Judul: Identifikasi Gangguan Ekosistem Hutan Gunung Papandayan di Garut, Jawa Barat
Abstrak: Gunung Papandayan is one of the active volcanoes in West Java and it is a conservation area consisting Nature Reserve and Nature Tourism Park. Therefore, the protection of Gunung Papandayan’s forest ecosystem is needed to be done so that the area can be well maintained. This study was conducted on the forest area which was disturbed by the eruption and also by human activities. The level of disturbance was determined by measuring the tree basal area with line plot method. The socio-economic data was collected from 5 villages which borders Gunung Papandayan. The result showed that the presence of disturbance in Gunung Papandayan. The disturbance was occurred by three factors, consisting natural such as eruption, human factor such as forest fires, illegal logging, and forest encroachment, and also accessibility. The level of forest disturbance on the area of eruption, forest fires and forest encroachment was categorized as high level; while at the illegal logging area was categorized as medium level.
Keyword: cause of disturbance, disturbance level, forest disturbance, Gunung Papandayan

Judul: Komposisi Jenis dan Struktur Tegakan Hutan Terganggu di Gunung Papandayan, Garut, Jawa Barat
Abstrak: Growth process of forest community to reach balanced condition often undergoes disturbances which create destruction. Papandayan mountain has been known since Dutch colonial government as an area with very rich floristic composition. Research on species composition and stand structure of disturbed forest has never been conducted in this area. The objective of this study is to learn the species composition and stand structure of disturbed forest in Papandayan mountain, whose forests are disturbed both by human and by natural process. Research results show that biodiversity and species richness in sites disturbed by human are higher than those disturbed by nature. Besides that, forest crown stratification pattern in disturbed forest shows that there is no any forest crown which reaches stratum A (>30 meter). They only reach stratum B (20–30 meter) and stratum C (4–20 meter). Crown stratification in disturbed forest never reached stratum A because stratum A constitutes the character of stable forest condition.
Keyword: stand structure, species composition, Papandayan Mountain, disturbed forest

Judul: Membran Komposit Kitosan-Natrium Alginat untuk Aplikasi Direct Methanol Fuel Cell
Abstrak: Composite of chitosan and sodium alginate can be utilized as base material of proton exchange membrane (PEM). The composite membranes were produced by various concentrations of chitosan-sodium alginate, namely 3:3, 3:4, 3:5, 3:6, 4:3, 5:3, and 6:3 (% b/v). The composites were characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and were tested for the performance as PEM from the proton conductivity obtained by using impedance spectrometer. The FTIR spectrum indicated the NH3C group at 1637.29 cm-1 and symmetrical COO group at 1253.68 cm-1 indicating interactions between chitosan and sodium alginate. SEM micrographs showed that the composite membrane was nonporous. Composite membrane with 3:5 chitosan-sodium alginate composition had the highest proton conductivity, namely 9.594 × 10-7 S/cm. Based on this research results, chitosan-sodium alginate composite membrane can be applied well in direct methanol fuel cell system.
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