Land use change effect on habitat loss rate of dipterocarp species in Sabah using species distribution modelling

Forest cover in Malaysia comprises of 60 % of its land area or 19.5 million hectares while 4.45 million hectares of Sabah is currently under forest cover. Extent of forest cover in Borneo is rapidly declined that also affecting the habitat available for many flora and fauna. Furthermore, the forest cover in Sabah has seriously been depleted by illegal logging and shifting for oil palm plantation. Ecological Niche Model (ENM) was used to predict the distribution of dipterocarp species by using its locality data and environmental data. Three species were selected which are Anisoptera marginata, Anisoptera reticulata and Dipterocarpus acutangulus. The percentage of habitat loss for Anisoptera marginata, Anisoptera reticulata and Dipterocarpus acutangulus for year 2008 are 73.1%, 56.2%, and 57.6% respectively. The percentage of habitat loss for Anisoptera marginata, Anisoptera reticulata and Dipterocarpus acutangulus for year 2010 are 78.4%, 60.9%, and 62.7% respectively. ENM assessment proves the hypotheses that dipterocarp species have suffered from high rates of habitat loses and the habitat loses rate increases from year 2008 to year 2010. It is concluded that the conservation status for all species studied are endangered as the range habitat loss percentage are from 50% until 80%. Furthermore, this study can be used as a reference for other study that promoting conservation of dipterocarp or other species that is sensitive to environmental factors. It is recommended that the study use more updated land use map to increase the accuracy and gives current condition on habitat lost. Furthermore, by using good land use classification for ecological niche modelling is importance as land use map with high resolution and details will provide more precise estimation of habitat loss to determine the conservation status.