-growth forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

, of which the most dominant tree family is

Fagaceae The Fagaceae are a family of flowering plants that includes beeches, chestnuts and oaks, and comprises eight genera with about 927 species. Fagaceae in temperate regions are mostly deciduous, whereas in the tropics, many species occur as evergre ...

. 70% of the reserve's forests are considered in good condition due to having an intact canopy. There is some

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

near the edges. Tenompok Forest Reserve is an important area for tree species such as ''

Syzygium ''Syzygium'' () is a genus of flowering plants that belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The genus comprises about 1200 species, and has a native range that extends from Africa and Madagascar through southern Asia east through the Pacific. I ...

'' species including '' Syzygium clavatum'', ''

Xanthophyllum ''Xanthophyllum'' is a genus of about 109 species of trees and shrubs, of the plant family Polygalaceae; (under the Cronquist system it was previously placed in the monotypic family Xanthophyllaceae). The generic name is from the Greek meaning ...

'' species including '' Xanthophyllum affine'', ''

Lithocarpus ''Lithocarpus'' is a genus in the beech family, Fagaceae. Trees in this genus are commonly known as the stone oaks and differ from ''Quercus'' primarily because they produce insect-pollinated flowers on erect spikes and the female flowers have ...

'' species including ''

Lithocarpus havilandii ''Lithocarpus havilandii'' is a tree in the beech family Fagaceae. It is named for the British surgeon and naturalist George Darby Haviland. Description ''Lithocarpus havilandii'' grows as a tree up to tall with a trunk diameter of up to . The ...

'', ''

Canarium ''Canarium'' is a genus of about 100 species of tropical and subtropical trees, in the family Burseraceae. They grow naturally across tropical Africa, south and southeast Asia, Indochina, Malesia, Australia and western Pacific Islands; inclu ...

'' species, ''

Litsea ''Litsea'' is a genus of evergreen or deciduous trees or shrubs belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The genus includes a large number of accepted species in tropical and subtropical areas of North America and Asia. Characteristics They a ...

'' species, ''

Palaquium gutta ''Palaquium gutta'' is a tree in the family Sapotaceae. The specific epithet ' is from the Malay word ''getah'' meaning "sap or latex". It is known in Indonesia as ''karet oblong''. Description ''Palaquium gutta'' grows up to tall. The bark is ...

'', ''

Adinandra clemensiae ''Adinandra'' is a genus of plant in the family Pentaphylacaceae. It contains the following species: # '' Adinandra acuminata'' Korth. # '' Adinandra acuta'' Korth. # '' Adinandra angulata'' Ridl. # '' Adinandra angustifolia'' (S.H.Chun ex H.G.Y ...

'', ''

Lophopetalum beccarianum ''Lophopetalum'' is a genus of plants in the family Celastraceae. Species include: * ''Lophopetalum arnhemicum'' Byrnes * ''Lophopetalum beccarianum'' Pierre * '' Lophopetalum duperreanum'' Pierre * ''Lophopetalum floribundum'' Wight * ''Lophop ...

'', ''

Timonius flavescens ''Timonius'' is a genus of plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is the second most specious genus in the family in Papua New Guinea, containing about 80 species known to science,Bryan, J.E., Shearman, P.L. (Eds.). 2015. The State of the Forests of ...

'', ''

Garcinia parvifolia ''Garcinia parvifolia'', the Kundong, Brunei cherry or Asam aur aur, is a tropical evergreen tree native to Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia, Sulawesi and Sumatra. The tree is found at elevations of in humid environments, and grows to a height of . ...

'', ''

Schima wallichii ''Schima wallichii'' is an evergreen tree belonging to the tea family Theaceae Theaceae (), the tea family, is a family of flowering plants comprising shrubs and trees, including the economically important tea plant, and the ornamental camel ...

'', ''

Planchonella malaccensis ''Planchonella malaccensis'' is a tree in the family Sapotaceae. It is named after Malacca in Peninsular Malaysia. Description ''Planchonella malaccensis'' grows up to tall with a trunk diameter of up to . The flowers are greenish-white and fra ...

'', and ''

Artocarpus dadah ''Artocarpus dadah'' is a tree species in the genus ''Artocarpus'' found in Myanmar to W. Malesia including Sumatra. It is of pacific origin and is a species of the Mulberry family, Moraceae. Chemical composition The chemical compounds oxyresve ...

''. The tree species ''

Chionanthus kinabaluensis ''Chionanthus kinabaluensis'' is a tree in the family Oleaceae. Description ''Chionanthus kinabaluensis'' grows up to tall. It has green fruit, measuring up to long. Distribution and habitat ''Chionanthus kinabaluensis'' is endemic to Borneo ...

'' was assessed as Vulnerable by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

in 2020 due to its only being found in Tenompok. The reserve supports 68 identified species of

lycophyte The lycophytes, when broadly circumscribed, are a vascular plant (tracheophyte) subgroup of the kingdom Plantae. They are sometimes placed in a division Lycopodiophyta or Lycophyta or in a subdivision Lycopodiophytina. They are one of the oldest ...

s and

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...

s. Three (''

Angiopteris ferox ''Angiopteris'' is a genus of huge evergreen ferns from the family Marattiaceae, found throughout the paleotropics from Madagascar to the South Pacific islands. Species of smaller stature with elongate synangia and creeping rhizomes are sometimes ...

'', '' Mesophlebion dulitense'', and '' Selaginella brevipes'') are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the local area surrounding

Mount Kinabalu Mount Kinabalu ( ms, Gunung Kinabalu, Dusun language, Dusun: ''Gayo Ngaran or Nulu Nabalu'') is the highest mountain in Borneo and Malaysia. With an elevation of , it is List of islands by highest point, third-highest peak of an island on Eart ...

, while a further three ('' Lindsaea crispa'', ''

Pronephrium firmulum ''Pronephrium'' is a genus of ferns in the family Thelypteridaceae in the family Thelypteridaceae, subfamily Thelypteridoideae, in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I). Other sources sink ''Pronephrium'' into a very bro ...

'', and '' Sphaerostephanos baramensis'') are endemic to Borneo.

Fauna

Tenompok Forest Reserve is home to animals including

barking deer Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

, gibbon and other primate species. The reserve hosts a number of Bornean endemic insects. 19 endemic moth species, including ''

Asota kinabaluensis ''Asota kinabaluensis'' is a species of noctuoid moth in the family Erebidae Species description, first described by Walter Rothschild in 1896. It appears to have no close relatives in the genus ''Asota (moth), Asota''. Characteristics The wingsp ...

'' and '' Auriculoceryx pterodactyliformis'', have been surveyed. An endemic beetle species, '' Odontolabis leuthneri'', has also been recorded in Tenompok.

References

External links

Tenompok – Protected Planet
{{Protected areas of Sabah Forest reserves of Sabah