Diversity and ecology of Pteridophytes in Cendil heath forest and Gurok Beraye tropical rainforest, Belitung Island, Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract. Priambudi AS, Chikmawati T, Sulistijorini, Fakhrurrozi Y. 2022. Diversity and ecology of Pteridophytes in Cendil heath forest and Gurok Beraye tropical rainforest, Belitung, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 23: 4775-4782. The tropical heath forest is a unique ecosystem type characterized by sandy and acidic soils with poor nutrients and water availability, making this ecosystem very vulnerable to disturbances. Yet, knowledge regarding the diversity and ecology of the biological elements of heath forests is still very limited, moreover, information on lesser-known plant groups, such as pteridophytes. Pteridophytes can be used as indicators of the quality of a forest ecosystem since they are cosmopolitan and have an excellent adaptation to various habitats. Belitung Island, Indonesia, is a region with a large proportion of tropical heath forest and small areas of tropical rainforest. There are only a few studies on comparison of the flora of the two ecosystem types on Belitung Island. This research aimed to compare the diversity and the ecology of pteridophytes that grow in the Cendil heath forest and the Gurok Beraye tropical rainforest, Belitung Island. The study used the cruise and the purposive sampling methods to record all pteridophytes within the sampling plots measuring 5 x 5 m alternately located on the right and left of line transects with a length of 50 meters each transect. Ecological data were calculated using the Important Value Index (IVI), Shannon-Wiener diversity index, Margalef richness index, Evenness index, Sorensen similarity index, Morisita distribution index, and Canonical Correspondence Analysis. The results showed that as many as 31 species of pteridophytes belonged to 14 families in the Cendil heath forest and Gurok Beraye tropical rainforest. The pteridophytes found in the Gurok Beraye tropical rainforest were higher (30 species) than that in the Cendil heath forest (9 species). There was high dominance of a few species in the Cendil heath forest due to the presence of three species with high IVI, namely Dicranopteris linearis, Palhinhaea cernua and Dicranopteris splendida. In contrast, pteridophytes in the Gurok Beraye tropical rainforest were evenly distributed with no high dominance species. Environmental parameters that affected the diversity and abundance of pteridophytes included temperature, light intensity, humidity, and altitude.

Species diversity, richness, and conservation status of Pteridophyta in the karst ecosystem of Donorejo Forest, Kaligesing, Purworejo, Indonesia

“…That is why Pteridophyta has a role as environmental bioindicators. This result has a higher Margalef Species Richness Index than Priambudi et al (2022) in Belitung Island, which showed the Margalef Species Richness Index value of Pteridophytes in the heath forest (low category 1.29) and tropical rain forest (moderate category 3.36) was below the species richness in karst ecosystems. According to (Ansari et al 2017), several plants from different divisions of the plant kingdom, such as chlorophyta, Bryophyta, and Pteridophyta, can be used to monitor and assess water quality in freshwater or marine, lentic or lotic, wetlands and coastal aquatic ecosystems.…”

“…For unknown Pteridophyta species, the names will be identified using Hoshizaki and Moran (2001), Mehltreter et al (2010), andCallado et al (2016). The detailed morphological generative (spore) and vegetative (leaf, stem, rhizome, hair/scale) organs were documented for each species found (Priambudi et al 2022). Name validation is carried out by checking the scientific name on the website of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (https://www.gbif.org/).…”

“…Then the primary data obtained will be included in the calculation of the diversity of Pteridophyta using the biodiversity indicators, namely Shannon-Wiener Index (H'), Evenness Species Index (E), and Margalef Species Richness Index (Dmg) (Priambudi et al 2022). While secondary data were obtained from literature studies to support field findings, namely IUCN Redlist and CITES for the conservation status…”

“…Pteridophyta, which are cosmopolitan; that is, they can grow in all areas, both in the highlands and lowlands, is one of the reasons these plants have high diversity (Salsabila et al 2021). Based on their habitat, Pteridophyta is classified into three habitats: lithophytes, epiphytes, and terrestrial (Priambudi et al 2022).…”

Traditional Knowledge of Plants for Sunggau Rafters on Three Forest Types for Conservation of Apis dorsata in Indonesia

“…Belitung Islands lie between Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia and are part of the savanna corridor in Sundaland [10]. The ecosystem in Belitung Islands comprises mainly the heath forest, which stands almost entirely on Belitung Island [11] with small areas of lowland rainforests [12]. As an archipelago, the Belitung Islands also have an extensive mangrove forest ecosystem, which is a species-rich community [13].…”