Country: New Guinea
Administrative region: Papua (Province)
Central co-ordinates: 1.15566 S, 132.46351 E
Qualifying IPA Criteria
A(iii)Site contains one or more highly restricted endemic species that are potentially threatened
IPA assessment rationale
There are 15 site endemic plant species at this site, the majority of them orchids in the genus Bulbophyllum. This lowland area has a fairly complex topography, with limestone hills surrounding the town, which allows lowland and hill forest vegetation types to exist in the same small area.
Site description
Ayawasi is a small town the central part of the Bird's Head peninsula of New Guinea, in the Netayn river valley, a tributary of the Ayfat river. The town is surrounded by lowland rainforest and low karst hills up to 600 metres elevation. The average rainfall is 5000 to 5500 mm per year. There were several years of targeted botanical surveys in this area using forest plots by the National Herbarium of the Netherlands in the early 1990s, making it one of the most thoroughly surveyed areas for plants in north-west New Guinea.
Botanical significance
The topography and geology of this site mean that there are several different vegetation types within a relatively small area as well as typical lowland rainforest, namely tall rainforest with an open canopy on sandy soil, secondary forest, and low rainforest with a dense canopy on limestone. The limestone vegetation type has no unique tree species, but is compositionally different to the other forest types at this site, and is dominated by the tree genera Anisoptera, Tristaniopsis and Haplolobus. There are 16 vascular plant species known only from Ayawasi, of which 12 are species of Bulbophyllum (Orchidaceae). These species are mostly confined to the limestone hills. The 12 site endemic Bulbophyllum species are all assessed as Vulnerable according to the IUCN Red List criteria. Over 700 food, medicinal, material and magical plant uses were recorded by Ave, although this work has never been published.
Habitat and geology
The karst hills belong to the Kais limestone formation. The complicated landscape of the karst make the different vegetation types difficult to see on satellite imagery. There are three main vegetation types in the area surrounding Ayawasi: 1) Sandy soils with tall primary rainforest with a relatively open canopy 2) Sandy soils with secondary forest on old garden sites 3) Limestone hills with accumulated humus supporting low primary forest with a dense canopy (Polak 2000). The forest plot inventories showed that there was relatively little overlap in floristic composition between the vegetation types.
Conservation issues
Ayawasi has grown from a village to a small town since the 1990s, but it is still surrounded by large areas of intact forest, with little forest loss visible on satellite imagery, as shown by Global Forest Watch data 2001-2022. The main future threat is the 97,500 Ha logging concession which covers the area and may become active in the future. Ayawasi is also on the route of the Trans Papua Highway
Site assessor(s)
Assessed by:
Laura Jennings, Royal Botanic Garden Kew
Charlie Heatubun, The Provincial Government of West Papua and Universitas Papua
Jimmy Wanma, State University of Papua
Andre Schuiteman, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
IPA criterion A species
| Species | Qualifying sub-criterion | ≥ 1% of global population | ≥ 5% of national population | 1 of 5 best sites nationally | Entire global population | Socio-economically important | Abundance at site |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agalmyla singularis Hilliard & B.L.Burtt | A(iii) |  |
|
 |
|
|
Unknown |
| Bulbophyllum barbavagabundum J.J.Verm. | A(i) | |
|
|
|
|
Unknown |
| Bulbophyllum lagaroglossum J.J.Verm. | A(i), A(iii) | |
|
|
|
|
Unknown |
| Bulbophyllum luteum J.J.Verm. | A(i) | |
|
|
|
|
Unknown |
| Bulbophyllum mystax Schuit. & de Vogel | A(i) | |
|
|
|
|
Unknown |
| Bulbophyllum odontostigma J.J.Verm. | A(i) | |
|
|
|
|
Unknown |
| Bulbophyllum pendens J.J.Verm. | A(i) | |
|
|
|
|
Unknown |
| Bulbophyllum ptychostigma J.J.Verm. | A(i) | |
|
|
|
|
Unknown |
| Bulbophyllum ramulicola Schuit. & de Vogel | A(i) | |
|
|
|
|
Unknown |
| Bulbophyllum sphaenopus J.J.Verm. | A(i) | |
|
|
|
|
Unknown |
| Bulbophyllum yumtei J.J.Verm., Schuit. & de Vogel | A(i) | |
|
|
|
|
Unknown |
| Bulbophyllum zygochilum J.J.Verm. | A(i) | |
|
|
|
|
Unknown |
| Aglaia monocaula Pannell | A(iii) | |
|
|
|
|
Unknown |
| Bulbophyllum condensatum J.J.Verm. | A(i) | |
|
|
|
|
Unknown |
Agalmyla singularis Hilliard & B.L.Burtt
Qualifying sub-criterion:
A(iii)
≥ 1% of global population:
≥ 5% of national population:
1 of 5 best sites nationally:
Entire global population:
Socio-economically important:
Abundance at site:
Unknown
Bulbophyllum barbavagabundum J.J.Verm.
Qualifying sub-criterion:
A(i)
≥ 1% of global population:
≥ 5% of national population:
1 of 5 best sites nationally:
Entire global population:
Socio-economically important:
Abundance at site:
Unknown
Bulbophyllum lagaroglossum J.J.Verm.
Qualifying sub-criterion:
A(i), A(iii)
≥ 1% of global population:
≥ 5% of national population:
1 of 5 best sites nationally:
Entire global population:
Socio-economically important:
Abundance at site:
Unknown
Bulbophyllum luteum J.J.Verm.
Qualifying sub-criterion:
A(i)
≥ 1% of global population:
≥ 5% of national population:
1 of 5 best sites nationally:
Entire global population:
Socio-economically important:
Abundance at site:
Unknown
Bulbophyllum mystax Schuit. & de Vogel
Qualifying sub-criterion:
A(i)
≥ 1% of global population:
≥ 5% of national population:
1 of 5 best sites nationally:
Entire global population:
Socio-economically important:
Abundance at site:
Unknown
Bulbophyllum odontostigma J.J.Verm.
Qualifying sub-criterion:
A(i)
≥ 1% of global population:
≥ 5% of national population:
1 of 5 best sites nationally:
Entire global population:
Socio-economically important:
Abundance at site:
Unknown
Bulbophyllum pendens J.J.Verm.
Qualifying sub-criterion:
A(i)
≥ 1% of global population:
≥ 5% of national population:
1 of 5 best sites nationally:
Entire global population:
Socio-economically important:
Abundance at site:
Unknown
Bulbophyllum ptychostigma J.J.Verm.
Qualifying sub-criterion:
A(i)
≥ 1% of global population:
≥ 5% of national population:
1 of 5 best sites nationally:
Entire global population:
Socio-economically important:
Abundance at site:
Unknown
Bulbophyllum ramulicola Schuit. & de Vogel
Qualifying sub-criterion:
A(i)
≥ 1% of global population:
≥ 5% of national population:
1 of 5 best sites nationally:
Entire global population:
Socio-economically important:
Abundance at site:
Unknown
Bulbophyllum sphaenopus J.J.Verm.
Qualifying sub-criterion:
A(i)
≥ 1% of global population:
≥ 5% of national population:
1 of 5 best sites nationally:
Entire global population:
Socio-economically important:
Abundance at site:
Unknown
Bulbophyllum yumtei J.J.Verm., Schuit. & de Vogel
Qualifying sub-criterion:
A(i)
≥ 1% of global population:
≥ 5% of national population:
1 of 5 best sites nationally:
Entire global population:
Socio-economically important:
Abundance at site:
Unknown
Bulbophyllum zygochilum J.J.Verm.
Qualifying sub-criterion:
A(i)
≥ 1% of global population:
≥ 5% of national population:
1 of 5 best sites nationally:
Entire global population:
Socio-economically important:
Abundance at site:
Unknown
Aglaia monocaula Pannell
Qualifying sub-criterion:
A(iii)
≥ 1% of global population:
≥ 5% of national population:
1 of 5 best sites nationally:
Entire global population:
Socio-economically important:
Abundance at site:
Unknown
Bulbophyllum condensatum J.J.Verm.
Qualifying sub-criterion:
A(i)
≥ 1% of global population:
≥ 5% of national population:
1 of 5 best sites nationally:
Entire global population:
Socio-economically important:
Abundance at site:
Unknown
General site habitats
| General site habitat | Percent coverage | Importance |
|---|---|---|
| Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland Forest | |
Major |
Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland Forest
Percent coverage:
Importance:
Major
Threats
| Threat | Severity | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Biological resource use - Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: large scale (species being assessed is not the target) [harvest] | High | Future - planned activity |
Biological resource use - Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: large scale (species being assessed is not the target) [harvest]
Severity:
High
Timing:
Future - planned activity
Management type
| Management type | Description | Year started | Year finished |
|---|---|---|---|
| No management plan in place | |
|
No management plan in place
Year started:
Year finished:
Bibliography
The botanical diversity in the Ayawasi area, Irian Jaya, Indonesia
Biodievrsity & Conservation, Vol 9, page(s) 1345-1375
Recommended citation
Laura Jennings, Charlie Heatubun, Jimmy Wanma, Andre Schuiteman (2025) Tropical Important Plant Areas Explorer: Ayawasi (New Guinea). https://tipas.kew.org/site/ayawasi/ (Accessed on 15/01/2025)