Ficus nervosa: Peucang Island Resort, Udjung Kulon, West Java

uluulublog

6 years ago

Peucang Island is the gateway for tourists visiting the Udjung Kulon National Park in West Java- the last home of the Javan Rhino. The tall forest on Peucang is dominated by giant Ficus nervosa fig trees. Google Maps Link

The boat jetty for Peucang Island Resort and National Park offices

Peucang Island is only a few hundred meters from the Javan mainland opposite. All the Javan Rhinos are in the mainland part of the Udjung Kulon National Park.

There is a herd of introduced Javan Rusa (Sambar deer) that graze on the grass surrounding the park buildings on Peucang island. Rusa deer prefer to eat grass but they can also live on browse i.e. leaves and twigs of forest trees. The stomachs of Rusa deer contain enzymes which can detoxify the poisons in leaves. In Bornean forests Rusa deer are important ecosystem engineers as they consume the young saplings of many forest trees especially Ficus (fig) species.

There are also a few introduced wild cattle (banteng) living on Peucang. As with the deer, cattle prefer to eat grass but also often browse on leaves and saplings.

*Ficus nervosa* growing in the dense forest on Peucang island. Note that the forest floor is almost bare of young seedlings or saplings. This is almost certainly due to grazing by the introduced deer and wild cattle (Banteng) that live on Peucang.

The dense uniformly aged stands of Ficus nervosa trees on Peucang island indicate that they probably colonized simultaneously after the surface of the island had been sterilized by a volcanic explosion possibly the 1883 eruption of Krakatau.

The natural disperser of Ficus nervosa fig trees are giant fruit bats (Flying Foxes) Pteropus species which are common inhabitants of forested islands from India east into the Pacific.

The introduction of deer and and banteng that feed on young Ficus saplings will likely result in the regeneration failure of Ficus nervosa and the eventual return of mixed diverse forest with a relatively low component of fig trees. These ecological cycles may not be obvious as they take place over hundreds of years.

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