Distribution and ecology of Rafflesia in Royal Belum State Park, Perak, Malaysia

• Main Authors: Kedri, Farah Khaliz, Hamzah, Zulhazman, Sukri, Nur Sayzwani, Yaacob, Siti Hajar, Abd Majid, Nur Kyariatul Syafinie, Mokhtar, Nasihah, Amir, Siti Fatimah
• Format: Indexed Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://discol.umk.edu.my/id/eprint/7363/1/Distribution%20and%20ecology%20of%20Rafflesia%20in%20Royal%20belum.pdf; http://discol.umk.edu.my/id/eprint/7363/; https://www.sciencepubco.com/index.php/ijet/article/view/13335

Rafflesia, the biggest flowers in the world are considered as majestic and are made as ecotourism icons for several places in the South East Asia. Currently, a total of 34 species of Rafflesia were recorded in this region. 7 species of Rafflesia are found in Peninsular Malay-sia alone. This study was executed in Royal Belum State Park in the state of Perak. An updated on distribution of Rafflesia and its ecolo-gy are provided. The Rafflesia population was mapped using Global Positioning System [GPS]. While the size of Rafflesia host-plant was measured with the measuring tape and the amount of rainfall was obtained from the Meteorological Department of Malaysia. During this study, there were 2 species of Rafflesia encountered in Royal Belum State Park, namely Rafflesia cantleyi Solms-Laubach and Raf-flesia kerri Meijer. The species were recorded at X-Ray trail, Sg. Gadong, and Sg. Kooi. A total of 8 populations were set up from these locations. It was found that the population and the distribution decreased in accordance with the habitat interruption by human interven-tion and natural factors such as wildlife trampling on the immature buds. Besides, it was found that the number of Rafflesia buds increas-es with the class size for host-plant of Rafflesia with coefficients of determination of R2=0.9866. However, various physiological and environmental factors were taken into consideration in efforts of conserving this unique flower. This study is important in order to pre-serve the population of Rafflesia at Royal Belum State Park.