Abstract. Rindyastuti R, Yulistyarini T, Darmayanti AS. 2019. Population and ecological study of agarwood producing tree (Gyrinops versteegii) in Manggarai District, Flores Island, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 20: 1180-1191. Gyrinops versteegii (Gilg) Domke is one of very important tree species listed in Appendix II CITES because of its economical value as a source of agarwood. Since this commodity has been harvested in a significant volume, the natural population of G. versteegii is continuously decreasing in size. A remnant forest of Pongkor is one of fragmented habitat of G. versteegii in the rest of other land use for rice farming in Flores Island. The purpose of this study were to investigate the population structure and importance value rank of G. versteegii among plant species in Pongkor Community Forest. A semi-purposive random sampling were used in this study to investigate the population of G. versteegii in Pongkor, Manggarai District. The result showed that G. versteegii in Pongkor Community Forest was abundant, especially in seedlings stage. G. versteegii were found in four stratas i.e., trees, poles, saplings and seedlings with densities of 6, 4, 15 and 23 plants ha-1, respectively. Seedlings of G. versteegii were abundant while larger plants were rare. Moreover, G. versteegii has scattered distribution and the highest important values (IVI) for trees, poles and saplings stratas, with IVI of 17.42, 25.75 and 44.42, respectively, while among the ground covers, G. versteegii ranked 22nd with an important value of 2.32. The abundant seedlings and the availability of adult trees as reproductive stages in the population of G. versteegii designated that population of G. versteegii in Pongkor could serve as a potential source of seed and young trees for plant enrichments in natural habitats and sustainable plantation in Manggarai District, Flores Island.

Background To address the lack of evidence supporting invasion by three invasive plant species (Imperata cylindrica, Lantana camara, and Chromolaena odorata) in tropical ecosystems, we compared the ecophysiological and leaf anatomical traits of these three invasive alien species with those of species native to Sempu Island, Indonesia. Data on four plant traits were obtained from the TRY Plant Trait Database, and leaf anatomical traits were measured using transverse leaf sections. Results Two ecophysiological traits including specific leaf area (SLA) and seed dry weight showed significant association with plant invasion in the Sempu Island Nature Reserve. Invasive species showed higher SLA and lower seed dry weight than non-invasive species. Moreover, invasive species showed superior leaf anatomical traits including sclerenchymatous tissue thickness, vascular bundle area, chlorophyll content, and bundle sheath area. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that leaf anatomical traits strongly influenced with cumulative variances (100% in grass and 88.92% in shrubs), where I. cylindrica and C. odorata outperformed non-invasive species in these traits. Conclusions These data suggest that the traits studied are important for plant invasiveness since ecophysiological traits influence of light capture, plant growth, and reproduction while leaf anatomical traits affect herbivory, photosynthetic assimilate transport, and photosynthetic activity.

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Abinawanto, Sophian A, Effendi PS, Siswantining T. 2018. Short Communication: Variation in vocal cord morphometric characters among dangdut type and the slow type Gaga Chicken. Biodiversitas 19: 1902-1905. Gaga chicken is one of the ornamental chicken originating from Sidendreng and Rapang (South Sulawesi). Gaga chicken has a unique crowing sound, like people laugh. Gaga’s chicken which has a long and fast crowing sound known as the dangdut type, while those with short and slow crowing sound are known as slow type. Study was conducted in Pinrang (South Sulawesi), where one of the pure strains are located. Samples were collected from Kanie, Bullo, Macege, Rappang, and Sidenreng. The purpose of study was to determine the characteristics of the vocal cord morphometric among the dangdut type and the slow type of Gaga’s chicken. All of the morphometric data were recorded and analyzed by Mean Test, using SPSS (version 22). The results showed that there was no significant difference ( = 0.010) among the dangdut type and the slow type based on syrinx morphometric. Meanwhile, according to the trachea muscle morphometric the results showed that the trachea muscle of dangdut type was longer than the slow type ( < 0.010). In addition, either the right or the left trachea muscle of dangdut type was longer than either the right or the left trachea muscle of the slow type ( < 0.010).

Abstract. Fiqa AP, Budiharta S, Siahaan FA, Rindyastuti R. 2020. Population structure of Gyrinops versteegii within floristic community in Nggalak Protection Forest, Flores Island, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 1561-1568.  Gyrinops versteegii (Gilg) Domke is one of the agarwood-producing plants native to eastern Indonesia with high level of exploitation in its natural habitat. Despite being protected by listing it in the CITES Appendix II, anecdotal evidence suggests that G. versteegii population continues to decline. Yet, there is limited empirical data to support such premise. This study was conducted to evaluate the abundance, population structure and floristic importance position of G.versteegii within vegetation community in its natural habitat in Nggalak Forest, Flores. Vegetation analysis was carried out at four growth stages: mature, immature, saplings, and seedlings stage. The results showed that G. versteegii was abundant in its natural habitat in Nggalak Forest in juvenile stages (i.e. seedlings to immature), but not in mature stage. Population densities for seedlings, saplings and immature stage were 313, 150 and 22 individuals per hectare respectively. G. versteegii also hold important position in the community structure, ranks 28th, 6th, and 14th for seedlings, saplings and immature stages respectively in term of importance value index. The high abundance and floristic importance of G. versteegii at the juvenile stages, but not at mature stages, indicates that rampant and over-exploitation of mature plants is likely the major threat to its population. We recommend to replicate similar study in other G. versteegii distribution areas. If similar pattern is found, conservation intervention in the form of protection of its natural population to sustain the juveniles to grow until mature stage may be required along with encouraging cultivation and reintroduction to enhance the population.

Rindyastuti R, Rachmawati D, Sancayaningsih RP, Yulistyarini T. 2018. Ecophysiological and growth characters of ten woody plant species in determining their carbon sequestration. Biodiversitas 19: 610-619. Tree planting and ecosystem restoration is one of mitigation program of global climate change scheme to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere by sequestering carbon. Carbon storage in the living plant varies among species due to ecophysiological and growth characters of their photosynthesis. Ecophysiological properties of tropical plant species related to carbon sequestration was lack of investigation. The study in this area will be the significant knowledge contribution to C-sink project especially species-level management which has been agreed globally and nationally. The objectives of this research were to study the ecophysiological and growth factors affecting carbon sequestration and to select plant species with high carbon sequestration using 16 months-old-seedling of ten woody plant species. Biomass, carbon storage, the whole plant photosynthetic capacity, total chlorophyll content, stomatal index, and Leaf Area Index (LAI) were significantly different among species. The LAI, total chlorophyll content, whole plant photosynthetic capacity, stem height and stem diameter were positively correlated to biomass and carbon storage. Multivariate correlation test (P>0.05) revealed that the total of chlorophyll content was the ecophysiological factor most contributes to carbon sequestration. The total of chlorophyll content correlates to the stem height, while the whole plant photosynthesis correlates to leaf area in determining plant carbon sequestration. Moreover, two mangrove species, H. littoralis and B. asiatica have the highest carbon sequestration among species studied. For priority in tree planting program in dry lowland habitats, the local species, i.e., S. cumini and D. discolor were more recommended than any others species observed in this study.

Abstract. Rindyaastuti R, Hapsati L, Wibowo AT. 2021. Analysis of morphological characteristics and phenetic relationship of ebony (Diospyros spp.) in Indonesia. Biodiversitas 22: 2738-2753. Diospyros L. (Ebenaceae) is an economically important genus that covers over 500 plant species. Members of this group are known to produce hard, dark, high-quality timbers known as ebony trees, while other members are known as persimmon trees. There is limited information on the morphological characters and phenetic relationship of this genus from Indonesian archipelago. In this work, we reported the phenetic clustering of 14 species of Indonesian Diospyros, based on plant habit, stem, leaves, and fruit characters, which was analysed using UPGMA and Jaccard similarity index. The phenetic dendrogram divided the 14 species of Diospyros into two main clusters which separating Subgen. Maba and Eudiospyros. Further, subgen. Maba was clustered into a single cluster while subgen. Eudiospyros was divided into 3 sub-clusters as sister groups. The clustering in Eudiospyros was supported by low SI and bootstrap value, demonstrating the high morphological variation of the subgenus. The sectional separation of Diospyros spp. was considered as paraphyletic. In general, our phenetic clustering exhibited suitability and relevancy with previous classification. Fruit size and trichomes are very important in this phenetic clustering, especially to form Eudiospyros subgenus. Fruit trichomes were also special characters related to biogeographical distribution following the Wallace line theory.

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