The Lambir Hills Forest Dynamics Plot was initiated in 1991 in Lambir Hills National Park, Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo) by the Sarawak Forest Department, CTFS/Harvard University, and Plant Ecology Laboratory of Osaka City University, Japan. Ehime and Kyoto Universities (Japan) are also close collaborators at the site. Lambir's mixed dipterocarp forest is characterized by high endemism, and with approximately 1,200 species found in the 52-ha plot contains possibly the richest diversity of tree species in the Old World. This high species count at the plot is partly due to the plot's location. The plot crosses an abrupt change in soil types that results in a more than 60% change of species composition within 50 meters.