Abstract
Destruction of the Gunung Leuser National Park area of North Sumatera Province through land clearing and land cover change from natural forest to agricultural land. Less attention to land use and ecosystem carrying capacity of the soil can cause soil degradation and destruction of flora, fauna, and wildlife habitat destruction. Environmental damage will result in a national park wild life will come out of the conservation area and would damage the agricultural community. Soil sampling conducted in purposive sampling in natural forest and agricultural areas. Observation suggest that damage to the natural forest vegetation has caused the soil is not protected so that erosion has occurred. Destruction of natural forest into agricultural are as has caused damage to soil physical properties, soil chemical properties, and biological soil properties significantly. Forms of soil degradation caused by the destruction of natural forests, which is an increase in soil density (density Limbak) by 103%, a decrease of 93% organic C and soil nitrogen decreased by 81%. The main factors causing soil degradation is the reduction of organic matter and soil erosion due to loss of natural forest vegetation. Criteria for soil degradation in Governance Regulation Number 150/2000 can be used to determine the extent of soil degradation in natural forest ecosystems.
Highlights
Tropical rain forest contains very great biodiversity
The objective of this research was analyzing the impact of natural forest destruction and conversion to agricultural land on soil damage which was related with soil physical, biological, and chemical properties in Gunung Leuser National Park
The main materials being studied were undisturbed soil samples and composite soil samples originated from Gunung Leuser National Park area which represented natural forest soil and agricultural land soil
Summary
Tropical rain forest contains very great biodiversity. According to Whitmore (1975) within the Southeast Asia tropical rain forest, there are 25-30 thousand species. Sumatera island contains more than 10,000 species of higher plants which mostly grow in lowland forest. Sumatera island is the richest in Indonesia because of possession of 210 species of mammals (9 endemic species), 580 species of bird (19 endemic spesies), 194 species of reptile, 62 species of amphibian, and 272 species of freshwater fishes (30 endemic species) (Mackinon 2000; Bappenas 2003). Tropical rain forest posseses activities and metabolism ability which are much larger as compared to those forests of subtropics, temperate region, and boreal region due to exposure to solar radiation for the whole year. Gunung Leuser National Park is one of the pockets or locations of conservation (Bappenas 2003)
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Schedule a callMore From: Jurnal Manajemen Hutan Tropika (Journal of Tropical Forest Management)
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