REINWARDTIA
Vol 12, Part 5, pp: 391 – 404
391
FLORISTIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE OF SUBALPINE
SUMMIT HABITATS ON MT. GEDE-PANGRANGO COMPLEX,
CIBODAS BIOSPHERE RESERVE, WEST JAVA, INDONESIA
Received December 1, 2008; accepted December 3, 2008
A. SADILI
Herbarium Bogoriense, Botany Division, Research Center for Biology – LIPI, Jl. Raya Jakarta Bogor Km 46,
Cibinong 16911, Indonesia
K. KARTAWINATA
Herbarium Bogoriense, Botany Division, Research Center for Biology – LIPI, Jl. Raya Jakarta Bogor Km 46,
Cibinong 16911, Indonesia; UNESCO, Jakarta Office, Jakarta, Indonesia. E-mail:
kkjak@indo.net.id (author for
correspondence)
A. KARTONEGORO
Herbarium Bogoriense, Botany Division, Research Center for Biology – LIPI, Jl. Raya Jakarta Bogor Km 46,
Cibinong 16911, Indonesia
H. SOEDJITO
Herbarium Bogoriense, Botany Division, Research Center for Biology – LIPI, Jl. Raya Jakarta Bogor Km 46,
Cibinong 16911, Indonesia; Indonesian National MAB Committee, LIPI, Jakarta, Indonesia
A. SUMADIJAYA
Herbarium Bogoriense, Botany Division, Research Center for Biology – LIPI, Jl. Raya Jakarta Bogor Km 46,
Cibinong 16911, Indonesia
ABSTRACT
SADILI, A., KARTAWINATA, K., KARTONEGORO, A., SOEDJITO, H. & SUMADIJAYA, A. 2009. Structure
and composition of subalpine summit habitats on Mt. Gede-Pangrango complex, Cibodas Biosphere Reserve, West
Java, Indonesia. Reinwardtia 12 (5): 391–404. — We undertook a phytosociological analysis of the subalpine
herbaceous and shrubby vegetation at the Mandalawangi and Suryakencana meadows and the scrub at the Crater
Side at the tops of Mt. Gede and Mt. Pangrango in the Cibodas Biosphere Reserve. We recorded 30 species of 18
families of saplings, shrubs, seedlings and herbs in 78 quadrats with a total area of 7,800 m
2
. Anaphalis javanica, a
woody tall herb and long-lived pioneer was the dominant species in the sapling and shrub stratum, while Isachne
pangerangensis, Tripogon exiguus and Carex verticillata were prevalent in the seedling and herb stratum at
Mandalawangi and Suryakencana. Stunted shrub is Vaccinium varingaeifolium, dominant in the Crater Side scrub.
Based on the importance values, the Mandalawangi meadow may be designated as the Anaphalis javanica-Isachne
pangerangensis community type, the Suryakencana meadow as Anaphalis javanica-Tripogon exiguus community
type and the Crater Side scrub as Vaccinium varingiaefolium-Seliguea feei community type. The similarity indices
between Mandalawangi and Suryakencana community types were very high (>75 %) while those between the
Crater Side and Mandalawangi and the Crater Side and Suryakencana were very low (<10 %). Poor soil conditions
and fire seem responsible for the perpetual existence of A. javanica.
Keywords: Structure and composition, subalpine meadows, Anaphalis javanica, top of Mt Gede-Pangrango
ABSTRAK
SADILI, A., KARTAWINATA, K., KARTONEGORO, A., SOEDJITO, H. & SUMADIJAYA, A. 2009. Struktur
dan komposisi habitat subalpin di puncak G. Gede-Pangrango, Cagar Biosfer Cibodas, Jawa Barat, Indonesia.
Reinwardtia 12 (5): 391–404. — Analisis fitososiologi telah dilakukan pada vegetasi terna di alun-alun
Mandalawangi dan Suryakencana dan semak di Tepi Kawah daerah puncak G. Gede dan G. Pangrango di Cagar
Biosfer Cibodas. Tercatat sebanyak 30 spesies dari 18 suku belta, perdu, semai, dan terna dalam 78 petak cuplikan
dengan luas total 7.800 m
2
. Anaphalis javanica, terna tinggi mengayu dan pionir berumur panjang, adalah spesies
dominan pada stratum belta dan perdu , sedangkan Isachne pangerangensis, Tripogon exiguus dan Carex verticillata
adalah jenis utama pada stratum semai dan terna di alun-alun Mandalawangi dan Suryakencana. Perdu kerdil
Vaccinium varingaeifolium adalah jenis dominan dalam komunitas semak Tepi Kawah. Berdasarkan nilai
pentingnya vegetasi di alun-alun Mandalawangi dapat disebut sebagai tipe komunitas Anaphalis javanica-Isachne
pangerangensis, di alun-alun Suryakencana tipe komunitas Anaphalis javanica-Tripogon exiguous dan semak Tepi
Kawah tipe komunitas Vaccinium varingiaefolium-Seliguea feei. Indeks kesamaan antara tipe komunitas di
REINWARDTIA [VOL.12
392
Mandalawangi dan di Suryakencana sangat tinggi (>75 %), sementara antara tipe komunitas Tepi Kawah dan
Mandalawangi serta antara tipe komunitas Tepi Kawah dan Suryakencana sangat rendah (<10 %). Kondisi tanah
miskin dan juga kebakaran tampaknya merupakan faktor yang mempertahankan kelanggengan A. Javanica.
Kata kunci: Struktur dan komposisi, alun subalpin, Anaphalis javanica, puncak G. Gede-Pangrango
INTRODUCTION
The Cibodas Biosphere Reserve comprises
natural ecosystems contained within the Gunung
Gede-Pangrango National Park and man-made
ecosystems surrounding the Park bordered by the
encircling highway connecting Ciawi-Sukabumi-
Cianjur-Puncak-Ciawi (Figure 1). The Cibodas
Biosphere Reserve is listed as a member of the
World Network of Biosphere Reserves (Rustiami,
2004). It is an important conservation and
biological research site that has a long history in
Indonesia.
The natural ecosystems within the Park have a
high plant species richness, where to date 823
species of flowering plants have been recorded
(Sunarno & Rugayah, 1992) and the number have
increased with additions from recent inventory
and ecological studies. The site has attracted a
large number of scientists to explore and study the
tropical biology and ecology of plants and animals
in these ecosystems since the establishment of the
Botanic Gardens in Bogor in 1817. The brief
history of scientific research in the area is
included in the Mountain Flora of Java by Van
Steenis et al. (1972, 2006), while earlier Van
Steenis & Van Steenis-Kruseman (1953) listed
botanists and their publications based on research
in Mt. Gede-Pangrango up to 1952. All of them
were the results of qualitative observations.
Some of the noted earlier botanists and plant
ecologists were Blume (1825), Docters van
Leeuwen (1933), Junghuhn (1845), Hasskarl
(1840), Koorders (1918–1923), Korthals (1848),
Kramer (1926, 1933), Reinwardt (1819), Seifriz,
(1923), Teysmann (1842), and Went (1940).
After the 2
nd
World War research in the area has
been undertaken by Abdulhadi et al. (1998),
Meijer (1959), UNESCO et al. (1975), Srijanto
(1987), Sunarno & Rugayah (1992), Yamada,
(1975, 1976, 1977), and several undergraduate and
graduate students from various universities.
Quantitative ecological studies in the natural
ecosystems of the Cibodas Biosphere Reserve
have been concentrated on the montane and
subalpine forests (Abdulhadi et al., 1998; Srijanto,
1987; UNESCO et al., 1975; Yamada, 1975, 1976,
1977); and none has been conducted on subalpine
herbaceous and shrubby communities. The
following account reports the results of a quan-
titative phytosociological study in the alun-alun
(open herbaceous and shrubby meadows)
Mandalawangi and Suryakencana and the crater
side scrub at the tops of Mt. Gede and Mt.
Pangrango, complementing the qualitative records
of vegetation made earlier by various botanists,
particularly Docters Van Leeuwen (1933) and Van
Steenis et al. (1972, 2006).
STUDY SITE
The Cibodas Biosphere Reserve comprises
natural ecosystems contained within the Gunung
Gede–Pangrango National Park (GGPNP) and
man-made ecosystems surrounding the Park,
bordered by the intercity highway connecting
Ciawi-Sukabumi-Cianjur–Puncak–Ciawi, with the
total area of 108,000 hectares. It is located within
Bogor, Cianjur and Sukabumi Districts, West Java
(Figure 1). The GGPNP comprises an area of
21,975 hectares and was established initially in
1980 through the Decrees of the Minister of
Agriculture in 1980 and was extended in 2003
through the Decree of Minister of Forestry in
2003 (Balai TNGGP, 2007). The park area starts
at an elevation of 700 m (Helmi et al., in
preparation) and extends upwards to the areas of
twin mountains, Mt. Gede (2,962 m alt.) and Mt
Pangrango (3,019 m alt.), connected by a sadle at
2,400 m alt. at Kandang Badak. It covers upper
lowland forests, montane forests, subalpine
forests, subalpine scrubs, subalpine grasslands,
subalpine herbaceous communities and subalpine
swamps (for detailed descriptions see Docters Van
Leeuwen, 1933; Van Steenis et al., 1972, 2006 a
& b; Yamada, 1975, 1976, 1977). On the tops of
Mt. Gede-Pangrango, the subalpine vegetation
dominates the landscape and consists of open
herbaceous and shrubby meadows locally known
as the alun-alun dominated by Anaphalis javani-
ca, scrubs dominated by Vaccinium varingiaefo-
lium and low forests dominated by Leptospermum
flavescens or Albizia lophanta.
The climate diagram (Figure 1) shows the
mean monthly rainfalls and temperature at the top
of Mount Pangrango. The mean annual rainfall at
the top of Pangrango is 3369 m and at Kandang
Badak is 3818 mm (LMG, 1969). In the Schmidt
& Ferguson (1951) scheme, the rainfall in the
2009] SADILI et al.: Floristic and structure of subalpine summit on Mt. Gede Pangrango
393
.
Sukaraja
SUKABUMI
Selabintana
Cimungkat
Nagrak
Bodogol
Cimande
Tapos
Cisarua
Gunung Mas
Puncak
BOGOR
Ciawi
Cisaat
Karang Tengah
Gadog
Cimacan
Cipanas
Gn. Putri
Sarongge
Gedeh
Gekbrong
Cisarua
Mt..Pangrango
Situgunung
Cibodas
STUDY SITE
N
Mt..Gede
CIANJUR
Cicurug
INDONESIA
CIBODAS BIOSPHERE RESERVE (108.000 Ha.):
Cibadak
Core zone (15,196 Ha.): Conservation area covering montane forest, subalpine forest, and subalpine scrub
and herbaceous vegetation.
Buffer zone (12,700 Ha) : It comprises Cibodas Botanical Garden, Safari Garden, tea plantation,
and planted forests.
Transition zone (80,104 Ha): Development area comprising, rice fields, home gardens, dry land crop
gardens, settlements, industries, recreation areas, etc.
Figure 1. The Cibodas Biosphere Reserve bordered by the intercity highway connecting Ciawi, Cianjur and Suka-
bumi (Redrawn after TNGP cited by Rustiami, 2004). The climate diagram shows the mean monthly rainfall and
temperature at the top of Mount Pangrango (3019 m alt.) (Data from LMG 1969 & Docters Van Leeuwen, 1933)
.
MT. PANGRANGO
ELEVATION : 3019 M
ANN. TEMP.: 17.8
O
C
ANN. RAINF.: 3369 MM
0
10
20
30
40
JFMAMJJASONDJ
TEMP.
(
0
C)
0
20
40
60
80
RAINFALL
(X 5 MM)
MEAN TEMP.
MEAN RAINF.
REINWARDTIA [VOL.12
394
entire park, including the area of the tops of Mt.
Gede–Pangrango, belongs to the Type A, which is
very wet. The rainfall is not uniformly distributed
throughout the year, but there is a 2 month dry
period in July and August, with the mean monthly
rainfall of 80 and 85 mm, respectively. Data on
the mean number of rain days shows that the dry
season has little effects; during the driest month in
July and August, where the number of rain days
was 16.4 and 14.7, respectively (LMG, 1969)
implying that rain falls every two days with a
significant measurable amount. The monthly mean
of daily air temperature at the top of Pangrango
ranges from 8.4°C to 9.7°C with the annual mean
of 9.0°C, the highest mean daily temperature
varies from 11.3°C to 11.9°C between 10 AM.
and 2 PM. (Docters Van Leeuwen, 1933). In the
Gede–Pangrango mountain top area, in addition to
rainfall, precipitation from the fog that develops
almost every day and forms dew on leaves and
mosses in the forest is significant also, but to date
no data are available (Van Steenis et al., 1972,
2006)
The soils in the top area consist mainly of
stones and gravels deriving from lava and volcanic
ash which may be designated as grey regosols and
lithosols, while on the forested slopes all belong
to the mixture of andosol and latosol or latosol and
regosol (FAO, 1978)
The study sites were located in the Alun-alun
Mandalawangi and Alun-alun Suryakencana and a
site of open low woody vegetation near the crater
of Mt. Gede, which for short will be called
Mandalawangi, Suryakencana and the Crater Side,
respectively. Herbaceous vegetation covers the
alun-alun and always looks dry, especially grasses
and Anaphalis javanica. The alun-aluns are
surrounded by subalpine forests, dominated jointly
by Vaccinium varingiaefolium and Leptospermum
flavescens or in places by Albizia lophanta. Hikers
have frequently visited the sites and in places left
disturbances, although as a whole the areas are
still in natural state. The severe disturbance was
attributed to fire, which apparently has frequently
occurred in the surrounding forests. Docters Van
Leeuwen (1933) reported fire occurred on the
western side of Mt. Gede and in the present
observation it affected the forests on the northern
side of a smaller mountain, Mt. Gumuruh. In
2006, fire spread from an abandoned campfire and
burnt part of the Anaphalis javanica stand in the
western section of Suryakencana.
The Alun-alun Mandalawangi (Figure 7) is
located at 2,978 m alt. at 06° 46.403‘ E and 106°
58.042’ S, about 100 m north-east from the top
of Mt Pangrango at 06°
46.225’ E and 106°
57.913’ S. The alun-alun is a meadow located on
a basin derived from the inactive crater and now
forms an open and roundish field with diameter of
about 250 m, making a total area of about five
hectare. The central section of the field is
somewhat flat, consisting of sand and gravel,
while the outer section towards the edge is sloping
and covered by A. javanica, where the soil layer
is of 3–5 cm thick. In the middle, a small river is
running from East to West. The field is
surrounded by forest, loaded with Usnea sp. and
other mosses, with soil of about 10 cm thick.
During the study on August 2007, the weather was
dry with temperature measurements averaging
4°C at 6 AM., 18°C at Noon, and 12°C at 9 PM.
Fog descended every day between 4 and 8 PM.
The Alun-alun Suryakencana (Figure 8) is a
sickle-shaped meadow, developed from the extinct
volcanic crater of about 2 km long and about 200
m wide, stretching from north-east to south-west,
making up a total area of 49.72 hectares. It is
located about 200 m below the top of Mt. Gede on
the narrow gap separating Mt. Gede on the north
side and smaller mountain Mt. Gumuruh on the
south side at 06° 46.200’ E and 106° 57.821’ S at
an altitude of 2,719 m. On the west side the land
is sloping toward the center where a relatively big
stream is running, with smaller streams coming
from the gentle slopes around it. During the rainy
season the river is overflowing (Van Steenis et
al., 1972, 2006), but during the dry season such
as during the present study the river is dry. On the
east side the slope is more gentle, especially from
the middle section toward the eastern edge of the
field. The soil in the central section of the field is
yellow, thin and mixed with sand and gravel,
while at the edge next to the forest the dark yellow
soil is about 5–10 cm thick, mixed with gravels
and small boulders or tallus, where stunted A,
javanica grows and the entire soil surface in
between A, javanica is covered by lichen
Stereocaulon graminosum and mosses, especially
Rhacomitrium lanuginosum. The air temperature
measured during the study was 5°C (at 6 AM.),
22°C (at Noon) and 2°C (at 9 PM.).
The Crater Side (Figure 9) is an area of about
two hectares, which is located at 2,514 m altitude
near two craters (Kawah Lanang and Kawah
Wadon), at 06° 468.68’ E and 106° 58.863’ S.
The site is sloping towards the east, ending at the
edge of a very steep ravine, and the slope varies
up to 40%. The substrate mainly consists of
boulders of varying sizes up to 2 m in diameter.
The vegetation is a sparse scrub, composed mainly
of dwarf trees of Vaccinium varingiaefolium,
Albizia lophanta and Leptospermum flavescens, as
2009] SADILI et al.: Floristic and structure of subalpine summit on Mt. Gede Pangrango
395
well as tall herb Anaphalis javanica, growing
between boulders. The area is very dry where
beard-moss Usnea and other species of mosses
can hardly grow.
METHOD
The quadrat method was used to sample the
Mandalawangi and Suryakencana meadows and
the scrub on the Crater Side. Since there were no
trees, the vegetation was stratified into two strata
only: (1) Sapling and shrub stratum, where a
sapling or shrub is defined as a woody plant with
DBH (Diameter at Breast Height) ≤10 cm with
height of ≥ 50 cm; tall herb is included here also,
and (2) Seedling and herb stratum, where a
seedling or a herb is defined as a plant with height
of ≤50 cm. Twenty three (10 x 10 m) quadrats
with the total area of 2,300 m
2
were established
and distributed systematically with intervals of 20
m in Mandalawangi, 50 quadrats with the total
areas of 5,000 m
2
in Suryakencana, and five
quadrats with a total area of 500 m
2
in the Crater
Side. Each quadrat was divided into four (5 x 5 m)
plots for recording saplings and shrubs and a 1 x
1 m subplot for seedlings and herbs, which was
nested within one of the four plots within each
quadrat. Different life forms were identified to the
species level, their heights were measured and the
percentage of cover of each species was estimated.
The number of individuals of each species within
the quadrats, plots and subplots were counted.
Additional information on soil and substrate as
well as other habitat conditions for each quadrat
were noted and flowering status of species were
recorded. Data were analyzed using the vegetation
parameters of dominance (as expressed by the
percentage of cover), density and frequency of
each species, whose relative values were summed
up and presented as the Importance Values,
expressed in percentages (Mueller–Dombois &
Ellenberg, 1974). Voucher specimens were
collected and identified at the Herbarium Bogor-
iense in Cibinong. The species nomenclature
follows Flora of Cibodas (Sunarno & Rugayah,
1992) and Flora of Java (Backer & Bakhuizen van
den Brink Jr., 1963-1968).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A total of 30 species of 18 families of
saplings, shrubs, seedlings and herbs were
recorded in 78 quadrats in the study sites. In the
sapling and shrub stratum only 18 species were
recorded in the vegetation sampled in Manda-
lawangi (13 spp.), Suryakencana (14 spp.) and the
Crater Side (10 spp.).
Of the total of 18 species of saplings, shrubs,
and woody herbs, seven species were common to
the three sites, four species in Mandalawangi and
Suryakencana, and one species in Suryakencana
and the Crater Side, while species with restricted
distribution were only two in Mandalawangi,
Suryakencana and the Crater Side, respectively
(Annex 1).
In the sapling, shrub and woody herb stratum,
the Shannon diversity indices of sapling, shrub
and woody herb communities in the three sites are
low, i.e. 1.69 for Mandalawangi, 1.67 for Surya-
kencana and 1.16 for the Crater Side. The species
area curve (Figure 3) shows that the number of
species increases rapidly up to 1,500 m
2
and from
this point onwards the increase is slight,
confirming further the low species diversity. It
may be implied also that the minimum area for
this sapling community is 1,500 m
2
.
In this stratum, it can be noted further that
Anaphalis javanica was dominant, as indicated by
its high importance value and relative dominance
in Mandalawangi and Suryakencana, but its
presence in the Crater Side was insignificant.
(Figure 2, Annex 1) The next important species
were Vaccinium varingiaefolium, Rhododendron
retusum and Gaultheria punctata, which were
dominant and co-dominant species in the Crater
Side. They were less significant in Mandalawangi
and Suryakencana, and even Rhododendron
retusum was absent. Albizia lophantha and
Leptospermum flavescens were the prominent tree
species in these sites, but they were mostly
crooked and low in stature, hence constituted only
the component of the sapling and shrub stratum.
They grew well at the edges of the alun-alun,
merging with surrounding forests dominated by
L. flavescens, which could reach the height of
more than three meters. This is apparently the
poorly developed variant of the subalpine forest
occurring in the summit area described
quantitatively by Yamada (1977) and earlier
qualitatively by Docters Van Leeuwen (1933) and
Van Steenis et al. (1972, 2006), where A.
lophanta, L. flavescens and V. varingiaefolium
were the leading species.
A. javanica was widespread throughout, but
formed dense stands at the edge of Mandalawangi
and Suryakencana. In contrast, it did not develop
well and was sparsely distributed in the Crater
Side, where it grew only on firm and hard soils
between boulders. Outside the quadrats it could
be found also growing in the valleys of dead and
active craters as well as on poor, sandy and stony
soils. A. javanica groves developed densely on the