Successional plant communities and factors affecting their distribution at Sultan Azlan Shah Campus (KSAS), Proton City UPSI

H. Alimon

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the distribution of plant species at Sultan Azlan Shah Campus (KSAS), UPSI before the construction of new campus was pursued. Several abiotic factors that might have affected the plant distribution including light intensity, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and soil characteristics were also studied. The line transect method was used in 5 different selected plots covering the flat deserted land (Plot A, D and E) up to the hills of 140 m altitude (Plot B and C) surrounding the gazetted area for the development. A total of 23 plant species have been identified with three most abundant species, Imperata cylindrica, Eleusine indica and Gleichenia linearis. The highest frequencies of plant species found in the studied plots are G. linearis and E. longofolium (12.3%), followed by Lycopodium cernum (10.5%) and I. cylindrica (8.8%). The abiotic factors such as light intensity, temperature and relative humidity were higher than the average annual readings in Malaysia, clearly influenced the distribution of plant species. On the other hand, wind speed reading did not show uniform results at any plot areas but affected the type of successive vegetation at the studied area. Keywords successional plant communities, distribution, abiotic factors, light intensity, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed

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