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Archives of Agriculture Research and Technology
[ ISSN : 2832-8639 ]


Ground Water Table Monitoring in North Selangor Peat Swamp Forest, Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia

Research Article
Volume 3 - Issue 1 | Article DOI : 10.54026/AART/1029


Julia Lo1,2* and Faizal Parish2

1PT Musim Mas, Research and Development, Sumatra, Indonesia
2Global Environment Centre, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Corresponding Authors

Julia Lo, PT Musim Mas, Research and Development, Sumatra, Indonesia, Global Environment Centre, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Keywords

Peatlands; Peat swamp; Groundwater table; Porosity; Boundary cana

Received : December 01, 2021
Published : January 10, 2022

Abstract

Monitoring of ground water table in North Selangor Peat Swamp Forest was undertaken for 3 years period from December 2013 to December 2016. This is part of the initiative to monitor GWL in a peat swamp forest under different vegetation i.e., logged over forest, degraded open peatland as well as other land use such as smallholder oil palm. The effect of drainage on the GWT is also analyzed. The result showed that GWT fluctuates throughout the year, often correlate with rainfalls. 2014 is the dry year comparatively and it was reflected in the lowest GWT recorded in all transects. Forested area showed highest GWT whereas oil palm smallholder cultivation area had the lowest GWT; relatively higher GWT recorded in degraded open area most likely due to loss of peat surface caused by repeated fire in the past. Drained canals that were located within the peat swamp forest negatively affected the GWT. Overall, GWT recorded in NSPSF show negative value in most of the months except for November and December, a typical result for a peat swamp forest which had been drained.