SignificanceIdentifying and explaining regional differences in tropical forest dynamics, structure, diversity, and composition are critical for anticipating region-specific responses to global environmental change. Floristic classifications are of fundamental importance for these efforts. Here we provide a global tropical forest classification that is explicitly based on community evolutionary similarity, resulting in identification of five major tropical forest regions and their relationships: (i) Indo-Pacific, (ii) Subtropical, (iii) African, (iv) American, and (v) Dry forests. African and American forests are grouped, reflecting their former western Gondwanan connection, while Indo-Pacific forests range from eastern Africa and Madagascar to Australia and the Pacific. The connection between northern-hemisphere Asian and American forests is confirmed, while Dry forests are identified as a single tropical biome.

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This study measures the relationship and dynamic impacts of economic growth and forested area on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Malaysia. Time series data over the period of 1990 to 2016 were used by employing the dynamic ordinary least squared (DOLS) approach. The results of DOLS estimation indicate that the coefficient of economic growth is positive and significant with CO2 emissions, meaning that RM1 million increase in gross domestic product (GDP) is associated with an increase in CO2 emissions of 0.931 kilo tons. Instead, the long-run coefficient of forested area found negative and significant, which implies that declining one hectare of forested area (i.e., deforestation) has an impact of three kilo tons of CO2 emissions rise in Malaysia. Our study findings indicate that economic growth and deforested area have an adverse effect on Malaysia’s carbon emissions where GDP growth fosters carbon emissions at a faster rate. Thus, the effective implementation of policy measures and economic instruments including afforestation and reforestation, forest conservation, sustainable forest management, REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation plus) mechanism and other emission reduction mechanisms inter alia could be useful for reducing carbon emissions while decreasing deforestation and maintaining the long-term economic growth in Malaysia.

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This study aims to compare the effects of different laser wavelengths, exposure times, and low-power-intensity laser irradiation on maize seeds. Seeds were exposed to He–Ne (632.8 nm) red laser, Nd:YAG second-harmonic-generation (532 nm) green laser, and diode (410 nm) blue laser. Four different exposure times (45, 65, 85, and 105 s) with different intensity (2 and 4 mW/cm2), for each laser were tested. Phenology and yield components (plant height, leaf area, number of rows per ear, seed yield, harvest index, yield efficiency, and grain weight) were determined. The experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Plant height was found comparatively high in blue laser light—211 cm at 85 s. Blue and green laser lights showed significant increases in the number of rows per ear to 39.1 at 85 s and 45 at 65 s, respectively, compared to the control of 36 rows/ear. The order of seed yield was blue (7003.4 kg/ha) > green (6667.8 kg/ha) > red (6568.01 t/ha) based on different exposure times of 85 s, 85 s, and 105 s, respectively, compared to the control of 6.9 kg/ha. The findings indicate the possibility of using blue laser light to manipulate the growth and yield of maize.