Using a common temperate herbaceous terrestrial orchid from Australia (Caladenia latifolia) this study investigated 19 asymbiotic media variations comprising four commonly used basal media [half-strength Murashige and Skoog (½MS), Knudson C (KC), Pa5, and Vacin and Went (VW), with combinations of the plant growth regulators 6-benzylaminopurine (BA) and α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) or coconut water (CW) and compared their performance with germination on a standard symbiotic germination medium, oatmeal agar (OMA). Percentage germination of seeds every 2 weeks for a total of 8 weeks (five replicates per treatment), time to germination, and growth and development phases in seedlings were recorded. ½MS with 5% (v/v) fresh CW delivered 93% germination, with seedling vigour and development indistinguishable from OMA (95% germination). The same protocol was applied to a further ten species (including the endangered Caladenia huegelii), demonstrating high asymbiotic germination performance (60-93%) across a wide phylogenetic range of terrestrial orchid species.

Bustam BM (2010) Systematic studies of Australian stipoid grasses (Austrostipa) based on micro morphological and molecular characteristics. Biodiversitas 11: 9-14. This research is one of many studies on stipoid grasses organized by the International Stipeae Working Group (ISWG). This research tested the subgeneric classification of Austrostipa proposed by Jacobs and Everett (1996) and tested how informative the micro morphological characters used. Data were collected from herbarium specimens of 36 species (33 species of Austrostipa, two species of Hesperostipa and one species of Anemanthele) at Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. Twenty eight micro morphological characters were used. The data were collected from both adaxial and abaxial surfaces of leaves, and from the lemma epidermis using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). ISWG provided the molecular data. Parsimony analysis and a distance method (Unweighteic Pair Group with Arithmatic Mean: UPGMA) were used to analyze micro-morphological and molecular data separately. Only UPGMA analysis was used to analyze the combined data. The results support the monophyly of Austrostipa. However, there is a little support for the subgeneric classification of Austrostipa proposed by Jacobs and Everett (1996), other than for the consistent recognition of Falcatae. The characters for comparisons between genera are too homoplasious at this level and do not contain enough information for analyses at subgeneric level, a problem apparently shared with the DNA sequences.Key words: Austrostipa, stipoid grasses, micro morphological, molecular

Fitri L, Bustam BM (2010) Screening of antimicrobial producing strains isolated from the soil of grassland rhizosphere in Pocut Meurah Intan Forest Park, Seulawah,. This research was a part of some works that was conducted to find antibiotics from soil microbes. The aim of this research was to screen isolates of antibiotics-producing microbes. Soil samples were collected from grassland rhizosphere in Pocut Meurah Intan Natural Reserved Forest Seulawah, Aceh Besar. This research was conducted at the microbiology laboratory Department of Biology , Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Syiah Kuala University. This research covers six steps i.e. collecting soil samples, isolation of microbes, making colony library, purifying colony library, antagonism test and disk method test. Eleven isolates of microbes were selected, and purified for colony, library. However, only six isolates were assumed to have an ability to produce antibiotics, as confirmed by antagonism test. Those isolates have greater ability to inhibit the growth of Staphylococcus aureus than that of Escherichia coli. 13.25 mm was The average of clear zones formed for Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were 13.25 and 11.33 mm, respectively.

Abstract. Daud M, Bustam BM, Arifin B. 2019. A comparative study of carbon dioxide absorption capacity of seven urban forest plant species of Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 20: 3372-3379. Global warming has been a major issue affecting all parts of the world in recent years. One method of reducing the impact of global warming is through supporting the green open space. The city government of Banda Aceh, Indonesia has targetted as much as 30% of its area to the formation of green open space. The BNI urban forest is one example of the green open spaces in Banda Aceh. This research was conducted to know the carbon dioxide absorption capacity in seven selected tree species found in the urban forest. The method that has been applied was the explorative survey method with purposive sampling. The data were analyzed using linear regression and correlation analysis. The results showed that the highest ability of carbon dioxide absorption per leaf per hour was found in the Terminalia catappa (0.511 g/leaf/hour) and the lowest was found in the Calophyllum inophyllum (0.056 g/leaf/hour). While the highest carbon dioxide absorption per tree per hour was found in Pterocarpus indicus (4,642,293 g/tree/hour) and the lowest was found in Calophyllum inophyllum (162,640 g/tree/hour). The results of linear regression analysis showed that there was no strong correlation and no significant effect between leaf surface area and mass of carbohydrate, to capacity of carbon dioxide absorption in urban forest plants.