Sagip Sarihay Series features critically endangered species in the Philippines, with weekly posts of alternating plant and animal species, and with the primary aims of awareness and call to action. This series is a project of the SciTech and the VA sections of UST-CSJ. (Note: Weekly order of posting does not reflect actual order of intensity of endangerment. Database reference for selection of species is the IUCN Red List.)

SAGIP SARIHAY #1

Species: Aquilaria malaccensis (“Agarwood”)

Words by Cyril Francis
Artwork by Lara Bianca Tordecilla

A visual representation of the Agarwood.

Description

Aquilaria malaccensis Lam., commonly known as Agarwood, is a tropical tree which can grow about 15–30 m tall and 1.5–2.5 m wide (in diameter), having a thin and smooth trunk and alternately arranged leathery sword-shaped leaves. It also has clustered white flowers and egg-shaped velvet fruits. Interestingly, its resin, which is expensive and commonly used for perfumes and incense, can be actually produced by the tree when it gets infected by Phaeoacremonium parasitica, which is a parasitic fungus (Wu et al., 2012). Similarly, the tree is able to produce the commercially expensive agarwood upon infection by fungi, such as Fusarium sp. and Chaetomium globosum. A. malaccensis can be found often scattered in primary and secondary forests, plains, hillsides, and up to 750 meters of ridges. Furthermore, this species is adaptable to its habitat, for it can perform well even in areas contaminated by pollution; this makes the tree useful in providing shade to smallholder forests and plantations, and in mitigating climate change (Nath et al., 2020; Saikia & Khan, 2014).

Locality

In the Philippines, A. malaccensis is noted to have been usually found in primary forests of Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Quezon, Laguna, Camarines, and Albay Provinces, Catanduanes, Samar, Sibuyan, Leyte, Panay, Mindanao, and Jolo (Harvey-Brown, 2018).

Threats

The luxurious benefits that humans get from A. malaccensis drive actions that led this species towards heavy declination in its natural populations. Notable of which is illegal logging, especially for the acquisition and trading of the very expensive and useful agarwood (Karlianda et al., 2013). This is further induced by exploitation through destructive agarwood harvesting technique, wherein quicker wood production is being hacked. Heavy reduction of these trees in their natural habitats further exemplifies deforestation, thus causing danger not only to the said agarwood species but also to other organisms inhabiting the affected forests (Lee et al., 2016).

Solutions to Address Endangerment

To prevent worse species destruction and declination, conservation efforts are already being raised and executed. The array of such practices include cultivation in plantations and even home gardens. Factors and techniques are also being researched to induce propagation of A. malaccensis (Saikia & Khan, 2014). This can then lead to a more sustainable provision of agarwood in industrial and local economies. In addition, according to the study by Lee & Mohammed (2016), a notable conservation effort can also be in the form of understanding the proper taxonomy system to address the genetic diversity and to identify the origins of agarwood products being aimed at trading controls, which are also an economic help in agarwood conservation.

References

Harvey-Brown, Y. 2018. Aquilaria malaccensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T32056A2810130. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T32056A2810130.en.

Karlianda, N., Wulandari, R. S., & Mariani, Y. (2013). Pengaruh NAA dan BAP terhadap perkembangan subkultur gaharu (Aquilaria malaccensis. Lamk). Jurnal Hutan Lestari, 1(1).

Lee, S. Y., & Mohamed, R. (2016). The origin and domestication of Aquilaria, an important agarwood-producing genus. In Agarwood (pp. 1–20). Springer, Singapore.

Nath, P. C., Nath, A. J., Sileshi, G. W., & Das, A. K. (2020). Stand structure and functional attributes of agarwood (Aquilaria malaccensis Lam.) based smallholder farms in Northeast India. Trees, Forests and People, 2, 100027.

Saikia, P., & Khan, M. L. (2014). Ecological features of cultivated stands of Aquilaria malaccensis Lam.(Thymelaeaceae), a vulnerable tropical tree species in Assamese Homegardens. International Journal of Forestry Research, 2014.

Wu, B., Lee, J. G., Lim, C. J., Jia, S. D., Kwon, S. W., Hwang, G. S., & Park, J. H. (2012). Sesquiterpenoids and 2‐(2‐Phenylethyl)‐4H‐chromen‐4‐one (= 2‐(2‐Phenylethyl)‐4H‐1‐benzopyran‐4‐one) Derivatives from Aquilaria malaccensis Agarwood. Helvetica Chimica Acta, 95(4), 636–642.