Converting tropical rain forest to forest plantation in sabah,malaysia. Part I. Dynamics and net losses of nutrients in control catchment streams

Streamwatcr chemistry was monitored for five years in six streams in a paired catchment experiment in Mendolong, Sabah, Malaysia, including controls in rain forest and secondary vegetation after the [Borneo fire] of 1982–3 and comparing the effects of different ways of establishing forest plantations with Acacia mangium. Three catchments were covered with selectively logged lowland hill dipterocarp forest (W4-W6) and three (W1-W3) with secondary vegetation after forest fires. The control catchments, W3 and W6 reported in this paper, had no treatments applied. Reference monitoring at all streams was for 25 months and the total period of study reported here is 64 months. The soils in the catchments were mainly Orthic Acrisol in W3 and Gleyic Podsol in W6 and a mix of both soil types in the other catchments. Element baseflow concentrations were generally low and not significantly different from stormflow concentrations for all streams during the reference period. Concentrations were also generally consistently low for the two control streams during the whole period of measurement. Chemical inputs as wet deposition were low as a result of a high input from local convection. The rain forest on the Podsol had a tight nutrient circulation indicated by small net losses of macronutrients. The Podsol was found to have poorer conditions for soil mineralization and more surficial runoff, resulting in higher loads of S, C and N in the organic phases, with higher organic C/N ratio, in the discharge. Nitrogen was found to accumulate in both catchments. An almost double accumulation of N in W3 was attributed to a larger biomass accumulation continuing after the forest fire 3–8 years earlier. On the other hand, the Acrisol in W3 had much larger net losses of S, Si, K, Ca, Mg and Na. Most of differences could be attributed to differences in weathering between the soils and local mineralogical differences.     

Bungalows, mansions and shophouses: Encounters in architourism

In architourism, tourists are attracted to places because of iconic buildings. Increasingly, non-iconic buildings of vernacular architectural styles are also appreciated by visitors as a way to authentically experience a place. This paper explores architourism in Malaysia and Singapore through the lens of historic boutique hotels. Geographical discourses in and methodologies of architectural geography are used to interrogate what these hotels mean for guests and hoteliers, and the effects on them too. Empirical findings deepen understanding of architourism through examining how ‘producers’ create culturally authentic environments in boutique hotels, and how ‘consumers’ utilise hotels to experience local cultures. The dual focus on production and consumption is in-line with critical architectural geography’s insistence on exploring the rhetoric of building design as well as the realities of their everyday uses and users.     

Ethnic coexistence in a pluralistic campus environment

In Malaysia, ethnic segregation seems to have grown more and more pronounced at all levels of education, which may have in the main contributed to increasing occupational segregation by ethnicity when the graduates left to join the job market. Such trends may be disturbing given the effort the country has put in to promote interethnic understanding and reduce interethnic economic disparity since 1970. By critically investigating the dynamics of ethnic coexistence in the microcosm of the university campus environment, this paper provides statistical evidence to show how far the country has progressed in terms of ethnic relations since the watershed events of May 13, 1969; to what extent Malaysian multiethnic society is different now compared to the unmistakable racial “corporateness” and interethnic “separateness” that Furnivall observed in his classic study of 1948; and in what ways ethnic relations have been reshaped by three decades of affirmative action policies and the form of ethnic democracy adapted for this unique society.

Structure and seasonality in a Malaysian mudflat community

An assessment of community composition and the functional roles of the dominant species has been carried out in two intertidal areas of Malaysian mudflat dominated by natural populations of the arcid bivalve mollusc Anadara granosa.In addition to A. granosa, organisms of numerical importance are the venerid bivalve Pelecyora trigona, the neogastropod Plicarcularia leptospira, the mesogastropods Stenothyra glabrata and Cerithidea cingulata and the hermit crab Diogenes sp. The mesogastropod Natica maculosa and the neogastropod Thais carinifera may be of some importance to community organization but they are not numerically dominant. Annelids are conspicuous by their absence.The following trophic roles are ascribed to specific members of the community: A. granosa—facultative surface deposit feeder; P. trigona—suspension feeder; P. leptospira—scavenger; C. cingulata—deposit feeder/grazer; S. glabrata—deposit feeder/grazer; N. maculosa—predator; T. carinifera—predator; Diogenes sp.—scavenger/predator. S. glabrata is of particular interest because it appears to fill the niche occupied by mud snails of the genus Hydrobia in temperate mudflat systems.There is evidence of seasonality on the mudflats which points to a spawning of certain forms triggered by the major annual salinity depression at the time of the onset of the north-east monsoon in October/November. Concentrations of benthic chlorophyll a show no obvious signs of a seasonal fluctuation and the seasonality of the primary consumers is not thought to be related to food abundance. However there is some evidence of seasonality of reproduction in N. maculosa which preys on the seasonally reproducing bivalves.     

Indonesia's archipelagic regime: Implications for Malaysia

This article examines Indonesian-Malaysian relations in the light of Indonesia's new archipelagic regime. Archipelagos are defined and the rights and duties of archipelagic states under the Law of the Sea Convention are outlined. Indonesian-Malaysian relations from the 1974 Memorandum of Understanding to the 1982 bilateral treaty are described. The author examines the implications of an Indonesian suspension of passage on Malaysian transport, submarine cables and pipelines, fishing, oil and gas, and search and rescue. The author concludes by indicating how the two countries should adjust to the regime.     

Tackling illegal, unregulated, and unreported trade towards Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) recovery in Sabah, Malaysia

The live reef food fish trade (LRFFT) has caused severe depletion of the Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) populations globally, a species considered endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. In 2010, signatories to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora recognized that illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) activities in the LRFFT were undermining the efforts to protect this species. Management recommendations have yet to be effectively implemented at national and local levels where the fish is harvested. This paper analyzes the threats to, and socio-economic impacts of, Humphead wrasse recovery in Sabah, Malaysia, and offers both short- and longer-term recommendations for the local recovery of the species. Key issues addressed centre around understanding the threats to recovery, specifically the role of IUU and the context-specific considerations, including the socio-economic aspects of the IUU trade in Sabah. The analysis confirms that deliberate management planning and action at multiple levels are required to prevent local-scale extinction. Lessons for other species and countries involved in the LRFFT suggest that to be effective, broad management frameworks must be tailored to local situations and must focus on gaining support and participation of fish harvesters if the recovery and long-term sustainability of both the Humphead wrasse and the LRFFT are to be achieved.     

Agrobiodiversity of Muda Rice Agroecosystem:A case Study in Largest Granary Area of Malaysia

A survey was carried out at the largest rice cultivation area in Peninsular Malaysia,the Muda rice agroecosystem.The main objective of this study was to document the overall biodiversity associated with this unique agroecosystem by using a combination of sampling techniques in order to record different groups of fauna and flora.The total number of biota recorded and identified from the rice field ecosystem during the study period consisted of 46 species of zooplankton,81 species of aquatic insects,5 species of rodents,7 species of bats,87 species of birds,11 species of fishes and 58 species of weeds.A long-term study should be carried out as more species are expected to be recorded when more of the Muda rice agroecosystem area has been sampled to obtain sufficient information on the Muda rice agrobiodiversity.     

Approaches for delineating landslide hazard areas using different training sites in an advanced artificial neural network model

The current paper presents landslide hazard analysis around the Cameron area, Malaysia, using advanced artificial neural networks with the help of Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing techniques. Landslide locations were determined in the study area by interpretation of aerial photographs and from field investigations. Topographical and geological data as well as satellite images were collected, processed, and constructed into a spatial database using GIS and image processing. Ten factors were selected for landslide hazard including: 1) factors related to topography as slope, aspect, and curvature; 2) factors related to geology as lithology and distance from lineament; 3) factors related to drainage as distance from drainage; and 4) factors extracted from TM satellite images as land cover and the vegetation index value. An advanced artificial neural network model has been used to analyze these factors in order to establish the landslide hazard map. The back-propagation training method has been used for the selection of the five different random training sites in order to calculate the factor’s weight and then the landslide hazard indices were computed for each of the five hazard maps. Finally, the landslide hazard maps (five cases) were prepared using GIS tools. Results of the landslides hazard maps have been verified using landslide test locations that were not used during the training phase of the neural network. Our findings of verification results show an accuracy of 69%, 75%, 70%, 83% and 86% for training sites 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively. GIS data was used to efficiently analyze the large volume of data, and the artificial neural network proved to be an effective tool for landslide hazard analysis. The verification results showed sufficient agreement between the presumptive hazard map and the existing data on landslide areas.     

‘A place for everything’: Moral landscapes of ‘swiftlet farming’ in George Town,Malaysia

This paper is based on 6 months of ethnographic, multi-sited research in Malaysia, and investigates the relatively recent phenomenon of edible birds’ nest farming in urban areas (‘swiftlet farming’). Swiftlet farms are typically converted shophouses or other buildings which have been modified for the purpose of harvesting the nests of the Edible-nest Swiftlet (Aerodramus fuciphagus). I use the controversy over urban swiftlet farming in the Malaysian city of George Town, Penang, to examine discourses used by key stakeholders to shape debates over the place of non-human animals in cities. By considering everyday experiences of urban swiftlet farming, I explore how this burgeoning industry is perceived amongst residents, and how it is deemed to be (in)appropriate within the political, economic and cultural landscape of George Town. Yet, I also consider how farmers have sought to contest these discourses on ideological and normative grounds. In so doing, I place the cultural animal geographies literature in conversation with emergent literature on landscape and urban political ecology. Such a framing allows for a critical evaluation of the controversies surrounding this case, and their implications for human-animal cohabitation in cities. The paper reflects on the implications of this case for how we regulate human-animal relations and live in contemporary cities, and the crucial role of animals in altering urban form, aesthetics and everyday life, particularly in non-Western contexts.     

Engineering Geology of Limestone in Malaysia

This paper provides an overview of the engineering geology of limestone. Limestone is of rather wide occurrence in Malaysia. It is interesting in view of the unique landforms and karstic features that are encountered in limestone terrains, e.g. steep, subvertical limestone cliffs rising abruptly and majestically above the ground surface and highly variable and pinnacled subterranean limestone bedrock. The karstic features and associated engineering geological problems of both the limestone hills and the bedrock are discussed in the paper. Rockfalls, sinkholes, cavities, etc. are some of the common engineering geological problems associated with limestone terrains. Some local case studies are provided as illustrations. Finally the rock mechanical properties of limestone is discussed at the end of the paper.