Abstract
Eruption of Merapi volcano caused accumulation of lahar materials that led to extensive land degradation. This research was to study the population of pioneer plants and their correlation with endomycorrhiza population at different land qualities after Merapi eruption. Samples of soil, pioneer plants, and endomycorrhiza were collected from Merapi volcano, 1 year after eruption, using stratified sampling method based on plant densities, with the following categories: dense vegetation, moderately dense vegetation, sparse vegetation, and control (bare land), with 3 replications for each category. Pioneer plants and endomycorrhiza were identified. Plant biomass, soil pH, total-C,-N, and exchangeable-K, -Ca, -Mg, -Fe were analyzed. The abundance of pioneer plants and their interaction with mycorrhiza was strongly correlated with depth of eruption material, quantity of sandy texture, soil pH, total-C and total-N, exchangeable-K, exchangeable-Ca, exchangeable-Mg, and exchangeable-Fe. Among the 12 identified pioneer plants, only Acacia villosa, Fiurena ciliaris, and Bidens pilosa were recommended as plant-remediator to improve soil chemical, physical and biological properties. Among the 3 genera of endomycorrhiza (Acaulospora, Gigaspora, Glomus), only Acaulospora was recommended to be a biological agent to rehabilitate sandy soil area. This research indicated that adaptive pioneer plants and endomycorrhiza were likely to be suitable for biological agents to stimulate recovery of degraded land through improvement of physical, chemical, and biological properties, that will stimulate plant growth and biodiversity.
Highlights
Mount Merapi volcano is one of the most active volcano in the world and has been recorded for its explosive eruption for the last 10,000 years (Newhall et al 2000)
Biodiversity of plant species decreased with increasing density of vegetation in the observed land. This phenomenon was explained by Henry et al (1999) in his study which showed that plant species diversity was significantly affected by plant density and this was related with competitive ability of each plant species
Content of exchangeable-Fe decreased in sparse vegetation plot, but there were no significant different at moderately dense and dense vegetation plots (Figure 2D). All of these Fe contents were categorized as very low. These results indicated that the existence of pioneer plants potentially improve soil chemical properties as an crucial element to stimulate plant growth
Summary
Mount Merapi volcano is one of the most active volcano in the world and has been recorded for its explosive eruption for the last 10,000 years (Newhall et al 2000). One of the greatest eruption of Merapi occurred in 19th century of 1872, where the explosion reached distance of up to 20 km (Wilson et al 2007). Accumulation of lahar materials destroyed the soil physical, chemical, and biological properties, resulted on inappropriate condition for plant growth. Such destruction caused environmental damage, such as increasing of soil acidity, nutrient deficiency, and low soil organic matter content which constituted the limiting factors for the soil, and affected on ecosystem stability (Wilson et al 2007). Efforts to improve such condition were still limited due to constraints in the lack of technology and funding
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