Mangrove Vegetation Effect of Nutrient Conditions in The Ponds of Sembilang National Park, South Sumatra

Abstract

Sembilang National Park is one of the national parks which is located in South Sumatra and became the largest mangrove area in western Indonesia. However, most of the mangroves area in the national park has been experiencing over the function to be plots of tidal ponds. This has resulted in concerns mangrove destruction of land in national parks. One of the efforts made to maintain the mangroves area is to do sylvofishery system, which is mangrove planting and cultivation of milkfish simultaneously in the plots of ponds. This study aims to analyze the water quality and nutrient levels (nitrate and phosphate) in the ponds in the area of sylvofishery restoration in Sembilang National Park. This study conducted by purposive method sampling in the restoration ponds, non-restoration ponds, and river water bodies in all area of Sembilang National Park. The analyze include insitu parameters measurement and nutrient (nitrate and phosphate) analysis. The results showed that the presence of mangrove plants in the ponds area is able to improve the content of DO and pH of pond water, mangroves also showed satisfactory results in the capture of nitrate that would indirectly prevent the pond water from pollution. However, based on the phosphate condition, high phosphate in ponds area that have been restored showed that young mangrove plants have not been able to significantly phosphate binder.