Geographic and longitudinal variations of anatomical characteristics and mechanical properties in three bamboo species naturally grown in Lombok Island, Indonesia.

The anatomical characteristics (fiber length and fiber area) and mechanical properties (modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture, compressive strength, tensile Young's modulus, and tensile strength) of Bambusa vulgaris, Bambusa maculata, and Gigantochloa atter, naturally growing at four different sites in Lombok Island, Indonesia, were examined for evaluating geographic and longitudinal variations by mixed-effects modeling to effectively utilize bamboo culm resources for structural materials. We found geographic and longitudinal variations of bamboo culm properties in these three species. Based on the results, we concluded that, for utilization of bamboo culm as a structural material, variation of individual culm rather than site, and longitudinal variations should be considered for Bambusa species and G. atter, respectively.