Page 12 - Nature World Sample

The Natural World Universiti Malaya

Situated in an urban setting, the Universiti
Malaya campus is surrounded by highly 1 1
developed areas. Despite that it houses a
reasonable variety of habitats and ecosystems.
There are big and small water bodies, large
and small green areas.
The Varsity Lake is the biggest lagoon in
the campus, measuring 250 metres long, 85
metres wide, and 6 metres deep. There are
two river tributaries (Sungai Pantai and Sungai
Anak Air Batu) passing through the campus. In
addition, there are smaller water bodies (both
natural and man-made) and swampy areas. All
these water bodies have potential to support a
myriad of aquatic organisms. 2 2

An estimated 100 hectares, out of 360
hectares of the total area in the campus, is
forested. The largest green area is the Rimba
Ilmu (Forest of Knowledge), an 80-hectare
botanic garden housing some 1700 species
of plants comprising timber species, tropical
fruits, citrus and citroids, bamboos, palms,
medicinal plants, gingers and ferns. In
addition, plant life is present throughout the
campus.

Many of the plants in the campus were
introduced while others were naturally
established in the course of time. These plants
are the primary producers which sustain the
primary consumers (herbivores) that in turn
sustain the secondary and tertiary consumers.
These biotic components support the
scavengers, decomposers and detritivores as
well as the parasites and pathogens.

Contrary to expectation, there is an
enormous diversity of animal life in the
campus. All the major groups of animals
are represented – mammals, birds, reptiles,
amphibians, fish, molluscs, arthropods
(insects, spiders, centipedes, millipedes),
annelids (earthworm), nematodes, and others.
Some of the animals are residents while others
are visitors.

The campus is also home to numerous
fungi (now considered as a kingdom separate
from plants), protists, bacteria and viruses.

12