The world's first leaf fossil research of Borneo's rainforest indicates that the existing ecosystem is thousands of years old.
According to an international research team led by Penn State in collaboration with University Brunei Darussalam, the first study of leaf fossils conducted in the country of Brunei on the island of Borneo has revealed that the current dominant tree group, the dipterocarps, has dominated the rainforests for at least 4 million years. The findings, which were published in the peer-reviewed journal PeerJ, suggest that the current landscape is similar to that of the Pliocene Epoch, which lasted from 5.3 to 2.6 million years ago, and may provide additional justification for the protection of these forests, which are home to many critically endangered species.
"This is the first proof that the dipterocarp trees, the typical dominating life form of Borneo and the Asian wet tropics, were not only existent but also dominant. We discovered much more dipterocarp fossils than any other plant group "Peter Wilf, a co-funded faculty member of the Institutes of Energy and the Environment and a professor of geosciences at Penn State College Earth and Mineral Sciences, remarked (IEE).
Dipterocarps are the world's tallest tropical trees, with the tallest reaching a height of 100 metres (328 feet), or about the same as a 22-story structure.
Hundreds of keystone species, according to Wilf, maintain critically endangered biodiversity in tropical Asia by organizing rainforests and supplying large food supplies via pollination and nutritious seeds. Borneo is home to around 270 dipterocarp species, accounting for almost half of the world's total.
"In the humid tropics, fossil leaves are quite uncommon due to dense forest cover and extensively worn soils that disguise rock exposures," Wilf said.
Fossil pollen, which is exceptionally resistant to degradation, has been used in previous investigations of the island's plant flora. According to Wilf, this data does not give comprehensive information on ancient plant environments in the Asian tropics since dipterocarp pollen does not often retain well. This research found plenty of fossil evidence from leaves and pollen at two locations in Brunei that support the hypothesis that the contemporary landscape's rich, well-structured flora is comparable to what existed during the Pliocene Epoch, which lasted from 5.3 to 2.6 million years ago.
"There's scarcely any dipterocarp pollen from the same strata where the dipterocarp leaf fossils are abundant," he added. "Many additional plant groups are represented in the pollen and spores, including a large number of ferns, although there are few dipterocarps. As a result, the hypothesis of a bias against dipterocarp pollen is supported."
This is an exceedingly significant study of the country's fossil flora, according to Ferry Slik, a professor at Universiti Brunei Darussalam who researches tropical forest ecology and is a co-author on the report.
"Fossil research from the Asian tropics are quite rare," Slik remarked. "I hope that this study will spur additional research into tropical fossils, since they will reveal a lot about the region's natural past."
Wilf and his colleagues discovered a diverse range of fossil leaves and fruits, including numerous plant taxa that are now present but had never been discovered as fossils in the Malay Archipelago. Three distinct dipterocarp taxa, such as Dryobalanops, whose species are virtually all vulnerable; understory plants like the jujube Ziziphus and melastomes; and a climbing aroid plant, Rhaphidophora, which is linked to the famous house plant Monstera, were among them.
According to Slik, the team recreated an ancient ecology that is almost identical to what is seen in Brunei today.
"With the pollen, we get a fairly complete representation of mangrove and swamp environments, bordered by tropical lowland dipterocarp rainforests with very diverse fern understories and lots of climbing plants, including more ferns, jujubes, and aroids, and bordered by tropical lowland dipterocarp rainforests with very diverse fern understories and lots of climbing plants, including more ferns, jujubes, and aroids As a result, we're starting to see what the ecosystem was like millions of years ago "Wilf said. "It was pretty similar to what you may see there today, albeit most of tropical Asia's ecosystems have been chopped down."
One of the reasons for performing this research, according to Wilf, was to advocate protection of these regions.
"Biodiversity thrives in tropical jungles. Brunei is roughly the same size as Delaware, yet it boasts seven times the plant variety of the whole state of Pennsylvania "he said "This region has a moist climate akin to the Amazon or the rainforests of central Africa. Proboscis monkeys, crocodiles, rhinoceros hornbills, clouded leopards, sun bears, flying lizards, bearded pigs, and slow lorises are among the amazing animals that live there."
Despite the fact that Borneo is one of the world's major biodiversity hotspots, with ancient rainforests, its biodiversity is dwindling as a result of logging, agricultural conversion, and climate change.
The logging industry wants the dipterocarp trees, and Borneo has a high rate of deforestation, according to Slik, who is striving to rehabilitate Asia's tropical ecosystems.
"Borneo, like most of Asia's rainforests, is at the epicentre of the biodiversity disaster," Wilf said. "However, Brunei is a gem in the system since it is one of the only nations in the area to retain more than half of its old growth rainforests."
According to Wilf, each paleontological find emphasises the value of history and lays the groundwork for establishing conservation areas and public education.
"If a living group has a recognised prehistoric past, it adds preservation and educational value to the group, and it's less likely to be destroyed," he said. "Paleontology is the major source of evidence for how and why life on Earth is dispersed the way it is, as well as when various species of plants and animals first arrived."
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