Ecological Property the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra - Essay Example

Ecological property the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra. A study on the flora and fauna Ecological property the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra A study on the flora and fauna Introduction The Tropical Rainforest heritage is counted among the premier world heritage sites that consist of three distinct protected sites and is located in the vicinity of the Bukit Barisan mountain range. It is situated in the western portion of Sumatra. All of these sites are distinct from each other in terms of the ecological properties and the typology of the ecosystem that they support. The northern province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam has the Gunung Leuser National Park, the south-central portion of Sumatra has the Kerinci Sablat Park and the far southern part has the presence of Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (Marshall, Jones & Wrangham, 2010). The administration of these forests is run by the Directorate General of Forest conservation and forest protection. It is situated along the north, south and central part of the equator alongside the Bukit Barisan mountain range. These three areas have a much defined kind of flora and fauna, exhibiting a lot of diversity in their composition. Overall, these areas can be considered to be a hotbed for ecological diversity. However, the temperature can be said to be warm in general with higher temperatures, higher rainfall being experienced for nine months of the year in the wetter parts and seven months in the drier areas (Marshall et al., 2010). This has also been one of the contributing factors in the higher variety of the species. The humidity can also be highlighted, as it tends to maintain a constant value of close to 60 percent, especially above the altitudes of 1,700 metres. Overall, the temperature displays a consistency of being around 20-28 degree Celsius throughout the year (68 to 83 Fahrenheit). The Indonesian archipelago comprises 10 percent of the population of flowering plants and Sumatra is a part of the Sundaland hotspot. It has one of the largest rainforests in Southeast Asia, ranking along the likes of Borneo and Papua New Guinea (Thornton, 1997). The number of species of plants that inhabit this region is staggering. Almost 10,000 species of plants are present in these forest that range from coastal to sub-alpine conditions. It presents a rare opportunity for environmentalists; as such a diverse set of flora is very difficult to spot in any other part of the world. The constituent flora However, this flora is primarily shared in its constitution and composition with the region comprising west of Malisia spanning from the south of Thailand to the islands of New Guinea. Specifically, the northern region of Lake Toba has a very distinct Sumatran flora which is largely montane and sub-alpine kind of vegetation (Thornton, 1997). This area has 12 percent of the species and around 17 percent of species which are endemic in composition. All the species are extremely rich, and the number totals close to 4,000. There are major differences between the highland and the lowland vegetation in these areas, and also among the north and south due to the presence of natural barriers. One of the distinctive features in the park is the presence of phyto-geographic regions, which vary according to the altitude. The tropical conditions are existent up to the elevation of 1,000 metres. In that, around 300 metres of the vegetation comprises of the coastal forest and other lowland varieties, 29 percent is the foothill forest from the elevation levels of 400 metres to 1, 300 metres, close to 31 percent is montane in the elevations of 1,000 to 1,500 metres; which is extremely rich in Fagaceae and Lauraceae (Whitten, Damanik , Jazanul & Nazzaruddin , 2010) . The lower 15 percent of those elevations are rich in mosses, rattans and palms, whilst the upper 20 percent is having acid loving plants as basal constituents. The remainder has subalpine forest and ericoid scrubs form an elevation of 2,400 metres to 3,400 metres. Around 91 of the species of flora have been found to endemic in this part of the elevation. This can be attributed to the dryness of these elevations due to repeated eruptions of Mt Toba leading to a blockage of seed dispersal and cross pollination. This has increased the frequency of endemic species in this area. There are a variety of flora in this area, but is primarily dominated by Hopea beccariana (CR), Dipterocarpaceae, Fagaceae and Burseraceae, along with the species of Myrtaceae and Fagaceae(Whitten et al., 2010) . The subalpine area is dominated by species of Ericaceae. A number of forested wetlands are also a part of this ecosystem, where orchids have been recorded. The threatened species include Hopea beccariana, Shorea ovalis ssp.seicea, Vatica obovata. It also has other endangered species like S. platyclados, Horsfieldia triandra , H. mecilenta , and H.macrothyrsa ( De Wilde & Duyfjes, 2006). Around one percent of the heritage park consists of a very diverse coastal forest. It is basally dominated by Shorea, and Hopea species. Around 55 percent of the park is very mountainous but the overall elevation is lesser than 2,000 metre. The highland forest elevation is covered by the species of Dipterocarpaceae, Annonaceae, Lauraceae and Myrtaceae. In all the three geographies of the heritage area, there is the growth of the almost a meter wide flower called Rafflesia arnoldii  and two metre high flowers consisting of A. gigas  and Amorphophallus titanium(Whitten et al., 2010) . There are many species of Dipterocarpus, Hopea and Shorea which feature among the critically endangered species of Sumatra. The constituent fauna The diversity of fauna in the heritage area is staggering, with almost 180 mammal species and about 450 documented species of birds. In terms of the diversity of mammalian fauna, it is in the same league of Borneo and New Guinea. The orangutan of Sumatran lineage Pongo abelii is endemic to the region (Whitten et al., 2010). There is a wide range of vegetation that can be seen in the lowland and highland areas, between the north and south; mainly due to the natural barriers that exist in the region. This has resulted in a high degree of sub-speciation leading to a large number of endemic species. There are around 465 species of breeding birds in comparison with 420 of Borneo and 340 in Java (Marshall at al., 2010). Also, the number of herpetofauna, species of fish and invertebrates is also very rich. The connections among the different habitats would have facilitated the development of rich fauna. The key animals in these areas are the Sumatran rhino Dicerhinos sumatrensis orangutan Sumatran tiger Panthera tigris sumatrae and Sumatran elephant Elephas maximus sumatranus. The other notable mammals in the areas are the alyasian sun bear Helarctos malayanus, the different types of grizzled langur called as Presbytis thomasi, the rats called as Rattus hoogerwerfi and Maxomys hylomoides(De Wilde. & Duyfjes, 2006).  There are also a number of rare birds in the area that include the Ruecks blue flycatcher Cyornis ruckii, Sumatran ground cuckoo Carpococcyx viridis , white-winged duck Cairina scutulata and Storms stork Ciconia stormi. Managerial factors and governing laws The heritage site is of immense importance in terms of the variety of flora and fauna supported by it. There are a number of laws that have been put in place to ensure the overall development of the forests. The management of park is done by the laws UURI #5 on the conservation of biological reserves. This has ensured a sound administration to be put in place for the management of the flora and fauna. There are a number of constraints that have been hampering the protection of these forests. These include the threats of logging, the encroachment of land for settlement and agriculture, the poaching of animals and natural disasters (van Schaik, Monk & Robertson, 2000). There is a great risk of forest fires. In the year 1997, there was a great forest fire that destroyed a considerable portion of the jungle. These fires are mostly man made to clear the jungles for vegetation and settlement. The biggest brunts of these activities have been suffered by the lowland type of vegetation, which only has around twenty percent of the original area of 12 million hectares (De Wilde & Duyfjes, 2006). The destruction has been rampant over the past few decades, owing to incessant logging and agricultural encroachment of land. The montane forests are also being threatened by similar factors. The local agencies are trying to build consensus for protection of these lands. There are some gold mines that are located in this area. Conclusion Although, they themselves are not a big sources of pollution, but the building of roads in order to facilitate the access to these mines has caused a great level of de-forestation (De Wilde & Duyfjes, 2006). Overall, the government has been taking a number of steps in conjunction with the wildlife authorities to protect these flora and fauna. But, there is a constant risk from a number of vested interests and recurrent loss of political will in this situation (van Schaik, Monk & Robertson, 2000). Training is being provided to the locals on order to avoid a confrontation between the animals and them. However, a lot needs to be done if these pristine forests have to survive and sustain. There is a need for continual efforts to ensure its existence from all possible quarters. References De Wilde, W. & Duyfjes, B. (2006). Vegetation, Floristics and Plant Biogeography in Gunung Leuser National Park. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 15(1), 29-31. Marshall, A., Jones, J. & Wrangham R. (2010). The Plight of the Apes: a Global Survey of Ape Populations.  New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation. Thornton, I. (1997). Krakatau: The Destruction and Reassembly of an Island Ecosystem, Harvard University: Harvard University Press. van Schaik, C., Monk, K. & Robertson, J. (2000). Dramatic decline in orang-utan numbers in the Leuser Ecosystem in Northern Sumatra. Journal of Ecology,35 (1), 249-258. Whitten, T., Damanik, S., Jazanul A. & Nazzaruddin H. (2010). The Ecology of Sumatra. The Ecology of Indonesia Series, 1(2), 15-30. Tropical rainforest heritage of sumatra. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2012 from http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1167 Read More