Species composition and diversity of Ferns and Lycophytes at different Altitudes of R.E.A.C.H Biodiversity Centre, Cameron Highlands, Pahang

This study was conducted to investigate the species composition and diversity of ferns and lycophytes at different altitudes of Regional Environmental Awareness Cameron Highlands (R.E.A.C.H) Biodiversity Centre, Cameron Highlands. The random sampling method is carried out in R.E.A.C.H montane forest at three different elevations namely lower part, middle part and upper part with 100m interval each which is parallel to the nature trail. About 76 numbers of ferns and lycophytes from the montane forest consisting of 35 species from 25 genera and 18 families were identified and recorded. Twenty one species were terrestrial, 5 were epiphytic ferns and 7 were varies (intermediate between terrestrial and epiphytic) with 2 species of tree fern. Throughout this research, there are one species recorded as Near Threatened (Osmunda vachellii). It was found that one species of fem was documented as endemic to Cameron Highlands (Plagiogyra tuberculata). The diversity index represented by Shannon Index, H’, is 3.30 whereas the computed evenness index is 0.76 for the overall ferns and lycophytes species. From the total recorded species of ferns and lycophytes, the highest diversity is observed at the middle part of the area (H’:2.59) followed by upper part (H’=2.59) and lower part (H’=l.10) of the study area. The species evenness for the overall study area recorded is 0.76 indicates the species distribution is relatively high within that area. The lower part of the forest, the species evenness is totally even (E;-|=l.00) followed by middle part (E1-1=0.82) and upper part (E1-1=0.3O). Polypodiaceae and Lycopodiaceae contributed the highest richness of species and were commonly found within the study area. The distribution map of the ferns and lycophytes species was constructed to show the overall species distribution. Therefore, the composition and diversity of ferns and lycophytes recorded from this research is high.