research symposium on university museums

Proceedings of

Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU)Research Symposium on University Museums:

Forming a University Museum Collection Networkas the Core of Frontier Research

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Proceedings of APRU Research Symposium on University Museums: Forming a University Museum Collection Network as the Core of Frontier Research

Introduction

Malaysia has been identified as one of the world’s twelve mega-diversity areas with rich biological resources. There are over 15,000 known species of flowering plants, 300 species of mammals, 254 species of breeding birds, 198 species of amphibians, 379 species of reptiles, over 150,000 species of invertebrates, and over 4,000 species of marine fishes and 449 species of freshwater fishes in Malaysia (Burhanuddin, 2000)

KLU – University of Malaya HerbariumHistory

The University of Malaya herbarium is Malaysia’s largest university plant collection containing about 70,500 accessions. It was established in 1960 by Duncan Poore, then Professor of Botany, in the country’s oldest Science Faculty and located at the old Biology building. In the year 2000 it was relocated into the Rimba Ilmu (Botanic Garden) building with much up-to-date facilities and bigger space. It is registered with the International Association for Plant Taxonomy, using the acronym KLU. Professor Poore and several staff including Dr. Turnau, Dr. Merton, Dr. Carrick, Mr. Kassim, Mr. Samad and others started collecting plant specimens as early as 1959.

Over the years other foreign and local scientists greatly contributed to the development of the herbarium among others include Dr. Ben Stone (Reader), Dr. Gordon Smith, Dr. David Lee, Prof. W. R. Stanton, Prof. E. Soepadmo, Dr. S. C. Chin and Dr. M. Manuel, Prof. Haji Mohammad Abd. Majid, Prof. Halijah Ibrahim and Prof. K. M. Wong. Dr. Stone’s contribution particularly to the herbarium collection, was overwhelming, where he worked together with Mr. Mahmud Sider, the principal field collector for the then Botany department, as well as with colleagues and students. The emphasis is on Malaysia’s native flora, although a good selection of representatives of temperate flora has also been assembled through exchange of specimens. Since its establishment, many individuals including visiting scientists and students have contributed to the growth of KLU.

Fig. 1. Front view of Rimba Ilmu building.

The Botanical Collection and Research of University of Malaya – The Way Forward

Halijah Ibrahim*, Sugumaran Manickam, and Sarinder Kaur Kashmir Singh

Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of MalayaKuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia

*[email protected]://rimba.um.edu.my

Halijah Ibrahim

Professor in the Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Malaysia

Prof. Ibrahim researches plant systematics and experimental taxonomy. Presently she is focused on Zingiberaceae (gingers) of Malaysia with an emphasis on biodiversity, conservation, bioprospecting and biotechnology. Her research team is continuously adding to botanical collections their research related to systematics and bioprospecting.

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Administration

The present KLU herbarium, is directly under the control of the Curator assisted by an Assistant Science Officer. However the overall management of Rimba Ilmu Botanic Garden is under the control of the Head of the Institute of Biological Sciences.

Collections

Seed Plant and Pteridophyte Collections (50,000)Important collections include Pandanaceae,

Rutaceae, Araliaceae, Bambusoideae, Zingiberaceae, the flora of the Danum Valley (Sabah) and Ulu Kali (Peninsular Malaysia), and the Malayan and Sulawesi limestone flora. Current research into systematics and taxonomy based at the University of Malaya includes revisions and relationships in Malesian Rubiaceae (Rothmannia, Porterandia, Gardenia), Gentianaceae (Fagraea), Araliaceae (Arthrophyllum), Zingiberaceae and Bambusoideae. There are also several special ecological collections from montane areas, lowland forests, riverine and island habitats.

Bryophyte Collection (16,000)The Bryophyte collection is principally of

Malaysian (including Bornean) mosses and liverworts. A significant number of the Peninsular Malaysian collections are by Dr. Monte Manuel and Prof. Haji Mohamed. Currently Dr. K. T. Yong is actively working on the systematics of the family Orthotricaceae and has collaborations with universities from Japan, Europe and America.

Seaweed and Seagrass Collections (4,500)These collections include a good diversity of

Malaysian seagrasses and seaweeds, mainly collected by Prof. S. M. Phang, her students and Prof. Michio Masuda of Hokkaido University. The Seaweed component includes the Cyanophyta, Chlorophyta, Phaeophyta and Rhodophyta divisions of marine algae.

Type SpecimensThe type specimens are kept in a separate locker to

minimize mishandling. KLU herbarium has about 100 type specimens, all are from angiosperms except for a few algae specimens. The type collection comprises

of specimens mostly from the family Pandanaceae and Rutaceae with at least 32 other families being represented.

Fungi and Ancillary CollectionsFungi collection is currently being established.

Ancillary collections such as carpological and spirit collections are very minor and were only started recently. The carpological and the spirit collections are mainly of the family Dipterocarpaceae and wild orchids respectively.

Significance

Functions of KLU include:•Providing a standard reference for verification of species

•Preserving type specimens•Serving as a repository of voucher specimens•Providing documentation/data on species geographical range, endemism, reproductive status etc. Hence providing some information on Malaysia’s biodiversity

•Providing data for analysis

Research

Since 1970s researchers of University of Malaya have been strongly involved in research on medicinal plants as Rimba Ilmu, Botanic Garden at that time, had the largest medicinal plant germplasm in the country. Hence the importance of KLU as repository for vouchers

Fig. 2. Type specimen of Pandanus gladiator B.C. Stone sp. nova.


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related to these studies. The live specimens in Rimba Ilmu Botanic Garden also became important resources for various researches such as Plant systematics, Molecular biology, Plant biotechnology, Transgenic plants, Genetic transformation, Cancer research, Plant micropropagation and Somatic embryogenesis, Essential oils, Plant anatomy, Reproductive biology, Biodiversity, Pollination studies etc.

In terms of Biodiversity research, Institute of Biological Sciences (IBS) has a strong biodiversity group involved in many niche areas like birds, mammals, fish, microorganisms (fungi, viruses, algae, protozoa, lichens), insects, higher and lower plants. The researchers are involved in many biodiversity projects and scientific expeditions. They have collected many specimens and catalogue them manually or in flat files. The huge data are also utilized by researchers in Bioinformatics.

Systematic studies with inclination towards molecular methods have been the trend for the past decade or so. Ongoing research are related to solving taxonomic problems for instance, in bamboos, Fagraea (Gentinaceae), Gardenia (Rubiaceae), Barringtonia (Lecythidaceae), Rothmannia (Rubiaceae), mosses (Orthotricaceae), locally distributed Zingiberaceae and numerous work on algae.

For research purposes herbarium specimens from KLU can be on loan or exchange of specimens mainly to institutions rather than individuals, provided the specimens are returned within 6 months. There are certain policies with regards to exchange or loan of specimens. Duplicates of specimens are sent to established herbaria outside Malaysia for reference.

Apart from the collections in KLU, the Chemistry Department of University of Malaya has a small herbarium consisting of 3,515 dried specimens mostly from the families: Annonaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Lauraceae, Meliaceae and Rubiaceae. These specimens were collected since 1964, and serve as important references for their various research activities on medicinal plants and biological activities

in collaboration with research teams from IBS, Medical Faculty and to a small extent Dental Faculty. The team from Chemistry Department has also established a strong collaboration with researchers from France in the area of Natural Product Chemistry of tropical plants.

Data Management

As our botanical collections increase, there is a need to manage the data in a structured manner to enable us to share the diverse knowledge as well as to create a virtual repository. As such, an initiative was started back in 2004 in University of Malaya, known as Integrated Biological Database Initiative (IBDI). As a result, databases on flora and fauna were established (Sarinder et al., 2010). In this initiative, scattered biodiversity data was digitized, stored, manipulated and shared under a single web portal essentially providing a one stop center for Malaysian researchers to share, retrieve and disseminate information on biodiversity. In line with these efforts, IBDI also looks into building ontologies to better manage the data in a semantic web, to provide better retrieval capabilities as well as for generating new knowledge. The realization of this initiative will provide Malaysia with her own virtual integrated library of indigenous biodiversity.

References

Burhanuddin, M. 2000. Biodiversity and Information in Malaysia (online). Workshop on Biodiversity Research and Information in Asia Oceania. Available from: http://www.sp2000ao.nies.go.jp/english/whats_new/year_2000/abstract.html (Accessed 4 November 2004).

Sarinder, K. K. S., Majid, M. A., Chua, T. H., Merican, A. F., Dimyati, K., Ibrahim, H., Baljit, K. K. S. and Lim, L. H. S. 2010. Indigenous Distributed Relational Biodiversity Databases. International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology.

Stone, B. C. 1965. On the purpose of a University Herbarium. The Malayan Scientist 2: 23–26.

Wong, K. M. 2001. Ben Stone’s Scientific Directions. Malayan Nature Journal 55: 1–19.

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