Meru Betiri National Park is a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

in the province of

East Java East Java (, , ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost third of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, extending over an area of of which a small part of is marine. The beaches of the park provide nesting grounds for

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

turtle species such as the leatherback sea turtle,

hawksbill sea turtle The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution that is largel ...

green sea turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exte ...

and

olive ridley sea turtle The olive ridley sea turtle (''Lepidochelys olivacea''), also known commonly as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is the second-smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in t ...

Geography and climate

Meru Betiri National Park has a varied topography reaching from a plain coast to highlands with an altitude of almost . The tallest mountains within the park are Mount Gamping (538 m), Mount Butak (609 m), Mount Sukamade Atas (801 m), Mount Gendong (840 m asl), Mount Mandilis (844 m) and Mount Betiri (1,192 m). The topography along the coast is generally hilly to mountainous. There are only a few sandy plain coasts, most of them located in the west, such as Rajegwesi Beach, Sukamade Beach, Permisan Beach, Meru Beach, and Bandealit Beach. Some rivers across Meru Betiri NP are the Sukamade River, a perennial river, the Permisan River, the Meru River, and the Sekar Pisang River which flows to the South coast. The Meru Betiri area is influenced by monsoon wind. From November to March, the westerly wind brings rainfall to the area, whereas the dry season occurs from April to October. The average annual rainfall is between 2300 and , with 4 dry months and 7 wet months on average.

Vegetation

As a result of its diverse topography, Meru Betiri NP contains five distinct vegetation types: * Coastal vegetation is found around Sukamade Bay and Meru Bay. This vegetation includes the '' Barringtonia asiatica'', ''

Calophyllum inophyllum ''Calophyllum inophyllum'' is a large evergreen plant, commonly called tamanu, oil-nut, mastwood, beach calophyllum or beautyleaf. It is native to the Old World Tropics, from Africa through Asia to Australia and Polynesia. Due to its importance a ...

'', '' Hibiscus tiliaceus'', ''

Terminalia catappa ''Terminalia catappa'' is a large Tropics, tropical tree in the leadwood tree family, Combretaceae, native to Asia, Australia, the Pacific, Madagascar and Seychelles. Common names in English include country almond, Indian almond, Malabar almond, ...

'', and ''

Pandanus tectorius ''Pandanus tectorius'' is a species of ''Pandanus'' (screwpine) that is native to Malesia, Papuasia, eastern Australia, and the Pacific Islands. It grows in the coastal lowlands typically near the edge of the ocean. Common names in English inclu ...

''. *

Mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

vegetation is found on the eastern side of Rajegwesi Bay as the outlet of Lembu and Karang Tambak Rivers, Meru Bay, and Sukamade Coast. The dominant vegetations are '' Rhizophora'', ''

Avicennia ''Avicennia'' is a genus of flowering plants currently placed in the bear's breeches family, Acanthaceae. It contains mangrove trees, which occur in the intertidal zones of estuarine areas and are characterized by its "pencil roots", which ar ...

'', and '' Bruguiera''. At the outlet of the Sukamade River, there is ''

Nypa fruticans ''Nypa fruticans'', commonly known as the nipa palm (or simply nipa, from ) or mangrove palm, is a species of palm native to the coastlines and estuarine habitats of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the only palm considered adapted to the ...

''. *

Swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

vegetation is found at the back of the mangrove forest of Sukamade. Some tree species here are ''

Manilkara kauki ''Manilkara kauki'' is a plant in the subfamily Sapotoideae, and the tribe Sapoteae of the family Sapotaceae; and is the type species for the genus ''Manilkara''.''Species Plantarum'' 2 1753 It occurs in tropical Asia from Indo-China (Cambod ...

'', '' Gluta renghas'', '' Alstonia scholaris'', and '' Sterculia foetida''. * Lowland

tropical rain forest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

, including among others tree species of ''

Pterospermum ''Pterospermum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family Malvaceae. Its species are tropical trees that range from southern China across tropical Asia. Traditionally included in the family (biology), family Sterculiaceae, it is incl ...

'', ''

Tetrameles nudiflora ''Tetrameles'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Tetramelaceae with one species, ''Tetrameles nudiflora''. It grows as a large deciduous tree and is found across southern Asia from India through southeast Asia, Malesia, and into northe ...

'', '' Ficus variegata'', '' Diospyros cauliflora'', '' Aglaia variegata'', '' Dracontomelon mangiferum'', '' Bischofia javanica'', '' Dysoxylum gaudichaudianum'', '' Pseudobombax septenatum'', '' Litsea'', and '' Plectocomia elongata''. * Rheophytic vegetation is found in the

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

areas, such as at the Sukamade area. The dominant vegetation species here is the '' Saccharum spontaneum''. The rare parasitic plant '' Rafflesia zollingeriana'' was rediscovered in Meru Betiri NP.

Fauna

The park provides habitat for many other protected animals, including 29 species of mammal and 180 species of bird. Among them are the

banteng The banteng (''Bos javanicus''; ), also known as tembadau, is a species of wild Bovinae, bovine found in Southeast Asia. The head-and-body length is between . Wild banteng are typically larger and heavier than their Bali cattle, domesticated ...

, Javan leopard,

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

, long-tailed macaque, Sumatran dhole,

Javanese flying squirrel The Javanese flying squirrel (''Iomys horsfieldii'') is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is found in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state ...

leopard cat The leopard cat (''Prionailurus bengalensis'') is a Felinae, small wild cat native to continental South Asia, South, Southeast Asia, Southeast, and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is widely di ...

, Javan muntjac, and green peafowl. The beaches of the park provide a nesting ground for leatherback turtles, hawksbill turtles,

green turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exte ...

s, and

olive ridley turtle The olive ridley sea turtle (''Lepidochelys olivacea''), also known commonly as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is the second-smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in t ...

s. Meru Betiri National Park is known as the last habitat of the

Javan tiger The Javan tiger was a ''Panthera tigris sondaica'' population native to the Indonesian island of Java. It was one of the three tiger populations that colonized the Sunda Islands during the last glacial period 110,000–12,000 years ago. It used t ...

(''Panthera tigris sondaica'') which is now considered extinct, with the last sighting having been recorded in 1976. Due to research in 1997, tiger paw prints at a size of were found, so the Forestry Ministry agreed to monitor the existence of the Javanese tiger with a camera trap in 2011.

Conservation

The Meru Betiri Forest area was first appointed as a protected forest by the Dutch Colonial Government in 1931. In 1972 the Meru Betiri Protected Forest (500 km²) was appointed as a wildlife sanctuary, prioritized for protecting the habitat of the then endangered

. In 1982 the sanctuary was expanded to its current extent of 580 km² including a marine area of 845 ha. In 1982 the sanctuary was declared a National Park, which finally was designated as such in 1997.

References

External links