Soil Climate Water Sumatra-Borneo Flora

a. Soil

The soil condition, particularly its fertility, its nutrient, and its type, influence the spread of flora and fauna. b. Relief Relief or the earth surface form will cause variety of altitude and temperature. Furthermore, these affect the flora and fauna varieties in Indonesia.

c. Climate

Climate determines the spread of flora and fauna. The climate elements such as light, rainfall, wind, ad temperature affect flora and fauna growth.

d. Water

The state of water will influence the types of flora and fauna. In the dry area, xerophytes can grow. While in the wet area, hygrophytes, such as lotus and eceng gondok Eichornia crassipes , can grow.

e. Biotic

Biotic or living things especially human beings influence the spread of flora and fauna. The biotic condition of an area may affect positively or negatively. It is positive if it supports the proliferation so they can grow and spread well. But, it is negative if it damages them or makes them extinct such as because of the hunt. f. Geological condition in the past Based on the geological history, Indonesia is divided into three sub regions, namely western part that belongs to Asian continent substratum, eastern part which belongs to Australian continent substratum, and the middle part which does not belong to both substratums. Indonesia islands that are included in Asian continent are Sumatra, Borneo, Java, and small islands surround them. New Guinea belongs to Australian continent, while Indonesia’s islands that occur in the middle are Celebes, Moluccas and Nusa Tenggara. During the ice age, namely Pleistocene period, the sea water froze at the earth’s poles. Sumatra, Java and Borneo were part of Asia continent. Meanwhile, New Guinea and Arafuru Sea integrated with Australia. When the Indonesia islands integrated, animals and plants migrated or spread freely from Java to Sumatra and Borneo or vice versa. Similarly, animals and plants could freely travel from Australia to New Guinea. As the ice age over, the large amount of ice in the poles melted, so that the sea level increased significantly. Some lower lands were flooded, as the result, Java Sea, South China Sea, and Arafuru Sea were formed. As the animals and plants could not migrate anywhere else, they were then isolated in particular areas. Finally, they become the special plants or animals of particular Indonesia’s islands. The flora and Fauna of western Indonesia are Asiatic as in the past they were part of Asia. The flora and fauna types of eastern part are Australian, while Celebes, Moluccas, Nusa Tenggara and Timor belong to typical middle Indonesia.

2. The spread of Flora in Indonesia

Based on the geological history above, Indonesia’s flora are divided into some areas namely flora of Sumatra-Borneo, Java-Bali, Wallace, and New Guinea. The plants are spread in these four areas that comprise tropical rainforest, seasonal forest, montane forest, tropical savanna and mangrove.

a. Sumatra-Borneo Flora

He types of flora of this area are greatly influenced by Af climate. It is tropical rainforests with rich rainfall and high humidity. There are two types of flora that live in this region based on the causes: 1 Cosmopolitan vegetation, caused by high rainfall level. The most dominant area is dense tropical rainforest with specific species, such as timber trees, dipterocarpus trees and variety of orchids. 2 Ferns, lichens and fungi grow because of high humidity. Vegetation which is not caused by the high level of rainfall and humidity is mangroves. They usually occur along the seashore and estuaries. In Aceh, there is a famous park called Gunung Leuser National Park, which represents several ecosystem types of Sumatra starting from beach and swamp forest, lowland rainforest, up to montane forest. It is the most diverse park that functions as a natural laboratory to study germ plasma of tropical rainforest. Active Self Exercise Mention the use of mangroves that grow along the seashore for the human life and environmental preservation. What are the main causes of the forest destruction and how are the effects? In the swamp area of Gunung Leuser National Park, there are some commercial trees like camphor tree Dryobalanops Aromatica which produce camphor. This tree belongs to dipteracarp. Other types of dipteracarp are timber tree Shorea Sp, keruing tree Dipteracarpus Sp , and resin tree Hope Sp. Other famous hard wood tree is tualang tree koompassia exelsa. A plant that becomes the mascot of Aceh society is Champak Michelia champaca L. Champak can be processed into champak oil for cosmetics. Other Sumatran floras are dipterocarpus tree, cinnamon tree, Rafflesia Arnoldi, orchid, Giant Corpse flower Amorfohophalhus titanium, jeluntung tree and resin. The plants that are massively cultivated in North Sumatra are rubber, clove, coffee, pepper, tobacco, sugar cane, coconut, cinnamon, gambier, sugar palm, and kapok tree. Borneo is famous for its tropical rainforests that rich in hard and big wooden trees. There grows rattan, a famous liana in Borneo. Moreover, South Borneo consists of lowland beaches, swamps, hilly areas and mountain ranges. In the middle, there is Merautus mountain range that lies from the north to the south and divides the area into two different regions. The eastern part is a hilly area dominated by prime forest, secondary forest, shrubs, and grassland. The western part is lowlands that consists of monotonous swamps, flood swamp, and tides swamp and alluvial. Mangroves, swamp forest, and area with various swamp grasses grow in these areas.

b. Java and Bali flora