Title 1 : Inventory and Evaluation-effects of Forest-disturbance on Coleoptera-Diversity  (Funded by Chevron Corporate)

Golden Beetle

Among insects the order of Coleoptera is the biggest group with 350.000 species recorded around the world. They play an important role in managing the ecosystems’ balance through its ecological function as predators, parasitoids, prey and herbivores as well as many families react very sensitive on environmental destruction and habitat modification. For Salak Mountain the species richness and status of this insect group is poorly documented that’s why an ecological research on the inventory and the status of this insect group in our fragmented landscape is needed to develop conservation strategies. The aim of this study is the inventory of species richness and to evaluate the effects of habitat modification on the community structure of Coleoptera.

The research was conducted between February and July 2004 in four selected locations covering three different habitats (production forest, undisturbed forest, disturbed forest). Insects were surveyed by hand collection following transect walks along 1000 m. Overall we documented 473 specimens belonging to 135 species. Chrysomelidae is the family with the highest species richness and abundance. Our analysis proved that the species composition of Coleoptera is strongly related to the type of habitat. The species number in undisturbed forests was higher than in other habitat types, in contrast to the production forest with the lowest number of species. Based on those findings, we conclude that forest transformation may affect species diversity and community structure of Coleoptera.

Title 2 : Status of Lucanidae Beetles in Salak Mountain: Species Diversity, Community-Structure and Abundance. (Funded by Chevron Corporate)

Beetles of the group Lucanidae play an important role in the food web, especially their function as decomposer of dead organic material. Many species of Lucanidae take 2-5 years to complete their life cycle. In Salak Mountain, one of the key issues that is threatening the area is the loss of several species of Lucanidae and the destruction of the forest due to illegal hunting of these beetles for economic purposes. Hundreds of beetles are poached each week to satisfy with the Japanese exotic pet trade, causing tremendous losses of diversity in the Salak ecosystems. Unfortunately no study has ever investigated the status of those beetles in the ecosystem so far. Since the natural ecosystem in Salak Mountain is affected seriously by anthropogenic disturbances like illegal logging, mass hunting, and forest transformation, species loss is expected to occur rapidly. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the status of Lucanidae in Salak Mountain and to explore the effects of forest modifications on their diversity and species composition.

This study started in June 2004 and has been completed in November 2005. Insects were surveyed by light traps and records of the number of beetles that were collected and traded by hunters. Preliminary data indicated that 7 Lucanidae-species are commercially traded and the number of beetles traded is related to seasons. In dry season (May-August), traded beetles were recorded in a much higher number than in rainy season (September –January). Our observation showed that from the most expensive commercial beetle, the gold beetle, only five individuals has been found between July and January. This means that its population was already extremely low compared to other commercial beetles. Based on the light trap data, the species composition is related to the sampling period (month).

Title 3: Lucanide Beetle MonitoringThe first beetle monitoring in Chevron compound was conducted between 2004 and 2005.  In this phase, we conducted second monitoring on the same sites to evaluate the population status.

Insect samplings were conducted in five different stations, Awi 8, 10, 13, 14, and 16.   Each stations were equipped with different number of lamp (type: Sodium SON-T, 1000 Watt, 220 Vac). In total, nine species and 98 individuals were found by exploring 5 stations in three times samplings .  Three species: Dorcus bucephalus (local name: Capit kunci),  Hexarthrius buqueti (Capit kebo), and Prosopocoilus astocoiedes (Capit berem) were dominant in the selected sites.  Hexartrhius rhinoceros (Capit badak) and Dorcus taurus (Taurus ) were recorded with the lowest individual number. Unfortunately in this research, the most economic valuable beetle, Allotopus rosenbergii was not recorded from the samplings.  If we compare the monitoring result between 2005 and 2008, there was decreasing number of individual and species recorded from the same location.  This result indicated that there is a significant decrease of beetle population in the field.  Based on this finding, conservation effort is important to maintain species richness and abunandce of Lucanid beetle, especially for Allotopus rosenbergii.