The rainforests that cover the surface of the island have been in place for at least 4 million years, according to researchers who studied leaf fossils for the first time.
The landscape is dominated by dipterocarp trees and it looks like it would have been done millions of years ago.
More than half of the global dipterocarp species can be found in Borneo. The island plays a crucial role in supporting the Asian biodiversity that is currently under threat.
A fragment of a leaf. Wilf et al., PeerJ, 2022.
This is the first demonstration of the dominant life form of Borneo and the entire Asian wet tropics, the dipterocarp trees.
The dipterocarps are among the tallest tropical trees in the world, with some individuals able to grow up to 100 meters.
Rock fossils of their leaves are difficult to find because of the cover provided by the forests and their soils.
Since dipterocarp pollen decays so quickly, there has been a suspicion that these pollen studies haven't shown the whole picture. The bias hypothesis was supported when the team found rocks with many dipterocarp leaf fossils but little in the way of dipterocarp pollen.
Peter Wilf is the author of "Peter Wilf et al.
The ancient world of mangroves and swamps bordered by tropical lowland rainforests feature diverse fern undergrowth and an abundance of climbing plants.
Wilf says that the environment was similar to what it was millions of years ago.
Climate change, agricultural conversion of the land, and logging activities are putting pressure on the forests. In the Brunei area of the island, the majority of the old-growth rainforests are still preserved.
The researchers say that preservation should be a top priority. The foundation of life for many types of flora and fauna is provided by dipterocarp trees, which have a large store of seeds.
Peter Wilf is the author of "Peter Wilf et al.
Almost 90 percent of the Asian dipterocarp species have Near Threatened status, while 57 percent are labeled as Critically Endangered or Extinct. This latest study shows that we are losing four million years of forest history if we allow the slide to continue. The history of the region should be better understood.
There are very few fossil studies from the Asian tropics.
I hope this study will encourage more research on fossils in the tropics as they will tell us a lot about the natural history of the region.
The research has been published.
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