The Structure, Composition, and Health of Remnant Forest Vegetation of West Timor, Indonesia | Asian
Objectives: For decades, the forest of West Timor has been cleared for various purposes, leaving only tiny patches of remaining forest vegetation. In determining the survival of forests, species protection and management of forest habitats, understanding the tree-shrub composition and structure of this remnant forest vegetation is a critical tool. The present structure and composition pattern of tree-shrub species in such remnant forest vegetation has therefore been investigated in this study.
Study Design: This research project was planned using the Point Based Quarter Approach using a vegetation survey.
Location and Period of Study: The research project was conducted between April and July 2020 at five sample stands of remaining forest vegetation, namely Oliana, Tablolong, Fatukoa, Oenesu, and Alak, Kupang District, West Timor, Indonesia. Methodology: The tree-shrub vegetation was surveyed in each sample stand using the point-centered quarter method by placing three 100-m-long transects. The first transect was placed at random and the second and third transects were placed at a distance of 100 m between the two transects, parallel to the first transect. To build four quarters, sample points were then calculated at an interval of 10 m along each transect. The nearest tree or shrub (1 m height) to the sample point was defined in each quarter and the distance measured. The number of individuals, dominance, frequency, Importance Value Index (IVI), stem diameter at a height of 0.5 m and average plant height value for each species were calculated for each tree or shrub species. The Sørensen coefficient was also used to measure the Index Similarity (IS between stands. Results: Approximately 28 tree-shrub species from 16 families were reported out of the 600 invidual tree and shrub species measured in a total of approximately 1,500 m long line transect. The plant/hectare number was 833 and the mean species/stand number was 9.60 (sd = 1.94). In general, the number of species and families present in the population of remaining vegetation was relatively limited compared to the number usually found in rain forests. 28.21 (sd = 14.40) percent was the IS between the stands. The highest IS ranged from 1-2 (IS 55.56 percent) to 1-4 (IS 47.62 percent). The lowest IS was between 3-4 and 3-5 (10.53% IS). Based on the number of plants, the five remaining plant stands were dominated by the Fabaceae, Arecaceae, and Anacardiaceae families, but based on the IVI, they were dominated by the Lamiaceae, Fabaceae, and Sapindaceae families. On the basis of plant height, about 6.15 percent of the total person was in the small plant category ( ⁇ 2 m) and 3.32 percent was in the large tree category (>14 m). On the basis of stem diameter, however about 27.86 percent of the total person was in the small plant category ( ⁇ 10 cm) and about 2.99 percent was in the big tree category (> 130 cm). The majority of existing species is in the small and very small IVI category, with just around 14.26% of existing species in the very large IVI category (>20%) and 71.43% in the low and very low IVI category (<10%). In the five stands of residual vegetation, four most prominent plants, namely Tectona grandis Linn., Schleichera oleosa (Lour.), Vachellia nilotica (L.) P.J.H.Hurter & Mabb., and Spondias pinnata (L.f.) Kurz contributed more than 50 percent to IVI. Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit, Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.) Sw., Sesbania grandiflora (L.) Poiret, Syzygium cumini (L.), Pterocarpus indicus Willd., Pinus mercusii Jungh., among all the species identified & de Vriese and Acacia auriculiformis A.Cunn, respectively. Benth's ex. In the very tiny IVI, they were present. The contribution of invasive species to the remaining vegetation stands was generally relatively high (total IVI 56.96 percent), about a quarter of which were invasive species of weedy shrubs. Conclusion: Based on this result, it can be concluded that, as indicated by the low number of species and families, the low diversity of species, the heterogeneous floristic composition, as most of the species present were in the low occurrence category, and the dominance of invasive non-native tree and shrub species, the five remaining forest stands were in poor health. Therefore by taking mitigation and restoration measures to avoid further degradation, the forest needs urgent intervention.
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