Traditionally, the Sundanese village people in West Java, to treat various common diseases, use traditional medicines made from various plants. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the knowledge of the Sundanese village people on various diseases, species of medicinal plants and parts of plants used to treat various diseases, sources of medicinal plant species, methods of processing and utilization of medicinal plant species, and source of knowledge on processing and utilization of medicinal plants. The method used in this research was mixed-methods, a mixture of qualitative and quantitative. Data collection techniques were carried out using semi-structured interviews with informants, structured interviews with respondents, and field observation. The results showed that there were 22 common diseases suffered by the people of Cibeurih Hamlet, Nagarawangi Village; 36 species of plants were recorded with the most dominant part of the leaf organ being used as medicine by the community; source of medicinal plants species mainly collected from the home garden; as well as the method of processing medicinal plants most often used by the community by boiling them, this knowledge is passed on from generation through parents.

Abstract. Permana S, Partasasmita R, Iskandar J, Rohmatullayaly EN, Iskandar BS, Malone N. 2020. Traditional conservation and human-primate conflict in Ujungjaya Village Community, Ujung Kulon, Banten, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 521-529. In the past, rural Sundanese people’s interactions with wild animals, including nonhuman primates (hereafter ‘primates’), is influenced by traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) with foundations in various myths and beliefs. Today, because of environmental changes, development of a market economy, cultural change, and the enhancement of agricultural technology, the beliefs and practices associated with TEK have eroded. We aim to describe the present perceptions of primates by the Sundanese people of Ujungjaya Village, Sumur Subdistrict, Ujung Kulon, Banten Province, and demonstrate how these myths and beliefs manifest in behavior towards primates. We use qualitative methods based on an ethnobiological approach to gain insight into people’s perceptions of their natural surroundings. Our results show that the people of Ujungjaya still maintain deep perceptions that are manifested in stories, songs, poems, spells, and invocations that prohibit the killing of primates. However, on their own, these manifestations are insufficient to protect primates from harm as the penetration of market economies and the fragmentation of habitats create the conditions for increased human-primate conflict. Indeed, the people of Ujungjaya sometimes hunt and capture primates for consumption, trading, and medicinal use. As such, laws and regulations designed to promote conservation are insufficient without an understanding of the cultural and socio-economic aspects of people’s lives.

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Several small-scale populations exhibited phenotypic plasticity whereby growth spurt of body height occurred much earlier than age at menarche and this was not followed by same early spurt of body weight. This leads to question whether growth trajectory of stature follow the same growth trajectory of body mass and whether the trajectory itself is associated to sexual maturity. We evaluated developmental plasticity observed in Baduy girl, a traditional population in Indonesia, in facing strenuous environmental and biocultural conditions. We measured stature and body mass cross-sectionally. We determined age at menarche as population average of age of girls that had already got their first menstruation. Growths of body fat and weight followed a same mode and timing and their spurts pivoted on the age at menarche. In contrast, growth spurt of body height occurred four years earlier than menarche and velocity curve of body linearity progressed in opposite direction to that of body ponderality. The prevailing poor nutrition and high physical activity elicited principle of ontogenetic allometry to synchronize the acceleration and deceleration of growths in body linearity and ponderality whereby growth in body height functions to reach the body size target and to provide skeletal framework for development of body mass. The biocultural conditions lead to slow bodily growth rate with low spurt resulting in the characteristics of Baduy girl that was small in size and late in both sexual maturity and full-grown ages.

Menopause is the permanent cessation of menstruation due to loss of ovarian follicular activity. Assessment of the age of menopause is particularly important because previous studies have shown a high risk of osteoporosis, hypertension, stroke, and coronary heart disease. This study aims to determine the risk factors for early menopause in Javanese women in Oransbari District, West Papua Province. The cross-sectional sampling method was carried out on women aged 51.73 years with an interval of 40.07-78.58 years. Age at menopause was calculated using the Probit Generalized Linear Model (GLM) analysis. We used a binary logit regression (BLR) model to estimate risk factors for early menopause. BLR analysis was fitted to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Age at menopause is divided into two categories, normal (≥45 years) and early (<45 years). Our results show that the average age of menopause is 43.1 years, or the early menopause category, with an age range of 39.61 to 55.28 years. The results of the partial parameter significance test at the 10% significance level showed that no formal education (OR: 2.348; CI 1.4213.917) had the most significant risk factor for experiencing early menopause, followed by parity (OR: 0.623; CI: 0.377-1.023), contraception (OR: 0.118; CI: 0.038-0.296), and the lowest risk was the age at first delivery (OR: 0.389; CI: 0.207-0.716). The biocultural conditions experienced early in life in Oransbari shape the character of a younger reproductive age as an adaptive response to maximize fitness.