Iskandar BS, Iskandar J, Irawan B, Partasasmita R. 2018. Traditional markets and diversity of edible plant trading: Case study in Ujung Berung, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 19: 437-452. Traditional markets are where traders and buyers meet; places where the supply and demand activities of selling and buying between traders and buyers occur. Buying and selling activities are realized based on the practice of bargaining, made possible by a negotiated willingness to slide a price. In bargaining, social relationships are activated. Traditional markets are managed by local companies called PD Pasar. The traders are generally small business groups. A particular feature of traditional markets is that they are primarily places to trade various foodstuffs that are needed by urban dwellers, including products such as rice and other additional staple foods, vegetables, spices and fruits. The aim of the study reported here was to detail various edible plant species and their variations (landraces) that are the source of products traded in a typical traditional market of West Java, Indonesia. The products of interest to us included carbohydrate staple foods, vegetables, spices, and fruits, produced by village farmers. We investigated the trading network for these edible plant commodities; and the role of traditional markets in supporting the conservation of biodiversity in the edible plants traded. The method used in this study was qualitative, applying an ethnobotanical approach. Field techniques of direct observation, participant observation and deep interview were applied. The results of the study showed that the traditional market of Ujung Berung, in Bandung, West Java, plays an important role in trading various edible plants produced by village farmers. Altogether, 120 plant species were recorded in the market, out of a total of 188 variants (species, and intra-species landraces), representing 44 families. There were 103 species that provided vegetables, 58 species used as spices, 39 species used for their fruits, and 10 that provided carbohydrate staple foods. In general, these plants commodities traded in the Ujung Berung traditional market are supplied by village traders or are bought from the central market in Bandung. The traditional market of Ujung Berung, Bandung has an important role as a place of economic activity for small businesses Furthermore, it is a factor supporting biodiversity in the edible plants traded.

In the past, the swidden agriculture system (huma) was dominant in village frontiers of West Java; including in the Karangwangi Village of Cidaun Sub-district, Cianjur District, West Java Province. Culturally, each Karangwangi household owned a right to cultivate upland rice (huma) by felling mature forest (leuweung). Moreover, the land was planted by upland rice and other annual crops, such as corn, cassava, cucumber, and various beans. After harvesting rice and other annual crops, the land was fallowed and transformed into secondary forest (reuma) through natural succession. Moreover, the mature secondary forest (reuma kolot) could be opened for rice planting again in the following year or fallowed for more than 3-5 years. People will shift to another piece of mature secondary forest for rice planting. Today, because of increasing population, decreasing forests, and increasing market economic penetration, the Karangwangi people have predominantly practiced the swidden farming in the non-forest instead of the forest. The forests had culturally been converted to traditional agroforestry systems, such as mixed-garden (kebon tatangkalan), and homegarden (pekarangan).This paper discusses the process of evolution of the swidden farming and innovatory cultural practice among the Karangwangi community, South Cianjur, West Java, in management of the traditional agroforestry systems which have been dynamically affected by ecological and socioeconomic changes. Four parts are presented in this paper. In part one, we account for the Karangwangi people used to practice the swidden farming in the forest when the forest area that was still abundant. In part two, we discuss a focus on process of the evolution of the swidden farming, transformed to the traditional agroforestry systems In part three, we elaborate on some changes of the traditional agroforestry system and responses to environmental changes. In part four, it is summarized and inferred of the paper. Based on this study, it can be inferred that by developing innovatory cultural practice, Karangwangi people of South Cianjur, West Java have tended to success to evolve their swidden farming to new condition of the traditional agroforestry systems in sustainable way, despite population growth, the depletion of the forests, and intensive market economic penetration.

Iskandar J, Iskandar BS, Partasasmita R. 2018. Review: The impact of social and economic change on domesticated plant diversity with special reference to wet rice field and home-garden farming of West Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 19: 515-527. The Impact of social and economic change on genetic diversity of domesticated plants with special reference to wet rice field and homegarden farming of West Java. Various farming systems have played an important role as sources of genetic diversity in plants. A large number of cultivated varieties have been commonly selected, maintained, and distributed by farmers and cultural practices and ecological factors have been involved. These factors, such as soil, climate, pests, and culinary, magical and ritual uses, have influenced farmers in their selection of plants in farming systems. Nowadays, however, the number of plant varieties in various farming systems of Java has dramatically declined. This article attempts to discuss the impact of social and economic change on the genetic diversity of agricultural plants of the wet rice field and home-garden farming, particularly based on data from West Java.

In the past, many West Javan Villages had a high diversity of wildlife. Nowadays, however, the diversity of wildlife in these villages has tended to decrease rapidly. This is caused by many factors, including the loss or destruction of wildlife habitat destruction, intensive use of pesticides in the agricultural sector, and illegal hunting. Animal hunting is typically undertaken by villagers for various purposes, such as to fulfill household meet consumption, as well as for the capture and trading of pets. Traditionally, the use of wildlife by the Sundanese people of West Java is influenced by corpus (local knowledge) and cosmos (beliefs). As a result, the wild animals have been utilized within a sustainable system that enables wildlife conservation. Today, however, a lot of traditional knowledge or local knowledge of wildlife has eroded. This paper elucidates local knowledge of Karangwangi villagers of Subdstrict of Cidaun, District of Cianjur, Province of West Java, Indonesia on various species, utilization, and the conservation of wildlife. Methods used in this study are a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques based on an ethnozoological approach. The result of study shows that the respondents recognize at least 45 species of wildlife consisting of 15 mammalian species, 21 species of Aves, and 9 species of herpetofauna. Based on the perception of respondents, those wildlife species have various socioeconomic and cultural saliences (eg. household meat consumption, pets, trading, and appearing in mythology), as well as various ecological functions (e.g., crop pests, pest controls, and seed dispersal). Some cultural myths related with wildlife have been recorded and partly determine the utilization of wildlife by village people.

Sahidin A, Zahidah, Herawati H, Wardiatno Y, Setyobudiandi I, Partasasmita R. 2018. Macrozoobenthos as bioindicator ofecological status in Tanjung Pasir Coastal, Tangerang District, Banten Province, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 19: 1123-1129. Theexistence of macrozoobenthos organism allow for bioindicator of ecological status and detected water pollution in coastal environmentwith observing the response, diversity, and abundance. The one of biological method for water quality analysis is AZTI Marine BioticIndex (AMBI). This research aims to determine water quality status in Tanjung Pasir water coastal Tangerang, Banten. The research wasconducted in April - August 2014 in Tanjung Pasir Coastal, Tanggerang, Banten with purposive sampling method and be forwarded withwater pollution analysis with AZTI Marine Biotic Index (AMBI) model. The research showed 4.552 individual of macrozoobenthosfound divided into 52 species with the average of diversity amount 634 ind./m2 with dominated by bivalve species Nuculana bicuspidate22.89%, it is a bivalve an extreme species that can live in waters with very low oxygen concentrations and hight pollution. The result ofAMBI (4.01 to 5.02) indicates water pollution in Tanjung Pasir Coastal classified in medium-heavy pollution and concentred in coastalzone. Polychaeta is a key bioindicator in the determination of water pollution and ecological status in Tanjung Pasir coastal.