Impacts of fire and prospects for recovery in a tropical peat forest ecosystem

Uncontrolled fires place considerable burdens on forest ecosystems, compromising our ability to meet conservation and restoration goals. A poor understanding of the impacts of fire on ecosystems and their biodiversity exacerbates this challenge, particularly in tropical regions where few studies have applied consistent analytical techniques to examine a broad range of ecological impacts over multiyear time frames. We compiled 16 y of data on ecosystem properties (17 variables) and biodiversity (21 variables) from a tropical peatland in Indonesia to assess fire impacts and infer the potential for recovery. Burned forest experienced altered structural and microclimatic conditions, resulting in a proliferation of nonforest vegetation and erosion of forest ecosystem properties and biodiversity. Compared to unburned forest, habitat structure, tree density, and canopy cover deteriorated by 58 to 98%, while declines in species diversity and abundance were most pronounced for trees, damselflies, and butterflies, particularly for forest specialist species. Tracking ecosystem property and biodiversity datasets over time revealed most to be sensitive to recurrent high-intensity fires within the wider landscape. These megafires immediately compromised water quality and tree reproductive phenology, crashing commercially valuable fish populations within 3 mo and driving a gradual decline in threatened vertebrates over 9 mo. Burned forest remained structurally compromised long after a burn event, but vegetation showed some signs of recovery over a 12-y period. Our findings demonstrate that, if left uncontrolled, fire may be a pervasive threat to the ecological functioning of tropical forests, underscoring the importance of fire prevention and long-term restoration efforts, as exemplified in Indonesia

Ethnobotanical study and nutrient potency of local traditional vegetables in Central Kalimantan

The Dayak people in Central Kalimantan, traditionally consumed local vegetable, either collected from the wild or traditionally cultivated. Unfortunately, many of the traditional vegetables are approaching extinction, even in their local market. This research is intended to conserve the traditional vegetable by collecting nutritional data and cultural information about the vegetable. Nineteen traditional Dayak vegetables were observed in local markets and in wild areas. Taxonomic identification revealed that the vegetables were Passiflora foetida L. (kemot), Diplazium esculentum (Retz). SW. (bajey fern), Spondias pinnata (L.f.) Kurtz (kedondong leaves), Neptunia oleracea Lour (malu-malu leaves), Manihot esculenta Crantz (cassava leaves). Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. (talak leaves), Etlingera elatiar (Jack) R.M. Smith (potok shoots, red and green cultivar), Calamus sp. (rotan shoots), Nauclea sp. (Taya leaves), Momordica charantia L. (paria leaves), Gymnopetalum cochinense Kurz (kanjat), Solanum torvum Swartz. (segau fruit), Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott (sulur keladi shoots), Stenochlaena palutris (Burm.)Bedd. (kalakai leaves; red and white cultivar), lotus shoots (pucuk teratai), and Cnesmone javanica Blume (lampinak leaves). Nutrient analysis revealed that red kalakai (wild fern) has the potential nutrient value. It has a high amount of Fe (41.53 ppm), Cu (4.52 ppm), vitamin C (15.41 mg/100g), protein (2.36%), β-carotene (66.99 ppm), and folic acid (11.30 ppm). Other iron-rich vegetables were sulur keladi (49.25 ppm) and bajey (44.6 ppm). While other vitamin C-rich vegetables were paria leaves (18.34 mg/100 g wb), and bajaj fern (22.05 mg/100g w.b). Sulur keladi and bajey were also rich in folic acid. They had 16 and 6.3 ppm of folic acid respectively. The β-carotene content in bajey was 74.04 ppm while taya was 77.41 ppm

Preleminary Analysis of Cause-effect on Forest-peatland Fires Prior to 2020 in Central Kalimantan

Central Kalimantan covers an area of 157,983 km2 with more than 2,000 km2 of tropical peatlands, which is one of the buffer regions of Indonesia's new capital government city. However, the sad story is the conversion of about one million hectares from peat swamp forests (PSF) to rice fields occurred in the mid-1990s, so called the Mega Rice Project (MRP). Since then, forest and peatland fires become an annual event due to high level of degradation under the climate change symptoms such the frequent of the El Niño event. In very strong El Niño of 2015, Indonesia has returned to the world spotlight in relation to the fires and the haze crisis. The most fire prone area was recorded in the iconic Tumbang Nusa, Pulang Pisau Regency and its adjecent areas. However, the thick haze had covered almost the entire province. There are the dis-adventages impact during more than two months. Therefore, this study was to investigate what are the causes and the impacts of this disaster at the site level. This research location was focuses on three regencies and one city namely Pulang Pisau, Kapuas, Katingan and Palangka City. The method was a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with key figures representing eight clusters of village communities. This method is also supported by statistical, hotspots and spatial data for additional analysis. The result are only two villages with very high average of hotspot and eight with high average of hotspots in Pulang Pisau and Kapuas Regency. Further, the FGDs in seven villages showed that there were three main clusters that caused forest-land fires, namely natural factors, human factors and village policy / regulation factors. The villages study that were affected by the fire in 2015 showed there were three main impacts namely on people, environment and capital. This result is a foundation of cause-effect factor for further Root Cause Analysis to find out the options for fire prevention and management in climate change mitigation efforts. Keywords: Climate Change; El-Niño; Fires; Focus Group Discussion; Peatlan

Impacts of fire and prospects for recovery in a tropical peat forest ecosystem

Uncontrolled fires place considerable burdens on forest ecosystems, compromising our ability to meet conservation and restoration goals. A poor understanding of the impacts of fire on ecosystems and their biodiversity exacerbates this challenge, particularly in tropical regions where few studies have applied consistent analytical techniques to examine a broad range of ecological impacts over multi year timeframes. We compiled 16 years of data on ecosystem properties (17 variables) and biodiversity (21 variables) from a tropical peatland in Indonesia to assess fire impacts and infer the potential for recovery. Burned forest experienced altered structural and microclimatic conditions, resulting in a proliferation of non-forest vegetation and erosion of forest ecosystem properties and biodiversity. Compared to unburned forest, habitat structure, tree density, and canopy cover deteriorated by 58-98%, while declines in species and populations were most pronounced for trees, damselflies, and butterflies, particularly for forest specialist species. Tracking ecosystem property and biodiversity datasets over time revealed most to be sensitive to recurrent high-intensity fires within the wider landscape. These megafires immediately compromised water quality and tree reproductive phenology, crashing commercially valuable fish populations within 3 months and driving a gradual decline in threatened vertebrates over 9 months. Burned forest remained structurally compromised long after a burn event, but vegetation showed some signs of recovery over a 12-year period. Our findings demonstrate that, if left uncontrolled, fire may be a pervasive threat to the ecological functioning of tropical forests, underscoring the importance of fire prevention and long-term restoration efforts, as exemplified in Indonesia