Greater Kenyir Landscapes ― Social Development and Environmental Sustainability: from Ridge to Reef

This book contains research findings from three major study areas, natural sciences, social sciences, and public policy and management. The focus area extends over geographical zones ranging from mountainous area of Mount Gagau in the Taman Negara National Park, down to the coastal islands of Bidong, Redang and Perhentian on the eastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

Chapters on natural sciences examine the physicochemical characteristics of water, physiological and ecological constraints to geological and climatological aspects. The social science and management chapters observe the rich ethno-heritage of local communities and how they interact and develop as a culture, and public policy for sustainable management. Viewpoints from political science, history, sociology, economics, anthropology and management science are also taken into account.

This book is intended for researchers and graduate students to create an understanding of the rich heritage, while policy makers plan for future generations. Readers will benefit from this book by studying the gaps in the current knowledge and move to develop further research to understand the unexplored forest canopies and the dynamics of the changing Greater Kenyir landscapes.

Mohd Tajuddin Abdullah is a professor at the School of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. He received his PhD in zoology from the University of Queensland, Australia; MSc and BSc from the West Virginia University, USA, and Diploma in Forestry from the Institut Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. He was elected and inducted as a Fellow in the Academy of Science Malaysia on the 8 June 2013; and DIMP from the Royal Highness the Sultan of Pahang. His research discipline is in biology with specialisation in zoology, molecular ecology, biodiversity and protected area management. In 1970s to 1990s he studied on the endangered Sumatran rhinos. In late 1990s he studied in Borneo on the wildlife diversity, distribution, population, ecology, and species conservation and their natural habitats. From 2000 to 2014 he used molecular methods to study on the ecology, biogeography and evolution of mammals in Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia. From 2011 he received grants to study on zoonoses, genome and metagenomic of primates. From 2014 onwards he worked in the Greater Kenyir, on the canopy wildlife distribution patterns in the dipterocarp forest, wetlands and islands on the east coast of Malaysia.

Aqilah Mohammad is a senior lecturer who teaches Mycology at the School of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. She received her PhD in Biological Sciences from the Royal Holloway, University of London, United Kingdom and MSc degree in Conservation Biology from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia. Underlying themes of her research include fungal ecology, biodiversity, identification, fungal interaction, fungal fruiting phenology and ethnomycology. Her current research mainly focusing on the utilisation of wild mushrooms for food and medicine by indigenous communities in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. She is also working on an identification of edible bolete fungus found growing nearby Melaleuca trees in Setiu Wetlands, Terengganu.

Nor Zalipah Mohamed is a senior lecturer at the School of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia. She received her bachelor degree in Zoology from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia and MSc degree in Environmental Biology from the same university. For her MSc degree, she studied the edge effect on the non-volant small mammal’s community in Perak, Malaysia. She worked on bat pollination of mangroves called Sonneratia in Malaysia, and obtained her PhD. degree from University of Bristol, UK. Her current works is mainly on plant-animal interactions, particularly in pollination and seed dispersal.

Muhamad Safiih Lola is an Associate Professor at the School of Informatics and Applied Mathematics, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. He received his PhD in Econometrics Modelling from the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia; MSc in Applied Statistics from the Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia and BEc (Honors) in International Trade and Business from Universiti Utara Malaysia, Kedah, Malaysia. He started his career as a Statistician and Mathematics lecturer in 2001 and has over 15 years of experience in applied statistics, econometrics and hybrid modelling with specialisation in forecasting, eco-tourism, total economic value and loyalty program. He has obtained research grants on projects involving fuzzy parametric and fuzzy nonparametric sample selection models, study on cost of living particularly on loyalty and membership programs and also studies in dynamic modelling.