Abstract. Wiryono, Wanandi Y, Ilahi AK, Deselina, Senoaji G, Siswahyono. 2019. The local knowledge of the plant names and uses by Semende tribe people in Kaur District, Bengkulu Province, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 20: 754-761. Local botanical knowledge is essential for the survival of local communities, but there is a global trend of the loss of local botanical knowledge among young generation, which causes serious concern among ethnobotanists. The objectives of this study were: (i) to document the diversity of plant species locally utilized by the people of Semende tribe in Bengkulu, Indonesia, (ii) to know the correlation between botanical knowledge and age of those people, and (iii) to test whether their knowledge was affected by gender. Data were gathered through field observations and interviews with key informants and general respondents consisting of males and females, ranging from 16 to 60 years old. The data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively using regression analysis and t-test. The results showed that 106 species of plants were utilized by the people of Semende tribe for 14 types of uses. The knowledge of plant species and uses was positively correlated with age, implying that the young generation lost local botanical knowledge. Men had better botanical knowledge than women. Interaction with plants was presumably the determining factor affecting botanical knowledge. Young people spent less time in gardens than the elders, and so did the women than the men. Conversely, young people spent more time enjoying electronic entertainment than the elders, and so did the women than the men. Deliberate efforts must be done to maintain botanical knowledge among young people.

Wiryono, Puteri VNU, Senoaji G. 2016. The diversity of plant species, the types of plant uses and the estimate of carbon stock in agroforestry system in Harapan Makmur Village, Bengkulu, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 17: 249-255. Homegardens are a traditional form of agroforestry commonly found in rural areas in Indonesia, where a variety of agricultural crops and forest trees are grown in a mixed system. To some extent, the traditional homegardens resemble natural forest in vegetation structure and composition. The objective of this study was to know the diversity of plant species, the types of plant uses and the estimate of carbon stock in homegardens in, Harapan Makmur Village, Central Bengkulu District, Bengkulu Province, Indonesia. The field work was conducted in 2013. The data of uses were collected through interview, while data on vegetation were gathered from measurement. The data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The results showed that 101 species of plants were found in the homegardens, with a Shannon-Wiener diversity index of 0.99 for trees. The most dominant species of trees was Hevea brasiliensis Willd (rubber tree) with an importance value index of 127 %. For saplings and shrubs, rubber was also the most dominant with 169 individuals, while for herbs, Agrostis sp. was the most dominant species with an average coverage of 25.8 %. The community used plants for several purposes: 41 species for food, 21 for fire wood, 13 for ornamental plants, 11 for medicines, 7 for construction wood, 6 for shade trees, 2 for handy craft, 4 for hedge, 3 for forage, and 2 for coloring. Twenty three species were not used. The estimate of carbon stock in trees was 95.2 ton ha-1 .

Suhartoyo H, Munawar A, Wiryono. 2012. Returning biodiversity of rehabilitated forest on a coal mined site at Tanjung Enim, South Sumatra. Biodiversitas 13: 13-17. Restoring disturbed mined land is challenging since the outcomes of various rehabilitation procedures on mined sites in terms of vegetation structure, composition and ecological function are not presently understood, especially in the developing countries. This study examined the mechanism of biodiversity recruitment, especially on structural attributes of an undisturbed forest community and rehabilitated forests of different ages on sites disturbed by coal-mining operations at Tanjung Enim, South Sumatra. Un-mined forest was characterized by complex structural features including a dense stand of trees in a range of size classes, an almost closed canopy, and a shrubby understorey. In contrast, young mined sites were characterized by a low density of woody stems, a relatively open canopy and herbaceous ground cover. Soil characteristics of rehabilitated site were progressing towards the reference site. The marked differences in structural complexity between unmined and mined sites suggest that it will take very long time for the mined sites to recover into their original conditions. So, more restoration intervention will be needed to speed the recovery processes.

Wiryono, Japriyanto, Erniwati. 2017. The diversity of locally utilized plants and local botanical knowledge in Central Bengkulu District, Bengkulu Province, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 18: 1589-1595. For thousands of years rural communities have derived from their surrounding plants many products to meet their daily life. Maintaining botanical knowledge is, therefore, essential for the sustainability of rural communities. The objectives of this study were to know the diversity of plants utilized by villagers in Tanjung Terdana Village, Central Bengkulu District, Indonesia, and to describe the botanical knowledge of the villagers. Data were collected through interview with two key informants and 64 respondents. The results showed that 75 of plant species were used by villagers for ten purposes, namely medicine (53 species), firewood (41), food (32), construction (23), ornament (8), handycraft (6), hedge (6), custom (6) forage (3), and food coloring (1). On average, respondents could identify 70% of the 50 plants shown to them, and almost all respondents (98%) could identify plants for food. Older respondents spent more time in garden and knew more plant names and uses than the younger ones. Gender or time spent in electronic entertainment did not affect the botanical knowledge. Respondents unfinishing elementary school knew more plants than those finishing schools, may be because they were older. This study implied that activities in the garden can maintain the local botanical knowledge.

Wiryono, Siahaan AB. 2013. Species composition of understory vegetation in coal mined land in Central Bengkulu, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 14: 31-36. Coal strip mining in forest area has destroyed forest ecosystem and created barren land. Reclamation of mined land is done by revegetating the land. In addition to planted species, pioneer species usually grow naturally in mined land. The objectives of this study were to know the species composition of understory vegetation growing naturally in coal mined land planted with Gmelina arborea in Central Bengkulu, Indonesia, and to compare that composition with that of unreclaimed coal mined land and of natural forests. Data were collected by sampling understory vegetation in study site. Each plant was identified, harvested and oven-dried to find the biomass. Results showed that the reclaimed mined land had 16 understory species from 6 families, and the abandoned mined land had 10 species from 3 families, lower than that of natural forests, which were 92 and 112. The three most important species were Scleria sumatrensis Retz, Eragrostis chariis (Schult.) Hitchc and Paspalum conjugatum Berg. The species composition of understory vegetation in reclaimed mined land had high similarity with that of abandoned mined land but was totally different from that of natural forests.