B I O D I V E R S I T A S ISSN: 1412-033X Volume 6, Nomor 4 Oktober 2005 Halaman: 248-252 ♥ Alamat korespondensi: Jl. Ir. H. Juanda 22, Bogor 16122. Tel.: +62-251-322035. Fax.: +62-251-336538. e-mail: herbogor@indo.net.id Diversity and Growth Behaviour of Nepenthes (Pitcher Plants) in Tanjung Puting National Park, Central Kalimantan Province TRI HANDAYANI, DIAN LATIFAH, DODO Plant Conservation Center, Bogor Botanical Garden, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Bogor 16122 Received: 6 May 2005. Accepted: 31 July 2005. ABSTRACT Nepenthes is one of the popular genus of pitcher plants. Research on the biodiversity and growth beharviour of Nepenthes spp. in Tanjung Puting National Park was carried out. There were four species studied, namely: N. ampullaria, N. mirabilis N. rafflesiana, and N. x. hookeriana,. There were about 2096 individuals recorded in this study consisting of 1322 N. ampullaria, 1332 N. mirabilis, 141 N. rafflesiana, and 111 N. x. hookeriana. Variation of tendril positions occurred in 1 rosette plant and 3 climbing stems (mature plants) of N. ampullaria, 2 rosettes and 9 mature N. mirabilis, 1 rosette and 4 mature N. rafflesiana, 2 rosettes and 2 mature N. x. hookeriana. Their habitats were also very specific. It was noted that 6 species of other plants were grown and associated with the Nepenthes spp. © 2005 Jurusan Biologi FMIPA UNS Surakarta Key words: biodiversity, growth beharviour, Nepenthes ampullaria, Nepenthes mirabilis, Nepenthes rafflesiana, Nepenthes x hokeriana, Tanjung Puting National Park. INTRODUCTION Indonesia is a tropical country that is rich in plant diversity in many areas of forests. Forest is a habitat for various plants which are either determined or undetermined. Many kinds of plants have been used for human life. However still so many plants are not used yet and the potentials remain unrecognised. Amongst the plant diversity, Nepenthes is the most popular pitcher plant. Kalimantan or Borneo has many areas of tropical forests. Nevertheless since the reduction of natural petroleum and local government and the inhabitants turn to find other income in non-petroleum sectors. As a result, many forest areas have been over-exploited. This activity has been uncontrolled and ignored any attempts of rehabilitation for sustainability in the future. This has lead to forest destruction along with habitat disturbance for plant livings. Nepenthes grows widely throughout Borneo (Phillipps and Lamb, 1996; Clarke, 1997). Unfortunately, land clearing and conversion has caused the habitat lost of many Nepenthes population. This population decrease was also caused by illegal collection by local and foreign collectors for a long time (Phillipps and Lamb, 1996; Clarke, 1997; Cheek and Jebb, 2001; Anon, 2003). Several populations remain in Tanjung Puting National Park, Central Kalimantan Province. This pitcher plant is known as a rare, attractive and unique plant. This plant has “a picher-like organ” on the leaf apex. This organ functions as insect-prey trapper to meet the protein requirement. Nepenthes is classified as rare based on IUCN and WCMC (Cheek and Jebb, 2001). In Indonesia all plants are protected by Peraturan Pemerintah (Government Law) No.7, 1999 about protection and conservation of plant and wildlife (Mogea et al., 2001). - Therefore the trade of this plant is controlled internationally under CITES (D’amato, 1998). In Indonesia Nepenthes has been used by local people for a long time. The stems are used for rope or woven handicrafts. The big pitchers are used for cooking rice and traditional foods (Tamin and Hotta, 1986). The liquid substances inside the pitcher covered by the lid on the peristome are used for healing the eyes sickness, cough, stomach upset, burn injury, skin diseases and stopping urine expelled by children. Besides they are used as decorative plants by exposing the unique of the variation of pitcher shape and color (Danser, 1928; D’amato, 1998; Handayani, 2001; Handayani and Yulia, 2001). Recently Nepenthes has been attractive to researchers to be studied in molecular farming. According to Jebb and Cheek (1997) and Cheek and Jebb (2001) there are 87 Nepenthes species in the world. Most of them are grown and distributed in Malesian Region. There are only 8 species occurred outside the region: Madagascar (2), Seychelles (1), Sri Lanka (1), India (1), Indochina (6-8), Solomon Archipelago (1), New Caledonia (1), and Australia (1). Jebb and Cheek (1997) reported that the Nepenthes centre of distribution is Indonesia. In Indonesia, most of them occurred in Borneo (approximately 40 species), Sumatra (about 25 species), Java (2 species), Moluccas and Celebes (10 species) and Papua/New Guinea (11 species). The Tanjung Puting National Park (TPNP) is one of the natural habitats of the pitcher plants in Indonesia. The Park is geographically located between 2º35’-3º20’ S and 111º50’ E. This area is approximately 415.040 ha and bordered by the rivulet of Kumai river, Sekonyer river on the North, Seruyan river on the East, and the coastal areas of Java Sea. Various apexe ecosystems also occurred in TNTP such as lowland tropical forests, heaths, freshwater vegetation, peat vegetation, coastal vegetation and secondary forests. Such conditions allow the pitcher plants to grow well in TPNP. This research aimed to inventory the