Berbak National Park
Encyclopedia
The Berbak National Park in Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...

 island, Jambi province of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, forms part of the largest undisturbed swamp forest in southeastern Asia, and the peat swamp forest
Peat swamp forest
Peat swamp forests are tropical moist forests where waterlogged soils prevent dead leaves and wood from fully decomposing, which over time creates a thick layer of acidic peat...

 with the greatest number of palm
Arecaceae
Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...

 species. Protected since 1935 under Dutch colonial law and later declared a national park, it has been also recognised as a wetland of international importance.

Geography

Berbak National Park occupies part of the vast alluvial plain
Alluvial plain
An alluvial plain is a relatively flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms...

 of East Sumatra, which comprises approximately one quarter of the island. The region is predominantly flat, being dissected by a number of meandering rivers that drain in a northeasterly direction toward the coast. Along the coast and lower sections of the rivers, extensive beach ridges and intertidal mudflat
Mudflat
Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats, are coastal wetlands that form when mud is deposited by tides or rivers. They are found in sheltered areas such as bays, bayous, lagoons, and estuaries. Mudflats may be viewed geologically as exposed layers of bay mud, resulting from deposition of...

s occur. The area contains 600 km² of freshwater swamp forest
Freshwater swamp forest
Freshwater swamp forests, or flooded forests, are forests which are inundated with freshwater, either permanently or seasonally. They normally occur along the lower reaches of rivers and around freshwater lakes...

 and 1,100 km² of undisturbed peatswamp forest. Its eastern boundary is bordered by muddy coast and a small fringe of mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...

 forest. The southern border is the Benu river. The maximum coastal tidal range is 2-2.5 m decreasing to 1 m upstream. The rivers are up to 20 m deep and contain acid peatwater.

Vegetation and fauna

Plant species in the park include Shorea
Shorea
Shorea is a genus of about 196 species of mainly rainforest trees in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The genus is named after Sir John Shore, the Governor-General of the British East India Company, 1793-1798. They are native to southeast Asia, from Northern India to Malaysia, Indonesia and the...

 genus rainforest trees and 23 species of palm tree. Of these a number are categorized as endangered
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

, including Johannesteijsmannia altifrons
Johannesteijsmannia
Johannesteijsmannia is a genus of four species of palms found in tropical rainforests of southern Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. They are fan palms, usually growing without a trunk....

, and a newly found species Lepidonia kingii.

Berbak National Park provides habitat for a rich fauna, which includes the endangered Sumatran Tiger
Sumatran Tiger
The Sumatran tiger is a tiger subspecies that inhabits the Indonesian island of Sumatra and has been classified as critically endangered by IUCN in 2008 as the population is projected at 176 to 271 mature individuals, with no subpopulation having an effective population size larger than 50...

 and Malayan Tapir
Malayan Tapir
The Malayan Tapir , also called the Asian Tapir, is the largest of the four species of tapir and the only one native to Asia. The scientific name refers to the East Indies, the species' natural habitat...

. Small remnant populations of the critically threatened Sumatran Rhinoceros
Sumatran Rhinoceros
The Sumatran Rhinoceros is a member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant rhinoceroses. It is the only extant species of the genus Dicerorhinus. It is the smallest rhinoceros, although is still a large mammal. This rhino stands high at the shoulder, with a head-and-body length of ...

 may still exist in some areas of the park, although not sighted in recent years. The more than 250 bird species include the Chinese Egret
Chinese Egret
The Chinese Egret or Swinhoe's Egret, Egretta eulophotes, is a full-crested, white egret with yellow bill. It breeds in Russia, North Korea, South Korea and mainland China, and then migrates south through Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia...

, Lesser Adjutant Stork
Lesser Adjutant
The Lesser Adjutant, Leptoptilos javanicus, is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It is a widespread species which is resident breeder in southern Asia from India east to southern China and Java....

, many species of Kingfisher
Kingfisher
Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australia...

 and White-winged Wood Duck
White-winged Wood Duck
The White-winged Duck or White-winged Wood Duck is a large species of duck, formerly placed in the genus Cairina and allied with the dabbling ducks...

. Reptiles include the Malaysian Giant Turtle
Bornean River Turtle
The Malaysian giant turtle or Bornean river turtle is a species of turtle in the Bataguridae family. It is monotypic within the genus Orlitia. It is found in Indonesia and Malaysia.-References:...

, Batagur Turtle
Batagur baska
The northern river terrapin , also called giant river turtle or mangrove terrapin is a species of riverine turtle. It is one of the most critically endangered turtle species according to a 2003 assessment by the IUCN...

 and Saltwater Crocodile
Saltwater Crocodile
The saltwater crocodile, also known as estuarine or Indo-Pacific crocodile, is the largest of all living reptiles...

.

Conservation and threats

The area of the national park has been protected since 1935 under Dutch colonial law, and later became a wildlife reserve (Suaka Margasatwa). It has been declared a wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....

 of international importance under the Ramsar Convention
Ramsar Convention
The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, i.e., to stem the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural,...

 and a National Park in 1992

The park has degraded since 1990, mainly due to illegal logging and fires. Major fires occurred in 1994, and again in 1997, destroying about 12,000ha in the central area of the Park along the Air Hitam Laut River, and about 4,000ha along the Simpang Melaka River. It is estimated that at least 25% of the Park has been affected by illegal logging and subsequent fires. Hunting and capturing of animals and some illegal huts also exist within the reserve.

External links

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