THE VEGETATION OF LAMBUSANGO FOREST, BUTON, INDONESIA
POWLING, A., PHILLIPS, A., PRITCHETT, R., SEGAR, S. T., WHEELER, R. & MARDIASTUTI, A. 2015. The<br />vegetation of Lambusango Forest, Buton, Indonesia. Reinwardtia 14(2): 265 – 286. ― Lambusango Forest is a tropical<br />rainforest on the island of Buton, which lies close to sout...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Indonesian Institute of Sciences
2016-01-01
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| Series: | Reinwardtia |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://e-journal.biologi.lipi.go.id/index.php/reinwardtia/article/view/1671 |
| Summary: | POWLING, A., PHILLIPS, A., PRITCHETT, R., SEGAR, S. T., WHEELER, R. & MARDIASTUTI, A. 2015. The<br />vegetation of Lambusango Forest, Buton, Indonesia. Reinwardtia 14(2): 265 – 286. ― Lambusango Forest is a tropical<br />rainforest on the island of Buton, which lies close to south east Sulawesi. The forest covers an area of about 95.000 ha,<br />with different parts of the forest having different levels of conservation protection. It lies on rocks of both calcareous<br />(limestone) and non-calcareous (sandstone, conglomerate, peridotite and chert) nature, which give rise to soils with<br />varying pH values, nutrient levels and water-holding capacities. The climate is seasonal, with a dry season of three<br />months and considerable year-to-year variability due to El Niño and La Niña events. The vegetation on the different<br />soils and in different habitats has been studied. Over 300 species of vascular plants found in the forest and surrounding<br />areas are listed, including trees and shrubs, herbs, climbers, epiphytes, ferns and club-mosses. Two genera, Calamus<br />with 18 species and Ficus with 29 species, are particularly species-rich, apparently due to their ability to occupy numerous<br />edaphic and ecological niches. Species of these two genera are also good colonists and so better able to reach<br />Buton in the recent past than other species. The plants of the forest indicate that Buton is floristically very similar to<br />Sulawesi, with at least 83% of the species found in the forest also being known from Sulawesi. Most of the plant families<br />and genera present on Buton are common in SE Asia, indicating colonisation primarily from that continent. Many<br />fewer families and genera have colonised from the Australasian continent. The conservation of plant diversity is necessary<br />for the forest to continue as a functioning ecosystem, to the benefit of the animals of the forest and also the local<br />people.<br /><br /> |
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| ISSN: | 0034-365X 2337-8824 |