West Bali National Park (WBNP) is one of conservation areas which has a unique ecosystem in Bali, i.e. a blend of land and marine ecosystems. The former consists of monsoon forest, lowland rain forest, savannah and coastal forest. However, information and studies of monsoon forest in the National Park remains limited.

It interests four senior students of Biology Study Program to conduct an observational study of vegetation in the shade of monsoon forest ecosystem. They are Listya Wulandari, Nita Valentina, Ika Widayanti and Mir’atun Suroya.

Mir’atun explained that the observation was held in a 10 x 10 meters plot of 58009.505’ SL and 114028.926’ EL with height up to 33 meters. The observation measured temperature (34 oC), wind speed (147,93 m/s), light intensity (345,32 lux), pH (5,47), humidity (55%) and soil moisture (51,67%).

“We observed four vegetations, i.e. Dysoxylum which provides shade for Euphatorium sp., Lamtana sp., and Lamtana camara. There were three unidentified vegetations. Based on abiotic, hot temperature with average light and dry soil, the shaded vegetations of monsoon forest in West Bali National Park have such typical characteristics, namely hard and horn stems, small and serrated leaves,” she added. (listya/witono)