It’s one of the most fascinatingly species-rich environments in the world, and new research published in the journal Science has given just a glimpse into some of the incredible biodiversity in Asian rainforests.

And though these rainforests are known to be incredibly diverse – with over 50,000 plants making up the leafy wilderness, and 7,000 vertebrate species roaming it – our understanding of exactly how and why these areas are quite so biodiverse is still in its infancy.

However, the international project led by scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London, has set to redress that balance, with Kew scientist Dr Benedikt G. Kuhnhäuser explaining the importance of their task in a Kew statement:

“Where does biodiversity come from? It’s a question many generations of biologists have spent their time thinking about. We still understand very little about how plant and animal diversity became so rich in certain areas, such as tropical rainforests, and what causes it to spread as it does. Crucially, if we don’t understand biodiversity, we can’t protect it.”

So with their sights on understanding, documenting, and protecting tropical Asia’s rainforest biodiversity, the research team set out to explored the DNA of plant species, with a focus on the diversity of palm species found worldwide.

With the palm collections at Kew at their fingertips, the researchers used DNA sequencing technology to understand the origins and biodiversity of rattan palms.

And in a groundbreaking new development, they also investigated the DNA found in the fossils of prehistoric palms that have recently been discovered in New Guinea.

These 90-million-year-old pollen fossils gave the researchers answers into not only what biodiversity looked like millions of years ago, but also how our present-day rainforests came to be, as Dr Kuhnhäuser continued:

“Using DNA sequencing technology to look at the world’s herbarium specimens, including the fantastic palm collections at Kew, alongside newly discovered and incredibly old fossils from the island of New Guinea, we were able to generate estimates on when, where and how rattan palms and their ancestors came into existence.”

And amazingly, their research showed that rattan palm species diversified hugely over the last few million years, with 90% of rattan palms diversity occurring as the plant spread over Southeast Asia in the last 30 million years.

Particularly important to biodiversity seems to be Borneo, the stunning rainforest island shared by Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei. Though tourists most commonly visit Borneo to see orangutans in the wild, this was the place where rattan palms diversified and spread.

In particular, the multiple islands across the Southeast Asian archipelago were key to creating such biodiversity in rattan palms, with more separate islands like New Guinea cultivating their own species whose spread was limited.

Meanwhile islands like Borneo – home to the plant’s diverse changes – are closer to other islands like Sumatra. These nearby islands were key to the spread of new species of rattan palm, as the plant spread through these corridor-like islands, and around Southeast Asia.

In part, it is the way that the island geography helped this biodiversity that makes this study most fascinating, as co-author Jun Ying Lim, from the Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions and Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore, explained in the statement:

“Rattans are some of the most iconic and conspicuous plants in the wet tropical forests of Asia, and it is through them that we highlight how evolution in the Asian tropics is special compared to the other tropical realms.

The vast and complex geographic setting of archipelagic Southeast Asia has probably shaped the diversification for many other plant groups similarly, and we hope that through careful study of more plant groups we will be able to uncover the factors that influence evolution in this rich but threatened part of the world.”

Sure, it’s just one plant, but this new information about the diversification and spread of rattan palms across Southeast Asia provides scientists and conservationists with important new information.

And as we seek to understand more of our planet so that we can protect it from the effects of human-made climate change, vital conservation research like this will be crucial to our efforts.

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