Indonesia is a country that stores abundant natural wealth. The biodiversity of this country with more than 17 thousand islands, there is no doubt about it. No wonder Indonesia is called a mega biodiversity country. The thing that makes Indonesia's biodiversity so rich is its geographical location.
The archipelago's landscape forms the bio region of Asian and Australian flora and fauna. Formed the Wallacea line as well as weber and Lydekker's biogeography. This is also what makes the nusantara earth store such a high biological wealth. It may even be higher than Brazil.
In a book entitled "Contemporary Indonesian Biodiversity" published by LIPI (now BRIN) in 2014, in Indonesia there are 1,500 types of algae, 80,000 types of spora plants (such as Cryptogam) in the form of fungi, 595 types of crustal mosses, 2,197 types of spikes and 30,000 to 40,000 types of seed plant flora. The figure covers 15.5% of the total number of flora in the world.Not only that, the richness of Indonesia's fauna is also abundant.
There are 8,157 types of vertebrate fauna such as birds, mammals, fish and herpetofauna. Indonesia also has 1,900 species of butterflies or ten percent of the total in the world.
The peculiarities of endemic flora and fauna are also shared by Indonesia. This very rich country is recorded to have endemic fauna such as 270 types of mammals, 386 species of birds, 328 types of reptiles, 204 types of amphibians and 280 types of fish. Meanwhile, Indonesia's endemic flora is recorded at around 40 to 50 percent on each island. Except Sumatra, whose endemism rate is 23 percent.
The series of numbers of types of flora and fauna in Indonesia, of course, not all of them have been identified. There are still many types that have not been identified. In fact, biodiversity is a very important asset for the sustainability of humans and the earth. There are still many flora and fauna that are not yet known types and benefits contained in them for human life. Both as a source of pangam, medicine, energy and so on.
This happens due to the lack of taxonomists. The scattered data is scattered and has not been well documented. In addition, the vast territory of Indonesia is also an obstacle, there are still many obstacles that have not been identified as existing biodiversity.
Awareness of this, in fact, has existed for a long time. In 1989, the Government of Indonesia established the Herbarium Wanariset. It was initiated in collaboration between the Indonesian Forestry Ministry and the Rijksherbarium Leiden and the Dutch Tropenbos Foundation. The purpose of establishing the institution is to document the diversity of flora, especially those on the mainland of the island of Kalimantan.
The management of this herbarium has undergone several changes. At the beginning of its establishment, at that time the Minister of Forestry Hasjrul Harahap appointed the Samarinda Forestry Research and Research Agency as the technical organization that manages the Wanariset Herbarium. Since 1994, Herbarium wanariset is accredited and listed in the Index Herbariorum with the abbreviation "WAN".
In its journey in 2002, the Wanariset Herbarium was then managed by the Primate Animal Research and Development Workshop (L2SP). Then in 2007, he was under the management of the Samboja Treasury Technology Research Center (BPTP). In 2011, it changed again to under the management of the Natural Resources Conservation Technology Research Center (Balitek KSDA).
Over time in 2016, the Natural Resources Conservation Technology Research Center was changed to the Natural Resources Conservation Technology Research and Development Center. The change was carried out with the aim of upgrading from a research station to a UPT (Technical Service Unit). The main focus area is research.
The Wanariset Herbarium was also built to manage and provide a collection database as evidence-based documentation for botanical, ecological, systematic taxonomic, and ethnobotabi research. Also as a center for identification and determination services for plants that exist on the island of Borneo. Not only that, he also acts as a training service for plant identification and herbarium management for other agencies. Also a center of student education in plant diversity.
Speaking of the number of collections in the Herbarium Wanariset, between 1989 and 1990, he already has 1,735 collections with 649 species already identified. The figure was then increased in 1999. At that time Rijksherbarium from Leiden in the Netherlands sent 540 collections from Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak with an additional 603 collections from the Barito Ulu project. Every year, there is an increase in the number of collections from regular explorations by researchers and technicians, as well as donations from herbariums and other researchers at home and abroad.
The main collection present in the Herbarium Wanariset are Angiosperm plants of several levels of habitat such as trees, lianas, schurbs, herbs, parasites, and epiphytes. There are four specimens of parasitic plants stored there. Among them are Rafflesia pricei Meijer and Rhizanthes lowii (Becc.), Harms (Rafflesiaceae) and Balanophora papuana Schltr (Balanophoraceae).
The collection database in the Wanariset Herbarium is managed using the Botanical Research and Herbarium Management System or BRAHM. As of January 2019, the Wanariset Herbarium is home to 19,799 collections with 3,675 identified species.
In order to support research on the types of flora on the island of Kalimantan, Herbarium Wanariset has a collection cabinet consisting of 1,176 wooden boxes and is able to store 150,000 herbarium specimens, and 66 boxes for storing wood collections (Xylarium). In addition, he alsohas four deep freezers with a capacity of 22 boxes, each for specimen freezing treatment and four air conditioning units to maintain room temperature.
Various activities are carried out to document various diversity of flora on the island of Kalimantan. Among them are explorations carried out to observe, collect complete plant specimens. Starting from the leaves, flowers, to the fruit to be used as herbarium specimens.
The existence of the Wanariset Herbarium is certainly very helpful for many parties. Especially researchers and students who focus on deepening the knowledge of plants. He assists in the identification and determination of plants, provides data and information related to the flora of Kalimantan, research assistance for local and international students, storage of plant specimens from partners and researchers from other agencies.
In addition, he also acts as a specialist in plants and taxonomy. Also mentoring on the management and organization of the herbarium. And an education and training center for students in plant diversity.
Anyone can access the specimen information collected by it. Herbarium Wanariset is located on Jalan Soekarno Hatta Km 38, Sungai Merdeka Village, Samboja District, Kutai Kartanegara Regency.
If you find a plant whose type of species is not yet known, it can be sent to the Wanariset Herbarium for later identification. Students or researchers can send plant specimens that are being studied either directly, or sent via postal services or couriers. The service fee that must be prepared for students is Rp.50,000 per sample, while for the public it is Rp.75,000 per sample.***
