SEED AVAILABILITY ASSESSMENT AND SEED COLLECTION OF WILD PLANTS IN SELABINTANA FOREST, MOUNT GEDE PANGRANGO NATIONAL PARK, WEST JAVA

Abstract

Many botanic gardens have been contributing to the achievement of Target 8 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) through seed banking of wild species. Cibodas Botanic Garden (CBG) seed bank as a part of Kew's Millenium Seed Bank Partnership has also been collecting and banking the seeds of Indonesian native plant species. The study aimed to assess seed availability in nature and collect the available seeds in Selabintana Forest, Mt. Gede Pangrango National Park, West Java, to be stored in the long-term seed storage facility at CBG seed bank. Targeted species for the seed collection were focused on the native trees species with orthodox or approximately-orthodox seeds based on the Seed Information Database (SID) list. Pre-collection assessment and sampling of individuals within a population were using random sampling. Forty seed-producing plant species were reported. Due to the limitation number of seeds in the field (less than 250 seeds), only 33 species were collected. Six species were found with a large quantity of seeds, i.e. Begonia isoptera Dryand. ex Sm., Begonia sp., Ficus fistulosa Reinw. ex Blume, Pinanga javana Blume, Saurauia pendula Blume, and Symplocos sp. Most seeds were collected at 1,100–1,200 m asl, in the forest area, as a tree life form, and majority of the seeds were predicted as desiccation-tolerant (orthodox). Two species, i.e. P. javana and S. cauliflora DC., were listed in IUCN Red List as threatened species. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that high-quality seed collections are needed to ensure the long-term seed conservation.