Vegetation Types in East Sumba and Its Conservation Problems

Abstract

Sumba is an interesting island which has flora diversity and habitat types. The Eastern of Sumba has a complete topography, from plain to hilly sites. This paper describes the result of survey in East Sumba in 1997, 1998, and 1999. There are 5 vegetation types, i.e., mangrove forest, savanna, grassland, bushland, and mixed rain forest which distributed in coastal terraces, mountain range, limestone plateaus, deep river gorges, and undulating country with escarpments. In each vegetation type, there are some unique flora both in morphological and utilization. Some of them are also endemic plants. High flora diversity with high human activities makes high challenge for conservationist.