Chemical characterisation of Dipterocarpaceae by use of chemical fingerprinting — a multielement approach at Sarawak, Malaysia

The concentrations of 44 chemical elements in different compartments of Dipterocarpaceae, a major canopy component tree, are investigated. The fingerprints revealed a uniform tendency of all 18 species investigated to exhibit low concentrations of elements compared to the `reference plantʹ proposed by Markert (Instrumental Element and Multi-Element Analysis of Plant Samples. Methods and Applications. Chicester: John Wiley, 1996:296 p.). Practically no accumulations of elements were found. The different compartments showed considerably different element concentrations with most elements showing the highest mean concentration in the leaves or twigs and the lowest mean concentration in the trunks. A comparison of mature trees and saplings of Dryobalanops lanceolata revealed higher concentrations for most elements in the saplings. From our knowledge this study can be considered as a first approach to access a tropical ecosystem on the basis of such a large scale of chemical elements.