Managing Agricultural Genetic Resources in Indonesia
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Date
2008-05
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BB Biogen
Abstract
Description
Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago compromised 17.508 islands and scattered between six degrees North latitude to 11 degrees South latitude and from nine degrees to 141 degrees East longitude. Spanning more than 5.000 km, Indonesia bridges between the landmass of Southeast Asia and the continent of Australia. The vast archipelago of Indonesia spans three time zones over a width greater than the distance from Dublin to Moscow, or from Florida to Alaska. The nation straddles two of the world’s seven major biogeographic regions, the Oriental and Australasian, and includes Wallacea, a unique biotic and geographic area that lies in the broad interface between these two major regions.
Indonesia's historical evolution has been strongly influenced by the sheer forces of it's own geography -- with the interplay between climate, rainfall, and volcanic activity shaping agricultural and population patterns in different ways throughout the country's enormous diversity of islands. Geography has also played role in the remarkable diversity of Indonesia's abundant plant and animal life. The 19th-century British botanist Alfred Russell Wallace and Darwin determined a precise line of demarcation between the Indonesian islands of Bali and Lombok -- the “Wallace Line” -- which separates the flora and fauna found throughout Asia from those unique to Australasia. This country is considered a mega biodiversity country, and is ranked first in the world for the number of mammals, palms, swallowtail butterflies, and parrot species. It contains 10% of the world’s flowering plant species, 18 Global 200 ecoregions, 24 Endemic Bird Areas, and has the highest coral species richness in the region. Called as the “Ring of Fire” to refer for the chain of active volcanoes that form its spine, Indonesia also is the sole habitat for several of the world's most unusual living species -- ranging from the menacing Komodo Dragon to a bizarre flower known as Rafflesia, with damp and tropical petals opening more than a meter in diameter.
Keywords
Research Subject Categories::A Agriculture/Pertanian