T

he eruptions of Mount Merapi on the border of Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces last year caused serious damage to the biodiversity of Mt. Merapi National Park (TNGM) on the southern slope of the volcano, an official said.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post in Yogyakarta on Tuesday, TNGM head Kuspriyadi, said that out of 67 species of orchids previously in the area, 17 had not yet been rediscovered, including the park’s special vanda tricolor species.

“The eruptions really made significant impacts on the biodiversity on the slope of Mt. Merapi,” said Kuspriyadi, adding that of 167 bird species in the park, only 97 had been spotted since.

Of the bird species on Merapi, the Javan hawk-eagle (Spizaetus bartelsi) is considered the most endangered. Before the eruption, bird protection NGO the Kutilang Foundation noted that there were five in the park. Post eruption research by TNGM has only identified three.

The eruptions in October and November last year, Merapi’s biggest eruptions in a century, according to Kuspriyadi, have damaged some 50 percent of the 6,410 hectares of forest on the slopes of the volcano. They are former production forests with monoculture plants such as pines.

“It’s fortunate that the natural forest on the Plawangan-Turgo region is still intact and only suffered minor damage,” he said.

He said that his office also found dead hedgehogs and wild boars after the eruptions, but believed that many of the animals living in the forest had managed to escape the deadly pyroclastic flows due to their natural instincts.

He also believed that the damage to the flora and fauna in the TNGM area would not distrupt the food chain because the cause was natural and not man made.

“The volcano has been erupting regularly for thousands of years and the animals are still there,” he said.

He added that TNGM would enact habitat recovery efforts by gradually replanting according to the conditions of the soil of the damaged forest. This was important to mend the hydrological function of the area, he said.

“The replanting is done through field and forest rehabilitation programs, replanting with special treatments, replanting by involving local communities and replanting with the help of the private sector and non-governmental organizations,” he said.