Indonesian Institute of Sciences

About: Indonesian Institute of Sciences is a facility organization based out in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Biology. The organization has 4795 authors who have published 10544 publications receiving 76990 citations. The organization is also known as: Indonesian Institute of Sciences Cibinong, Indonesia.

Characterization of Biomass Pellet Made from Solid Waste Oil Palm Industry

Abstract: To utilize various potential agricultural residues, pellet making was performed and the pellets obtained were characterized in this study. Oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB), oil palm frond (OPF), oil palm shell (OPS) and oil palm mesocarp (OPM) were employed as feedstock. Biopellet production was started with material crushing to get uniform material and then continued with pellet forming. Pellet making was conducted using conventional pelletizer under temperatures of 150, 200 and 250 °C for 15 minutes. Some characteristics were measured to determine biopellet quality, i.e. moisture content, density, ash content and calorific value. Based on the water content, ash content, density and calorific value, OPM biopellets that pressed at 200 and 250 °C showed the best formula. The characteristics of this biopellet were moisture content of 1.7-1.9%, ash of 6.85-7.45%, and calorific value of 3,814-4,724 kcal/kg.

Another potential source of destructive earthquakes and tsunami offshore of Sumatra

Abstract: [1] We link geodetic data from the Sumatran GPS Array (SuGAr) and earthquake focal mechanisms to show that a 900-km long backthrust, arising from the Sunda megathrust offshore of Sumatra, has recently become active following the series of great megathrust earthquakes of this past decade. Shallow failure of the Mentawai backthrust explains coseismic displacements during moderate-earthquake clusters in 2005 and 2009. These two clusters represent the first activity on the backthrust in more than 30 years. Existing paleogeodetic evidence of vertical deformation in past centuries is too sparse to characterize earlier major activity, but leaves open the possibility of historic great backthrust earthquakes. Our geodetic evidence for rupture of the Mentawai backthrust during the two recent earthquake clusters suggests that this large fault may well pose an additional seismic and tsunami hazard to the coastal communities of central Sumatra.

Local endemism and within-island diversification of shrews illustrate the importance of speciation in building Sundaland mammal diversity.

Abstract: Island systems are important models for evolutionary biology because they provide convenient, discrete biogeographic units of study. Continental islands with a history of intermittent dry land connections confound the discrete definitions of islands and have led zoologists to predict (1) little differentiation of terrestrial organisms among continental shelf islands and (2) extinction, rather than speciation, to be the main cause of differences in community composition among islands. However, few continental island systems have been subjected to well-sampled phylogeographic studies, leaving these biogeographic assumptions of connectivity largely untested. We analyzed nine unlinked loci from shrews of the genus Crocidura from seven mountains and two lowland localities on the Sundaic continental shelf islands of Sumatra and Java. Coalescent species delimitation strongly supported all currently recognized Crocidura species from Sumatra (six species) and Java (five species), as well as one undescribed species endemic to each island. We find that nearly all species of Crocidura in the region are endemic to a single island and several of these have their closest relative(s) on the same island. Intra-island genetic divergence among allopatric, conspecific populations is often substantial, perhaps indicating species-level diversity remains underestimated. One recent (Pleistocene) speciation event generated two morphologically distinct, syntopic species on Java, further highlighting the prevalence of within-island diversification. Our results suggest that both between- and within-island speciation processes generated local endemism in Sundaland, supplementing the traditional view that the region's fauna is relictual and primarily governed by extinction. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.