peatland, which is currently undergoing field-scale experiments. Long-term monitoring is needed to identify the growth responses of local tree by AeroHydro Culture
treatment, including mycorrhizal inoculation effect with organic nutrient addition. It
suggests that AeroHydro Culture contributes to enhance productivity and sustain the
tropical peatland ecosystem.
Keywords Nutrient cycle · Aerial roots · Inoculation · Ectomycorrhizas ·
Arbuscular mycorrhiza
8.1 Introduction
Tropical peatland ecosystems (TPE) are unique ecosystems on earth that store high
diversity of flora, fauna, and microbes, and have a real carbon deposit. The tropical
peatland area in Indonesia was about 14.91 million ha spread out in Sumatra by 6.44
million ha (43%), Kalimantan by 4.78 million ha (32%), and Papua islands by 3.69
million ha (25%) (Rieley and Page 2016; Osaki and Tsuji 2016). The destruction rate
of TPE each year experiences an increase due to repeated forest fires. The forest fire
can cause losses of biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions, and global warming
processes. The first of TPE restoration activity undertaken to reduce carbon emissions is to increase groundwater levels (GWL), so that peatland can always be in wet
conditions. Efforts to restore TPE productivity through replanting activities require
an appropriate technology. There is an AeroHydro Culture technology that could
improve and stimulate plant roots to adapt to wetland conditions with high GWL.
AeroHydro Culture requires many multi-microbes underground such as the role of
mycorrhizal fungi in TPE to stimulate nutrient cycle, productivity, and to maintain
biodiversity of forest trees (Tawaraya and Turjaman 2016). This technology needs
some input energy, e.g. organic nutrients, porosity media, and some bioactive
compounds to activate microbes in the rhizosphere.
Many decomposers, saprophyte fungi, decaying fungi, pathogen fungi,
ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, and plant growth
promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) significantly influence carbon dynamics by
degrading organic matter in the forest floor via the synthesis of extracellular enzymes
(Pritsch and Garbaye 2011). As organic matter decomposes, forest litter quality
variables figure most prominently in the succession of fungi (Thornman 2006).
Forest fires decreased the population of mycorrhizal fungi on the surface of top
soil (organic matter) compared to the deeper soil (Akema et al. 2009). Fungi have a
fundamental role in nutrient and carbon transformation in the acid soils of temperate,
boreal, and tropical regions, such as peatland, where high amounts of nutrients and
carbon are stored in peatland, the pH is relatively low and the nutrient uptake of trees
is highly dependent on mycorrhizal fungi (Potila 2008). Mycorrhizal fungi have an
important role in the process of transporting nutrients and water from forest soils to
host tree roots and vice versa in exchange for photosynthates (Akema et al. 2009;
Smith and Read 2008). This phenomenon remains a question of the condition of
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M. Turjaman and M. Osaki
treatment, including mycorrhizal inoculation effect with organic nutrient addition. It
suggests that AeroHydro Culture contributes to enhance productivity and sustain the
tropical peatland ecosystem.
Keywords Nutrient cycle · Aerial roots · Inoculation · Ectomycorrhizas ·
Arbuscular mycorrhiza
8.1 Introduction
Tropical peatland ecosystems (TPE) are unique ecosystems on earth that store high
diversity of flora, fauna, and microbes, and have a real carbon deposit. The tropical
peatland area in Indonesia was about 14.91 million ha spread out in Sumatra by 6.44
million ha (43%), Kalimantan by 4.78 million ha (32%), and Papua islands by 3.69
million ha (25%) (Rieley and Page 2016; Osaki and Tsuji 2016). The destruction rate
of TPE each year experiences an increase due to repeated forest fires. The forest fire
can cause losses of biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions, and global warming
processes. The first of TPE restoration activity undertaken to reduce carbon emissions is to increase groundwater levels (GWL), so that peatland can always be in wet
conditions. Efforts to restore TPE productivity through replanting activities require
an appropriate technology. There is an AeroHydro Culture technology that could
improve and stimulate plant roots to adapt to wetland conditions with high GWL.
AeroHydro Culture requires many multi-microbes underground such as the role of
mycorrhizal fungi in TPE to stimulate nutrient cycle, productivity, and to maintain
biodiversity of forest trees (Tawaraya and Turjaman 2016). This technology needs
some input energy, e.g. organic nutrients, porosity media, and some bioactive
compounds to activate microbes in the rhizosphere.
Many decomposers, saprophyte fungi, decaying fungi, pathogen fungi,
ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, and plant growth
promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) significantly influence carbon dynamics by
degrading organic matter in the forest floor via the synthesis of extracellular enzymes
(Pritsch and Garbaye 2011). As organic matter decomposes, forest litter quality
variables figure most prominently in the succession of fungi (Thornman 2006).
Forest fires decreased the population of mycorrhizal fungi on the surface of top
soil (organic matter) compared to the deeper soil (Akema et al. 2009). Fungi have a
fundamental role in nutrient and carbon transformation in the acid soils of temperate,
boreal, and tropical regions, such as peatland, where high amounts of nutrients and
carbon are stored in peatland, the pH is relatively low and the nutrient uptake of trees
is highly dependent on mycorrhizal fungi (Potila 2008). Mycorrhizal fungi have an
important role in the process of transporting nutrients and water from forest soils to
host tree roots and vice versa in exchange for photosynthates (Akema et al. 2009;
Smith and Read 2008). This phenomenon remains a question of the condition of
286
M. Turjaman and M. Osaki