Composition, structure, and changes in a montane rain forest at the Cibodas biosphere reserve, West Java, Indonesia

Comprehensive ecological studies in Indonesia are relatively new and are urgently needed before the natural forest disappears. There is only one permanent plot in Cibodas Biosphere Reserve, West Java, which was established on 4 ha in 1975. In addition, there are 4-2 ha plots in Gunung Leuser Biosphere Reserve, Sumatera, which were set up in 1980, and one 10.5-ha plot in Wanariset, Semboja, East Kalimantan, which was established in 1980 (Budiman and Abdulhadi, 1995). Long-term ecological research has also been carried out in Kalimantan at Gunung Palung National Park (Leighton, 1990), Barito Ulu (Chivers, 1992), and Kayan Mentarang (Soedjito et al.,1992). The Cibodas Biosphere Reserve, known also as the Gunung Gede-Pangrango National Park, is an important area with regard to the history of nature conservation and botanical research in Indonesia because it was the first nature reserve established in the country. The reserve was initially set up in 1830 under management of the Cibodas Botanic Garden. In 1889, the primary forest above the garden was desingnated a scientific area dedicated to research purposes, and in 1925, this area was declared as the Cibodas-Gunung Gede Nature Reserve. The Gede-Pangrango was established as one of the first five Indonesian national parks in 1980, encompassing the entire forests and summits of Mt. Gede and Mt. Pangrango. The flora and vegetation of the park have been well studied (e.q. Koorders, 1918-1923; Docters van Leeuwen, 1933; Meijer, 1959; van Steenis et al.,1972; Yamada, 1975,1976,1977;Sunarno and Rugayah,1993). The undisturbed forest never appears entirely closed, as natural gaps are rather common, especially after an extremely heavy wind storm such as occured in 1984 (Srijanto,1987). Slight disturbances caused by illegal cutting are evident at the lower edge of the park. A series of vegetation types, ranging from upper montane and elfin forests to apline grasslands, have been described by various authors (Seifriz,1923; Docters van Leeuwen, 1933; van Steenis et al., 1972) This report is concerned with a study of composition, structure and changes of the montane forest located at 1,500 to 1,900 m above sea level within the park