Tropical forests are one of the world’s largest carbon sinks, yet they have been lost at high rates due to agriculture, logging, grazing, construction of dams, and other infrastructural development. Brunei Darussalam offers one of the richest ecosystems on earth; the mixed dipterocarp rainforests offer a home for 3,500 species of vascular plants. The forest type takes its name from the economically important plant family, Dipterocarpaceae, which dominates.

By using DNA barcoding, we aim to answer the question, “What is the phylogenetic structure within the subplots of the 25 Ha plot of Dipterocarp forest at Kuala Belalong?

Further, we focus in this study on the predominant plant family of these forests, Dipterocarpaceae. In order to resolve the phylogeny of the Dipterocarpaceae, we use sanger sequencing of chloroplast regions as well as next generation sequencing: restriction site associated DNA sequencing and assembled plastid genomes of several Dipterocarpoideae species.

The project is funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF, project P26548-B22). Grant given to ao. Univ.-Prof. i.R. Dipl.-Biol. Mag. Dr. Mary Rosabella Samuel.