SITE QUALITY ASSESSMENT IN AN ATTEMPT TO RESTORE ECOSYSTEM IN MASIGIT KAREUMBI GAME RESERVE

• Main Author: ROSYADA VIHARYO, AMRINA
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/50599
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Various efforts to combat deforestation in Indonesia have begun to be intensified, one of the approaches is ecosystem restoration. Ecosystem restoration can restore forest’s biodiversity and increase the effectiveness of ecosystem services, one of which is carbon storage. Masigit Kareumbi Game Reserve is one of a conservation area located in West Java that have subjected to forest degradation and requires ecosystem restoration. To carry out a restoration, site quality assessment is needed to determine the existing condition of the site and prevent the use of unsuitable restoration techniques. This research aimed to describe floristic composition and structure, to estimate carbon stocks and to assess the general quality of the site. The study area was divided into three land covers, namely shrubs, pine forests and mixed forest. Vegetation analysis was conducted on three sites using nested-plots. Estimation of carbon stock was carried out on seven carbon pools namely aboveground biomass of living trees, aboveground biomass of shrubs, understory/herbaceous and litter, belowground biomass (roots), dead standing trees, dead felled trees and stump, and soil organic matter. Meanwhile, for site quality assessment, there are indicator that consist of site critical threshold and landscape critical threshold according to Rapid Site Assessment method developed by FORRU (2013). The results showed that in general, the vegetation diversity in the study area was still low and the dominance of shrubs and herbs was higher than tree species. The total carbon stocks of shrub site were 100.20 MgC/Ha, pine forest site were 183.25 MgC/Ha and mixed forest site were 146.22 MgC/Ha. The highest carbon pool was in soil organic matter. Based on the result of general quality assessment, several parameters that need to be considered in determining restoration techniques are protection against fire risk, maintenance of natural regeneration and planting of both pioneer and climax tree species.