A keystone species, the Fig tree, Ficus, plays a crucial role in supporting the delicate ecosystem within the forest. There are more than 1000 species in the world and Malaysia hosts about 100 of them. The Fig tree are found from lowlands to mountains.
At Tanarimba , we can easily spot quite a few of them. And it is this tree that provides daily meals to the wasps, gibbons and hornbills. So, my neighbours, if you have one on your lot, try to keep it...please.
The reason why it is call a "keystone" species? Well think of it this way, without it the rainforest's ecosystem will be badly disrupted. Like a car without the pistons, like your phone without the batteries, like a guitar without the strings, like Tanarimba without the gibbons and the hornbills ....the rainforest would just not work properly.
Spotted this one along the main road today, I think it is the Ficus schwarzii, with figs the size of medium grapes and hanging from twigs borne out of the main trunk... magnificient!
(Thank you! EJH Corner, for your "Wayside Trees of Malaya" where some of the intelligent text comes from)
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