Imam Widhiono

This study aims to determine the existence and characteristics of the habitat of two protected primates, namely Trachipithecus auratus and Presbytis comata, in the secondary forest of Mount Tilu, Kuningan Regency, West Java. Both species are found in both conservation and non-conservation areas in Indonesia. The methods used include line transects to estimate vegetation and sample plots for vegetation structure analysis. The results of the study recorded 227 individuals of T. auratus divided into 21 groups with an average of 10.8 individuals per group and a density of 1.79 individuals/ha. Meanwhile, there were 77 individuals of P. comata in 14 groups with an average of 7.1 individuals per group and a density of 0.63 individuals/ha. The dominant habitat consists of tundun plants (Harpalia cupanoides Roxb) at the pole level and kijungil (Celtis tetrandra Roxb) at the tree level. T. auratus tends to be abundant at an altitude of 600 m above sea level, while P. comata at an altitude of 900 m above sea level. Both were found more on steep slopes with a distance from the forest edge of 500–600 meters for T. auratus and 50–75 meters and 125–150 meters for P. comata. This finding is important to support conservation efforts outside protected areas

Herlina N, Widhiono I, Proklamaningsih E, Sudiana E, Nasihin I, Nurdin. 2025. Forest edge effects on medicinal plants diversity in lowland forest in Gunung Tilu, West Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 26: 2873-2881. Forest edge effect is an ecological phenomenon that affects diversity of medicinal plants in the border area between forest edge and the interior. Gunung Tilu in West Java, Indonesia, is a lowland forest area with abundant natural resource potential, but the surrounding communities often use various resources in the form of wood and non-wood forest products, specifically medicinal plants which might cause edge effect. This study aims to analyze the diversity of medicinal plants and determine the effect of forest edges on the diversity of medicinal plants on the northern slopes and western slopes in the Gunung Tilu forest area. Line transect method was used to collect medicinal plant data. Sampling was done by making plots to analyze the composition, dominant species, diversity index, evenness index, and community similarity index. Furthermore, environmental variables such as temperature, humidity, sunlight intensity and soil pH were analyzed using the Spearman correlation test. The results showed that there were 89 species of medicinal plants classified into 41 families. The families with the largest number of medicinal plants came from the Asteraceae and Moraceae families. On the western slope, the understory, seedling, pole, and tree levels did not experience significant composition at various distance, but at the sapling level, changes occurred at a distance of 260 meters. On the northern slope, there were different variations in edge depth at each growth level where in understory, seedlings, and saplings, the edge depth reached up to 260 meters, while at the pole level, changes occurred at a distance of 240 meters and trees at 120 meters. This shows that tree communities adapt more quickly to environmental condition in the forest compared to other stages.

Bombus rufipes Lepeletier 1835 (Hymenoptera: Bombidae) is the only species of Bombidae found in Java. Recent information suggests that it occurs in Java on Mounts Salak 1200 m asl., Mt. Halimun, Mt. Pangrango Gede Complexes, Mt.Cermai, (West Java) Mt.Slamet , Mt. Merapi, Mt. Merbabu, Mt Telomoyo (Central Java) and Mt Argopuro (East Java) , at altitudes above 1,500 m asl. We sought to rediscover this species on Mount Slamet by surveying natural forests at altitudes of 1,500–2,500 m asl on the eastern slopes of Mount Slamet, from August to October 2020 and August to October 2021. Descriptive and morphometric data were obtained and analyzed. The survey revealed five colonies nesting on the ground at an average depth of ca. 70 cm; the colonies contained 18–24 individuals and 22–36 cells (brood, honey, and pollen cells). Based on morphometric measurements and the description of Frison (1930), the species was identified as Bombus rufipes Lepeletier 1835. Therefore, Bombus rufipes still occurs on Mount Slamet. These results provide basic information that should aid further research on this species.

Widhiono I, Sudiana E, Suryaningsih S. 2022. Short Communication: Impact of introduction of managed honey bee colony on wild bee diversity and abundance in an agroecosystem in Indonesia. Biodiversitas 23: 1099-1104. Wild bees are natural pollinators of crops in agroecosystems, but managed honeybee colonies may diminish their diversity and abundance. We aimed to determine the impact of introducing managed honeybee (Apis cerana and A. mellifera) colonies on the diversity and abundance of wild bees in an agroecosystem in Indonesia. We introduced managed honeybee colonies into the plots containing four crops (tomato, green bean, chili, and green mustard). Sampling was conducted from March to July 2020 on the eastern slopes of Mount Slamet, Indonesia, at an elevation of 1241 m asl. Wild bee diversity was not affected by the introduction of managed honeybee colonies, but their abundance decreased at the end of the flowering period due to resource limitations. The most abundant wild bee species were Amegilla cyrtandrae and A. burneensis, and some wild bee species tended to be more abundant on certain crop species. We recommend that managed colonies be introduced during the early and mid-stages of crop flowering to reduce potential adverse effects on wild bee populations.

Riwidiharso E, Darsono, Setyowati EA, Pratiknyo H, Sudiana E, Santoso S, Yani E, Widhiono I. 2020. Prevalence and diversity of ectoparasites in scavenging chickens (Gallus domesticus) and their association to body weight. Biodiversitas 21: 3163-3169. Domestic chickens (Gallus domesticus) which are traditionally fed by scavenging on farms predispose them to ectoparasites infestation. In this study, a preliminary survey was conducted on the common ectoparasites on G. domesticus in the rural areas of Banyumas. The purposes of this study were to determine the diversity of ectoparasites, their prevalence, and their relationship to the chickens body weight. This research was conducted by the survey method from December 2019 to April 2020 in five villages around the city of Purwokerto, Banyumas District, Central Java, Indonesia viz., Kedungwuluh, Kedungwringin, Kutasari, Karangsalam, and Karanggintung. Data analysis was conducted by Shannon Wiener and Evenness indexes. Analysis of variance was used to calculate the difference in prevalence among sample locations. Regression correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between prevalence and chicken body weight. The results showed that there were six ectoparasite species i.e., Menopon gallinae, Menacanthus cornutus, Lipeurus caponis, Dermanysus gallinae, Megninia ginglymura, and Haemaphysallis sp. parasitizing G. domesticus. The number of ectoparasite individuals among locations was significantly different (F 5.59 < 32.45; p <0.05). The most number of ectoparasite was found in Karangsalam (272 individuals). The most prevalent ectoparasite was M. cornutus (45%), followed by L. caponis (40%), and the lowest was M. synglineura (25%). Ectoparasite prevalence was associated with chicken weight loss (r = 0.98). The prevalence of ectoparasite of domestic chickens farm in the Banyumas Regency is classified as low but has the potential to influence body weight.

Wild bee pollinators (Hymenoptera : Apiade) diversity and abundance were studied in three types of plantation forest on Mt. Slamet (Central Java Province, Indonesia). The aims of the research was to know the diversity and abundance of wild bee pollinators and to determine the possibility of plantation forest contribution on wild bees conservation. Sampling has been done at three stands: a pine forest (PF, with Pinus merkusii), an Agathis forest (AF, with Agathis damara) and a community forest (CF, with Albizia falctaria). Each habitat was divided into 5 line transect (100 x 5 m) and sweep nets were used to collect the wild bee samples. Sampling was done eah month from April to August 2015. The diversity of wild bees was high (12 species in 9 genera; members of the Apidae (7 species were dominant). The most abundant species across the forests were Apis cerana (343 individuals; 25.5% of total), Trigona laeviceps (195 individuals; 14.5%), and Megachille relativa (165 individuals; 12.3%). Measurements of species diversity (H’), species evenness (E), habitat similarity (Ss) and species richness indicated that the wild bee species diversity in the region was relatively high (H’ = 1.275) to (H’ = 1.730);(E= 0.870) to (E = 0.93). The result showed that the diversity of wild bees in three different plantation forest habitats on Mt. Slamet were similar and can be concluded that plantation forest types were important for pollinator conservation, and an appropriate future preservation strategy should include of the areas of all plantation forest types.

Widhiono I, Pandhani RD, Darsono, Riwidiharso E, Santoso S, Prayoga L. 2017. Short Communication: Ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) diversity as bioindicator of agroecosystem health in northern slope of Mount Slamet, Central Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 18: 1475-1480. This study examined the diversity of ant assemblages in two different agroecosystems (organic and intensive farming) with maize as main crops on the northern slope of Mount Slamet, Indonesia from April to August 2015. The response of ant diversity to the different farming systems was evaluated. In total, 359 ants from 17 species in five subfamilies were collected: 13 species from the organic farm and 10 species from the conventional farm. Seven (41%) species were found only on the organic farm, four (23%) species were found only on the conventional farm, and six (35%) species were found on both. The Morisita-Horn similarity index (33%) showed that the similarity of the species composition in the two habitats was low. More individual ants were found on the organic farm than the intensive farm [287 (79.94%) vs. 72 (20.05%) individuals]. The diversity of the ants was affected by the density of weeds with organic farming. Hypoponera sp. had the highest Indicator Value (50.7), followed by Aphaenogaster sp. (28.9), Diacamma sp. (28.2), and Odontoponera sp. (27.6), however only Odontoponera sp can be used as bioindicator. Although the ant diversity was higher with organic farming than with intensive farming, there was no correlation with soil conditions. As a bioindicator, the Indicator Value reflects agroecosystem health better than does ant diversity.

Spiders are crucial in controlling insect pest population. The various cultivation managements such as fertilizer and pesticide application, weeding, pruning, harvesting, and cropping system affect their diversity. In the plantation, vegetation diversification has applied various practices, including monoculture, and intercropping, which influence the spider community. Thus, this study was intended to determine the spider abundance and diversity of the tea plantation, and the intercropping field (tea and strawberry) at Serang village, Karangreja Sub-District, District of Purbalingga. A survey and purposive sampling techniques were conducted, then the spiders were hand collected. Shannon-Wiener diversity (H’), Evenness (E), Simpson’s dominance (D), and Sorensen’s similarity (IS) indices were used to measure the spider diversity. The results revealed a total number of 575 individual spiders from 10 families, i.e., Araneae, Araneidae, Clubionidae, Linyphiidae, Lycosidae, Nephilidae, Oxyopidae, Salticidae, Tetragnathidae, Theridiidae, and Thomisidae. Araneidae was the most abundant in both fields. The total abundance of spiders in tea plantation (379 individuals), however, was greater than that in the intercropping field (196 individuals). Shannon-Wiener diversity reached H’= 1.873 in the plantation, and H’= 1.975 in the intercropping field.

An Agri-Environmental Scheme (AES) was designed to enhance flower availability in crops using local wild plants. The goals of this research were to determine the impact of four wild plants on three cash corps, focusing on the diversity and abundance of insect pollinators, and to test the efficacy of this scheme using farmland on the northern slope of Mount Slamet. This research was done using a split block design, with the three cash crops as blocks (strawberry [Fragaria x ananassa Duchesne], chili pepper [Capsicum spp.], and tomatoes [Solanum lycopersicum L.]) and four wild plant species as treatments (Cleome rutidosperma, Borreria laevicaulis, Euphorbia heterophylla, and Tridax procumbens) at different precentages (0, 5, 10, and 15 %) of cash crop plant density. The results show that growing wild plants with cash crops enhanced the abundance and diversity of insect pollinators. Moreover, the addition of wild plant species to the crops at four densities had significantly different effects on insect pollinators in terms of abundance and diversity. The combination of 15 % C. rutidospermae and tomatoes had the largest population of insect pollinators. From the experiments it concluded that an AES could be implemented in farmland on the northern slope of Mount Slamet.