Abundance and Species Richness of Macaranga spp. in Forest Gaps with Respect to Canopy Openness, Soil Type, and Altitude in the CTFS-AA Forest Dynamic Plot and Surrounding Lambir Hill NP

Forest gaps in the CTFS-AA Forest Dynamic Plot and surrounding Lambir Hill NP were studied to understand the relationship between Macaranga spp. species composition and canopy openness, soil type, and altitude. This short study recorded environmental variables within 20 gaps and among 9 species of Macaranga found within a given plot inside the gaps. Results generated using the Spearman Rank Correlation Test revealed that canopy openness exhibits a weak, positive correlation with the species diversity of Macaranga stems inside the gaps (p-value = 0.11). However, no correlation was found between either soil type (p=0.96) or altitude (p=0.76) and species diversity.