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Dennstaedtiaceae is a monophyletic fern family widespread in tropical and temperate regions. Data on the anatomy of its species in Peninsular Malaysia are still scarce. Here, we examined anatomical characteristics (leaf venations & shape of steles) among ten species of seven Dennstaedtiaceae genera recorded in Peninsular Malaysia. Two types of vein patterns were observed, most of them having open-leaf venation whereas closed venation was observed only in Histiopteris species. Four types of steles which were 'U'-shaped, 'I'-shaped, scattered, and a combination of 'S' and 'W-shaped and a combination of inverted 'C' and 'W'-shaped' were observed among all the Dennstaedtiaceae species studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growth of urban populations and the need for sustainable urban planning and development has made Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) a valuable tool for data collection, mapping, and monitoring. This article reviews the applications of UAV technology in sustainable urban development, particularly in Malaysia. It explores the potential of UAVs to transform infrastructure projects and enhance urban systems, underscoring the importance of advanced applications in Southeast Asia and developing nations worldwide. Following the PRISMA 2020 statement, this article adopts a systematic review process and identifies 98 relevant studies out of 591 records, specifically examining the use of UAVs in urban planning. The emergence of the UAV-as-a-service sector has led to specialized companies offering UAV operations for site inspections, 3D modeling of structures and terrain, boundary assessment, area estimation, master plan formulation, green space analysis, environmental monitoring, and archaeological monument mapping. UAVs have proven to be versatile tools with applications across multiple fields, including precision agriculture, forestry, construction, surveying, disaster response, security, and education. They offer advantages such as high-resolution imagery, accessibility, and operational safety. Varying policies and regulations concerning UAV usage across countries present challenges for commercial and research UAVs. In Malaysia, UAVs have become essential in addressing challenges associated with urbanization, including traffic congestion, urban sprawl, pollution, and inadequate social facilities. However, several obstacles need to be overcome before UAVs can be effectively deployed, including regulatory barriers, limited flight time and range, restricted awareness, lack of skilled personnel, and concerns regarding security and privacy. Successful implementation requires coordination among public bodies, industry stakeholders, and the public. Future research in Malaysia should prioritize 3D modeling and building identification, using the results of this study to propel advancements in other ASEAN countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forests are threatened globally by deforestation. Forest restoration at the landscape scale can reduce these threats. Ground-based and remote sensing inventories are needed to assess restoration success. Fractional canopy cover estimated from forest algorithms can be used to monitor forest loss, growth, and health via remote sensing. Various studies on the fractional cover of forest have been published. However, none has yet conducted a bibliometric analysis. Bibliometrics provide a detailed examination of a topic, pointing academics to new research possibilities. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first bibliometric study screening publications to assess the incidence of studies of the fractional cover of forests in Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases. This research analyses WoS and Scopus publications on the fractional cover of forest dating from 1984 to 2021. The current study uses the Bibliometrix R-package for citation metrics and analysis. The first paper on the fractional cover of forest was published in 1984 and annual publication numbers have risen since 2002. USA and China were the most active countries in the study of fractional cover of forests. A total of 955 documents from 69 countries with multiple languages were retrieved. Vegetation, forestry, and remote sensing were the most discussed topics. Findings suggest more studies on the fractional cover of forests algorithms should be conducted in tropical forest from developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canopy height is a fundamental parameter for determining forest ecosystem functions such as biodiversity and above-ground biomass. Previous studies examining the underlying patterns of the complex relationship between canopy height and its environmental and climatic determinants suffered from the scarcity of accurate canopy height measurements at large scales. NASA's mission, the Global Ecosystem Dynamic Investigation (GEDI), has provided sampled observations of the forest vertical structure at near global scale since late 2018. The availability of such unprecedented measurements allows for examining the vertical structure of vegetation spatially and temporally. Herein, we explore the most influential climatic and environmental drivers of the canopy height in tropical forests. We examined different resampling resolutions of GEDI-based canopy height to approximate maximum canopy height over tropical forests across all of Malaysia. Moreover, we attempted to interpret the dynamics underlining the bivariate and multivariate relationships between canopy height and its climatic and topographic predictors including world climate data and topographic data. The approaches to analyzing these interactions included machine learning algorithms, namely, generalized linear regression, random forest and extreme gradient boosting with tree and Dart implementations. Water availability, represented as the difference between precipitation and potential evapotranspiration, annual mean temperature and elevation gradients were found to be the most influential determinants of canopy height in Malaysia's tropical forest landscape. The patterns observed are in line with the reported global patterns and support the hydraulic limitation hypothesis and the previously reported negative trend for excessive water supply. Nevertheless, different breaking points for excessive water supply and elevation were identified in this study, and the canopy height relationship with water availability observed to be less significant for the mountainous forest on altitudes higher than 1000 m. This study provides insights into the influential factors of tree height and helps with better comprehending the variation in canopy height in tropical forests based on GEDI measurements, thereby supporting the development and interpretation of ecosystem modeling, forest management practices and monitoring forest response to climatic changes in montane forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review article focuses on the elements of climate change that have been used to create climate change awareness and hence inculcate sustainable literacy among secondary school students as well as actions that have been undertaken to nourish students' global competencies on climate change. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was adapted for the review of the current research, which utilised two main databases, namely, Scopus and Web of Science. The findings indicate that 35 articles were successfully selected, and were subsequently critically and systematically analysed. The review has successfully formulated three main themes that were commonly used to create climate change awareness among schoolchildren: effects of climate change, factors affecting climate change, and mitigation plans in handling climate change issues. The review has also revealed four major themes and actions that have been used as platforms towards instilling global competencies towards climate actions; indeed, the findings of this systematic review will provide meaningful information, especially to educators as well as decision-makers in developing more effective, efficient, and sustainable strategies that will shape future globally competent citizens in mitigating and adapting climate change issues and problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study measures the relationship and dynamic impacts of economic growth and forested area on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Malaysia. Time series data over the period of 1990 to 2016 were used by employing the dynamic ordinary least squared (DOLS) approach. The results of DOLS estimation indicate that the coefficient of economic growth is positive and significant with CO2 emissions, meaning that RM1 million increase in gross domestic product (GDP) is associated with an increase in CO2 emissions of 0.931 kilo tons. Instead, the long-run coefficient of forested area found negative and significant, which implies that declining one hectare of forested area (i.e., deforestation) has an impact of three kilo tons of CO2 emissions rise in Malaysia. Our study findings indicate that economic growth and deforested area have an adverse effect on Malaysia’s carbon emissions where GDP growth fosters carbon emissions at a faster rate. Thus, the effective implementation of policy measures and economic instruments including afforestation and reforestation, forest conservation, sustainable forest management, REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation plus) mechanism and other emission reduction mechanisms inter alia could be useful for reducing carbon emissions while decreasing deforestation and maintaining the long-term economic growth in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia has a large extent of forest cover that plays a crucial role in storing biomass carbon and enhancing carbon sink (carbon sequestration) and reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions, which helps to reduce the negative impacts of global climate change. This article estimates the economic value of forest carbon stock and carbon value per hectare of forested area based on the price of removing per ton CO2eq in USD from 1990 to 2050. The economic value of biomass carbon stored in the forests is estimated at nearly USD 51 billion in 2020 and approximately USD 41 billion in 2050, whereas carbon value per hectare forest area is estimated at USD 2885 in 2020 and USD 2388 in 2050. If the BAU scenario of forest loss (converting forests to other land use) continues, the projected estimation of carbon stock and its economic value might fall until 2050 unless further initiatives on proper planning of forest management and ambitious policy implementation are taken. Instead, Malaysia's CO2 emission growth started to fall after 2010 due to rising forest carbon sink of 282 million tons between 2011 and 2016, indicating a huge potential of Malaysian forests for future climate change mitigation. The estimated and projected value of carbon stock in Malaysian forest biomass, annual growth of forest carbon, forest carbon density and carbon sink would be useful for the better understanding of enhancing carbon sink by avoiding deforestation, sustainable forest management, forest conservation and protection, accurate reporting of national carbon inventories and policy-making decisions. The findings of this study could also be useful in meeting emission reduction targets and policy implementation related to climate change mitigation in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]