INDONESIA
A Megadiversity Country
Prepared by
Samrathang Palunwa
Roll No. 10
Environmental Science, 2nd Year, Semester I
Submitted to
Dr. Smriti Gurung
Associate Professor,
Dept. of Environmental Science and Engineering
“Due to its tropical setting and
geological complexity, Indonesia is
one of the most biologically diverse
nations in the world with very high
levels of both terrestrial and marine
diversity and a high level of
endemism.” (Crame, 2000; Mora et
al., 2003)
Indonesia: A Brief Introduction
Indonesia is a country located off the coast of mainland Southeast Asia in the Indian and
Pacific oceans.
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Population: 272,248,500 (4th largest country by population)
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Area: 1919440.0 km2
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Latitude: -2° 32' 56.13" S
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Longitude: 118° 00' 53.51" E
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Main Islands: the Greater Sunda Islands of Sumatra, Java, the southern extent of
Borneo (Kalimatan), Celebes (Sulawesi) and the western extent of New Guinea
(Papua)
N
Satellite Image retrieved from Google Maps
Indonesia: From a biodiversity perspective
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The Indonesian archipelago comprises 17,000 islands with many different types
of
habitats and an extremely complicated geological history, although the latter counts not
only for Indonesia but for Southeast Asia in general (Bruyn et al. 2014).
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Biogeographic, geological, climatic and ecological factors led to the evolution of a
megadiverse fauna and flora with a high number of endemic and ecologically
highly-adapted species (Lohman et al. 2011).
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Indonesia has, for example, the second highest number of indigenous medicinal plants,
after the Amazon rain forests(Elfahmi et al. 2014), 10% of the world’s flowering plant
species, about 12% of the world’s mammals, about 16% of the world’s reptiles and 17% of
the total species of birds (CBD Secretariat 2016).
Indonesia: Ecosystem
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Indonesia has a tropical climate with a monsoon and dry season.The humidity is
generally high (> 80%).
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Rainfall varies from a mean of 1,780–3,175 mm in the lowlands to in excess of 6,100 mm in
mountainous areas.
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A minimum estimated 51000 square kilometers of coral reefs protect Indonesia’s shores
from erosion. Coral reefs represent a highly structured ecosystem that supports a
diverse array of plants and animals.
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Majority of Indonesia is Humid Tropical while only small areas are Semi- Arid tropical.
Indonesia: Ecosystem (contd..)
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There are no cold seasons in either biome and both biomes are warm, hot and moist all
year round, allowing vegetation to flourish. E.g. Jakarta gets 98.6% solar insolation as it
is 10 degrees of latitude making it a very hot environment which is also humid from the
high rainfall.
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Indonesia straddles two of the Earth's biogeographical realms, The Indomalayan realm
extends across the western half of the archipelago, and the eastern half is in the
Australasian realm. The Wallace Line, which runs between Borneo and Sulawesi, Bali
and Lombok, is the dividing line.
Wallace Line (Retrieved from researchgate.net)
Major Bioregions of Indonesia
Sundaland:
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The portion of Indonesia west of the Wallace Line is known as the Sundaland bioregion,
which also includes Malaysia and Brunei.
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Home to approximately 17 000 equatorial islands and is dominated by three of the
world’s largest islands; Borneo, Java and Sumatra.
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Holds about 25,000 species of vascular plants out of which 15,000 are endemic. There
are at least 117 endemic plant genera in the hotspot; 59( Borneo), 17 (Sumatra), and 41(
Malay Peninsula).
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Of Sundaland's more than 380 mammal species, more 170 are endemic to the hotspot,
including the endemic genus Simias.
Major Bioregions of Indonesia
Wallacea:
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East of the Wallace Line lies the Wallacea bioregion, which is a transitional region
between Asia and Australia.Wallacea includes Sulawesi, the largest island in the group,
as well as Lombok, Sumbawa and other small islands.
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More than half of the mammals, 40 % of birds and 65 % of amphibians are endemic.
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Along with New Guinea, it has more marine species than anywhere else on the planet,
forming the “Coral Triangle."
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There are about 10,000 species of vascular plants with roughly 1,500 endemic species.
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More than 220 reptile species, nearly 100 of which are endemic including the Komodo
dragon (Varanus komodoensis), the largest lizard on the planet.
Wallacea is the group of islands within the red area.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3968730
http://phsyiography-indonesia.blogspot.com/2014/08/sundalan
d.html
Mammals
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Bornean Orangutan (Photo:
Tanjung Puting National Park)
Total 773 mammal species (Checklist of The
Mammals of Indonesia, 2019)
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408 of them are endemic (52% endemicity).
E.g. silvery gibbon (Hylobates moloch),
Sulawesi bear cuscus (Ailurops ursinus),
Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus),
Black giant squirrel( Ratufa bicolor) etc.
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Endemic mammals’ families include:
Artiodactyla - Bovidae, Chiroptera Hipposideridae, Rodentia - Muridae etc.
Giant Black Squirrel (Photo: H Kaiser)
Birds
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Maleo (Photo: Andrew Spencer)
A total of 1788 bird species ( HBW and
BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of
the Birds of the World, 2017)
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417 of them are endemic (23% endemicity).
E.g. Waigeo Brush-turkey (Aepypodius
bruijnii), Red-billed Brush-turkey (Talegalla
cuvieri) ,Maleo (Macrocephalon maleo) etc.
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Endemic birds’ families include: Galliformes
Megapodiidae, Galliformes Phasianidae,
Strigiformes Strigidae etc.
Waigeo Brush Turkeyl (Photo:
Earth.com)
Threats to Biodiversity
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The seas of Indonesia support one of the world’s largest fisheries. Coastal communities in Indonesia
rely heavily on fish for their daily subsistence (Reaka-Kudla,1997; Burke et al. 2002). Blast fishing is
one of the most destructive forms of fishing and a direct threat to the health of coral reefs.
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Logging is a major disturbance in tropical rainforests (Putz et al., 2001).Indonesia in particular suffers
from post-logging encroachment and invasion of hunters and illegal loggers, which can have a much
more detrimental impact than the original logging (Lambert and Collar, 2002).One of the most
adverse environmental effects of logging, even at low intensity, is that it can change the forest
microclimate and fuel load (Peres, 1999).
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Wildfire is also an important global source of disturbance and influences long-term patterns of carbon
storage and ecosystem productivity (Wardle et al., 2003). During the 1997/98 ENSO event at least 17
national parks and protected areas in Indonesia were damaged by fire (Hoffmann et al., 1999).
References
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Britannica, T. Information Architects of Encyclopaedia (Retrieved September 15, 2022). Indonesia. Encyclopedia
Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/facts/Indonesia
Sundaland - Biodiversity Hotspots LCS ESS. (n.d.). Retrieved September 16, 2022, from
https://sites.google.com/a/lincoln.edu.gh/biodiversity-hotspots-lcs-ess/sundaland
Wallacea | CEPF. (n.d.). Retrieved September 16, 2022, from
https://www.cepf.net/our-work/biodiversity-hotspots/wallacea
About. (n.d.). Indonesia. Retrieved September 16, 2022, from
https://indonesiafoodsecurityinquiry.weebly.com/about.html
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319628690_A_review_of_biodiversity-related_issues_and_challenges_in_
megadiverse_Indonesia_and_other_Southeast_Asian_countries
Geographic Regions for Living National Treasures. (n.d.). Retrieved September 17, 2022, from http://lntreasures.com/regions.html
Retrieved September 17, 2022, from
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lyndon-Devantier/publication/216791440_Indonesia_Threats_to_the_Country%27s_Biodiv
ersity/links/5a14c0750f7e9b925cd517e2/Indonesia-Threats-to-the-Countrys-Biodiversity.pdf?origin=publication_detail