Dipterocarpaceae

The Dipterocarpaceae are a family of 17 genera and approximately 500 species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus Dipterocarpus, is derived from Greek (di = two, pteron = wing and karpos = fruit) and refers to the two-winged fruit. The largest genera are Shorea (196 species), Hopea (104 species), Dipterocarpus (70 species), and Vatica (65 species).[2] Many are large forest emergent species, typically reaching heights of 40–70 m tall, some even over 80 m (in the genera Dryobalanops,[2] Hopea[3] and Shorea),[3] with the tallest known living specimen (Shorea faguetiana) 88.3 m tall.[3] The species of this family are of major importance in the timber trade. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India, Indochina, Indonesia and Malaysia.[4] The greatest diversity of Dipterocarpaceae occurs in Borneo.[5] Some species are now endangered as a result of overcutting, extensive illegal logging and habitat conversion. They provide valuable woods, aromatic essential oils, balsam, resins and are a source for plywood.

Classification

The dipterocarp family is generally divided into three subfamilies:

Phylogeny of the Dipterocarpaceae[5]
 Dipterocarpaceae  
Dipterocarpoideae
Dipterocarpeae

Anisoptera

Cotylelobium

Dipterocarpus

Stemonoporus

Upuna

Vateria

Vateriopsis

Vatica



Shoreae

Dryobalanops

Hopea

Neobalanocarpus

Parashorea

Shorea




Monotoideae
    

Marquesia

Monotes

Pseudomonotes




Pakaraimoideae
    

Pakaraimaea





A recent genetic study found that the Asian dipterocarps share a common ancestor with the Sarcolaenaceae, a tree family endemic to Madagascar.[9] This suggests that ancestor of the Dipterocarps originated in the southern supercontinent of Gondwana, and that the common ancestor of the Asian dipterocarps and the Sarcolaenaceae was found in the India-Madagascar-Seychelles land mass millions of years ago, and were carried northward by India, which later collided with Asia and allowed the dipterocarps to spread across Southeast Asia and Malaysia. The first dipterocarp pollen has been found in Myanmar (which at that time was part of the Indian plate) and it dates from the upper Oligocene.[10] The sample appears to slowly increase in terms of diversity and abundance across the region into the mid-Miocene[10] Chemical traces of dipterocarp resins have been found dating back to the Eocene of India.

Fossilized arthropods

52-million-year-old amber found in the Gujarat province, India, containing a large amount of fossilized arthropods, was identified as sap from the Dipterocarpaceae family.[11]

Ecology

Dipterocarpaceae species can be either evergreen or deciduous.[12] Species occurring in Thailand grows from sea level to c. 1300 m elevation. Environments in which the species of the family occur in Thailand include: Lowland dipterocarp forest 0–350 m; Riparian fringe; Limestone hills; and Coastal hills.

References

  1. ↑ Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2009). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III" (PDF). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 161 (2): 105–121. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  2. 1 2 3 Ashton, P.S. Dipterocarpaceae. In Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak, Volume 5, 2004. Soepadmo, E., Saw, L. G. and Chung, R. C. K. eds. Government of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ISBN 983-2181-59-3
  3. 1 2 3 "Borneo". Eastern Native Tree Society. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
  4. ↑ Simon Gardner, Pindar Sidisunthorn and Lai Ee May, 2011. Heritage Trees of Penang. Penang: Areca Books. ISBN 978-967-57190-6-6
  5. 1 2 3 Ashton, P.S. Dipterocarpaceae. Flora Malesiana, 1982 Series I, 92: 237-552
  6. ↑ Maury-Lechon, G. and Curtet, L. Biogeography and Evolutionary Systematics of Dipterocarpaceae. In A Review of Dipterocarps: Taxonomy, ecology and silviculture, 1998. Appanah, S. and Turnbull, J. M. eds. Center for International Forestry Research, Bogor, Indonesia. ISBN 979-8764-20-X
  7. 1 2 S Dayanandan, P S Ashton, S M Williams, R B Primack (1999). "Phylogeny of the tropical tree family Dipterocarpaceae based on nucleotide sequences of the chloroplast RBCL gene". American Journal of Botany. doi:10.2307/2656982. PMID 10449398.
  8. ↑ S. Indrioko, O. Gailing, R. Finkeldey (2006). "Molecular phylogeny of Dipterocarpaceae in Indonesia based on chloroplast DNA". Plant Systematics and Evolution 261 (1-4): 99–115. doi:10.1007/s00606-006-0435-8.
  9. ↑ M. Ducousso, G. Béna, C. Bourgeois, B. Buyck, G. Eyssartier, M. Vincelette, R. Rabevohitra, L. Randrihasipara, B. Dreyfus, Y. Prin. The last common ancestor of Sarcolaenaceae and Asian dipterocarp trees was ectomycorrhizal before the India-Madagascar separation, about 88 million years ago. Molecular Ecology 13: 231 January 2004.
  10. 1 2 Morley, R.J. 2000. Origin and Evolution of Tropical Rain Forests. Wiley-Blackwell, NY.
  11. ↑ Sample, Ian. "Prehistoric creatures discovered in huge Indian amber haul" The Guardian, 25 October 2010. Retrieved: 26 October 2010.
  12. ↑ Smitinand, Tem, & Thatwatchai Santisuk, 1981, Dipterocarpaceae of Thailand with Special Reference to Silvicultural Ecology, Malaysian Forester, 44: 377-85

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dipterocarpaceae.
Wikispecies has information related to: Dipterocarpaceae
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, March 10, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.