Malays. Appl. Biol. (2006) 35(2): 29–34
EFFECTS OF ARSENIC AND HEAVY METALS POLLUTION ON PLANT SPECIES IN MAMUT RIVER RIPARIAN ZONE, SABAH, MALAYSIA
MOHAMED, F.A., WICKNESWARI, R.1*, LEE, Y.H.2 JAMILI, N.3 and REMI, R.3
1 School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, 2 School of Chemical Sciences & Food Technology, Faculty of Science & Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
3 Sabah Parks, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
ABSTRACT
The effect of arsenic and heavy metals pollution caused by Mamut Copper Mine discharge on forest structure in Mamut River riparian zone was studied. The vegetation analysis was carried out on six quadrates in Mamut area (polluted) and Kipungit area (control) each. Enumerated plant species in control area were 34 belonging to 25 families while in polluted area were 28 species belonging to 21 families. The average number of plants growing per quadrate in polluted and control areas were 145.5 and 194.1, respectively. Shannon’s diversity index (H’), evenness (E) index and Simpson’s index (D) in control area were 1.957, 0.256 and 0.027 whilst in polluted area were 1.583, 0.207 and 0.014 respectively. H’, D, and E values for Kipungit and Mamut were not significantly different (p< 0.05). Sørensen’s index of similarity between Kipungit and Mamut River areas was 0.774 indicating metal pollution on a limited number of species.
ABSTRAK
Kajian mengenai kesan arsenik dan logam-logam berat yang disebabkan oleh perlepasan buangan daripada Lombong Tembaga Mamut ke atas struktur hutan di sepanjang tebing Sungai Mamut telah dilakukan. Analisis vegetasi terlibat enam kuadrat di kawasan tebing Sungai Mamut yang tercemar dan juga di kawasan Sungai Kipungit iaitu sebagai kawasan kawalan untuk tujuan perbandingan. Bilangan spesies tumbuhan yang telah dikira di kawasan kawalan ialah 34 daripada 25 famili dan di kawasan tercemar ialah sebanyak 28 spesies dalam 21 famili. Bilangan purata tumbuhan per kuadrat yang terdapat di kawasan tercemar dan kawalan ialah masing-masing 145.5 dan 194.1. Indeks kepelbagaian Shannon (H'), indeks keseragaman (E) dan indeks Simpson (D) yang terdapat di kawasan kawalan ialah 1,957, 0.256 dan 0.027 masing-masing sementara di kawasan tercemar ialah 1.583, 0.207 dan 0.014 masing- masing. Nilai-nilai H', D dan E untuk kedua-kedua lokasi kajian adalah tidak berbeza secara bererti (p<0.05). Indeks kesamaan Serensen antara kawasan Kipungit dan Sungai Mamut ialah 0.774 dan ini menunjukkan terdpaat pencemaran logam-logam ke atas beberapa spesies tumbuhan.
Key words: Heavy metal pollution, vegetation analysis, copper mine, Sabah, riparian forest.
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