Climbers diversity in Agro Techno Park, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Jeli Campus

Abstract

Species diversity of climbers were inventoried in four nature trails of Agro Techno Park Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK), Jeli campus. The purpose of this study was to determine the diversity, composition and abundances of climbers in Agro Techno Park Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Jeli Campus. Samples of the climbers were randomly collected from four natural trails for herbarium preparation and preserved using 70% ethanol solution. The preservation was done by putting the samples in zip lock transparent bag that contained of 70% ethanol solution. The samples were oven-dried at 30-40 °C, mounted and labelled before identification. The diversity pattern of the climbers was analyzed by using Shannon Diversity Index, Shannon Evenness Index, Margalef Richness Index, Abundance Parameters and Importance Value Index (IVI). A total of 593 climbers belonging to 35 species were recorded. Family Fabaceae was the most diverse plant from the climbers' family which consisted of 4 genera and 5 species. This was followed by family Menispermaceae, Melastomataceae, Connaraceae, Apocynaceae, Rubiaceae and Vitaceae. The result obtained indicated that alteration of the ecological environment through natural disturbances influenced the abundance and distribution of climbers.