Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION OF VEGETATION FOR LANDCOVER CONDITIONS AT CONSERVATION AREA

Saptawartono, Widen, K., Segah, H. and Yanarita

Abstract

Natural conservation and Natural Tourism Park at Tagkiling Hill is a conservation area with a uniquenatural resource. It has potential of high and strategic selling values in development of Palangka Raya City,Central Kalimantan Province. Existence and potential of Tangkiling Hill triggers an intervention fromcommunity to use the area illegally and damaging the environment. The environmental damage of naturaltourism park at Tangkiling Hill can be saved by researching the structure and composition of vegetation inseveral conditions of land cover. The samples are determinded by systematic sampling with paths to severalland cover conditions. The data are analyzed by calculating the Important Value Index (IVI) and TypeDiversity (H’) as developed by Dombois and Ellenberg (1974). The research results showed that Dryland forests had stable vegetation conditions, with H values within high category, namely seedlings (5.36), saplings(5.89), stakes (4.33) and trees (5.02). The shrub land has unstable vegetation conditions, with H’s seedlings(0.74) in very low categories, stakes (3.61) in high categories, stakes (1.32) in low categories and trees (0.88)in very low categories. The unstable vegetation condition at shrub land is also illustrated by lower plantspecies compared to dryland forests, and dominance of acacia mangium species as an exotic species, atstakes (IVI 82.59%) and trees (IVI 125.68%) levels.