Abstract:
Wasur National Park is a vast area of tropical lowland forest, swamp forest, savannah and wetland in the far south-east corner of Papua-Indonesia. It is bordered by the sea to the south and PNG to the east. It lies within the Trans-Fly region of New Guinea and both the habitat and birds have much in common with northern Australia only 200 km to the south. The site is very seasonal, with both a pronounced wet and dry season. This park displays a tremendous biodiversity of flora and fauna. One prime example of flowering plants is Orchids species. Most orchids in this park resembles to the Australian plants as it share similar vegetation types of heath forest and savanna woodland. Knowledge of orchid diversity from this park is poorly acknowledged. This preliminary study aims to document species diversity, to map diversity and distribution of orchid species of Dendrobium section Spatulata and the host plants in the national parks. The study is conducted in six sites i.e. Bokem, Sota, Rawa Dongami, Rawa Biru, Wasur village, and Yanggandur. The plants were collected and recorded whenever they are encountered on the host trees. In total 40 orchid plants are collected and identified using bio-molecular techniques combined with morphological characters. 11 species recorded from Dendrobium section Spathulata i.e. Dendrobium canaliculatum, Dendrobium carronii, Dendrobium d’albertisii, Dendrobium devosianum, Dendrobium discolor, Dendrobium ionoglossum, Dendrobium johannis, Dendrobium nindii, Dendrobium semifuscum, Dendrobium sylvanum and Dendrobium trilamellatum. Other species from Dendrobium section Phalaenanthe such as Dendrobium bigibum, Dendrobium section Calyptrochilus i.e. Dendrobium smilliae dan Dendrobium capituliferum, Dendrobium section Dendrocorynae, and one species of Pomatocalpa marsupiale. During the field observation, we noticed hunting activity run by vendors and hunters. This activity brings impact to the sustainability of the plants. Vendors are mainly locals who inhabit and land tenure in this park.
