Morphological variation of Aceh Pinus (Pinus merkusii)

Abstract

The genus Pinus is classified as one of the most widely distributed genera of conifer trees, that are majorly distributed in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Pinus merkusii is the only member of the genus Pinus that is adapted in the tropics and grows naturally in south Equator. Its natural distribution found through-out Southeast Asia, e.g. in Indonesia; particularly on Sumatran Island. Three native strains are known on Sumatra: Aceh, Kerinci, and Tapanuli; with the first one is known as the largest population among the three and grows naturally on the high altitudes. The wood has been utilized in building construction, while the resin collected is classified as one of the most valuable Non Timber Forest Products (NTFP) worth up to US $ 50 million/year and applied in many industries. Planting of citron grass (Cymbopogon sp.) has been ’booming’ over the past seven years in the middle regions of Aceh due to its attractive selling price. As consequences, many Pinus trees have been logged and demanded as fire woods in the distillation process of citron grass. Thus, the citron grass’ plantation has been directly threatening the existence of Pinus forests. Therefore, in-situ conservation effort should be started from now on. Here, we would like to report the morphological variation (N= 15 traits) of natural Pinus (e.g., plant height, diameter of main stem, number of crowns per branch, etc.). The morphological data collected were then analysed with the Principal Component Analyses (PCA), in order to cluster the major agronomical parameters among them. This morphological data would be complemented and benefitted the efforts in the genetic study of Aceh Pinus.

An Object Driven Model of Above-Land Merkus Pine Tree for Quantifying the Commercial Contribution With Functional-Structural Plant Modeling

“…In this case, V k signifies the main stem volume for the kth year. Here, the main stem volume is measured via equation (3).…”

“…Collecting morphological data of the Merkus Pine tree required visiting the Mangunan Pine Forest and also looking for several secondary data from kinds of literature (e.g. [3] and [4]); mainly, the secondary data coming from [3] who talked about the analysis of Markus Pine trees in Linge sub-district area, in Aceh Province (Indonesia). Here, the collected data were used to create a mature dataset and to construct the virtual tree model.…”

“…The Merkus Pine stands as the singular representative of the Pinus genus capable of thriving in tropical climates, naturally flourishing along the southern equator. Its indigenous habitat extends across Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, with a notable presence on Sumatera island [3].…”

Identification of Pinus Merkusii Landrace Belonging to Kerinci - West Sumatra, Indonesia, Using Sequence-Related Amplified Polymorphism (Srap) Technique

“…Different landraces of P. merkusii have distinct genetic, morphological, anatomical, and physiological attributes (Siregar and Hattemer, 1999;Sandri et al, 2016). The P. merkusii landrace belongs to Kerinci (Kerinci landrace) with upright stems, thinner bark, and a scaly stem surface that lacks deep grooves, resembling more closely the stem shape of broadleaf plants, while the P. merkusii landrace belonging to the landrace Aceh with stems described as usually corkscrewed, thick-barked, dark-colored, and heavily fissured (Cooling, 1968;Andini et al, 2022).…”

Management, Exploitation and Contract Labor of the Pine Merkusi Forest in Tanah Gayo during the Dutch Colonial Period

“…Currently, Aceh Province is the province with the largest merkus pine forest in Iswanto et al (2022) Sumatra. These pine trees grow in the highland area of Tanah Gayo (Andini et al, 2022;Ikramatoun et al, 2020). The Tanah Gayo region covers three regencies, namely Central Aceh, Gayo Lues, and Bener Meriah regencies.…”