Balinese Flora & Fauna Discover Indonesia. Bruce Granquist

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      Copyright © 1999 Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.

      All rights reserved

      Printed in Singapore

       ISBN: 978-1-4629-0876-9 (ebook)

      Publisher: Eric M. Oey

      Text: Julian Davison

       Illustrations: Bruce Granquist, Mubinas Hanafi, Nengah Enu

       Production: Mary Chia,Violet Wong & Agnes Tan

       Distributors

      Indonesia:

       Jl. Rawa Gelam IV No. 9

       Kawasan Industri Pulogadung

       Jakarta 13930, Indonesia

       Tel. 62 (21) 4382 1088

       Tel. 62 (21) 461 0206

      Asia Pacific:

      Berkeley Books Pte. Ltd.

       61 Tai Seng Avenue, #02-12

       Singapore 534167

       Tel: (65) 6280 1330

       Fax: (65) 6280 6290

       Email: [email protected]

       Web site: www.periplus.com

      United States:

       364 Innovation Drive

       North Clarendon, VT 05759-9436

       Tel 1 (802) 773 8930

       Fax 1 (802) 773 6993

      Contents

Bali's Biogeography 4
Volcanoes, Lakes and Caldera 6
Montane Plants and Animals 8
Rivers and Streams 10
Lowland Rainforests 12
Forest Fauna 14
Deciduous Forests and Savanna Grasslands 16
The Ecology of the Rice Fields 18
Rice Field Fauna 20
Gardens and Compounds 22
Animals and Man 24
The Coastline and Intertidal Zone 26
Coral Reefs 28
The Ocean Depths 30
Glossary 32

      Bali's Biogeography

      Bali is a relatively 'young' island, having probably first emerged above the waves some 3 million years ago. It is one of the most volcanically active islands in the world and volcanoes have played an important role in shaping the natural history of Bali. Periodic eruptions spew forth great streams of molten balsatic lava which, when they have cooled, are broken down by natural erosion to form a fertile sediment in the valleys and plains. These rich soils supported the great swathe of forest that once covered most of the island and which can still be found in the west.

      In historical times, much of this forest cover has been lost to agriculture, the natural fertility of the island allowing the cultivation of two rice crops a year to feed an ever-growing human population, which today stands at roughly 3 million.

      Island Biogeography

      Bali is a so-called continental island, that is to say, an island which sits on the continental shelf and is typically situated close to the mainland, in this case Java. Surrounded by shallow seas, it is periodically connected to the mainland at times of lowered sea levels which occur whenever there are ice ages. The latter circumstances allow an exchange of species—both plant and animal— with the mainland, with the result that the native flora and fauna of the island generally resembles that of the mainland, though the diversity of island species is usually less.

      Bali is no exception to this rule, though the island does have at least one known endemic species, that is to say, a species which is unique to Bali and found nowhere else in the world. This is the famed Bali starling (Lucospar rothschildi) which was only discovered by Western science as recently as 1911. In the past, there was also a subspecies of tiger (Panthera tigris balica), but that has become extinct, a fate which also threatens the Bali starling.

      Plate Tectonics

      The Earth's surface is made up of gigantic rocky 'plates', which can be up to 100 kilometres thick. These plates are not 'fixed', but rest on more fluid layers beneath which allow them to move about, giving rise to the phenomenon known as continental drift. Some 25 0 kilometres off the southern coast of Bali there is a very deep fault in the ocean floor known as the Java Trench. South of this lies the Indo-Australian plate which is moving northwards, crunching up against and sliding under the Sunda Plate on which Bali and the rest of Southeast Asia sits. As the Indo-Australian Plate dips under the Sunda Plate along the line of the Java Trench, periodic earthquakes occur, occasioned

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