The Gadjah Mada Nature Lover Student (Mapagama) team explored the peatlands of the Kerinung Forest of Berung Kerihun National Park and Lake Sentarum, Kapuas Hulu Regency, West Kalimantan.
In the UGM Research Expedition entitled “Kawal Peat Kapuas Hulu” which was held from 2 to 27 September 2019, the Mapagama team will conduct research related to insect diversity at different peat maturity levels. Apart from that, it also carried out spatial mapping of carbon stocks.
The team coordinator, Kresna Muharram, said that peat is a unique type of ecosystem and has a high biotic potential, so it is quite interesting to study. Later, the team will carry out data collection for 16 days in the field, including abiotic and biotic data. The abiotic data will encompass peat depth, peat maturity, bulk density, and environmental conditions, both temperature and humidity.
“The team will also collect biotic data, such as insect biodiversity, bird biodiversity and vegetation analysis (important value index),” he said in a release received on Friday (6/9).
Kresna said that the UGM Research Expedition this time is a little different from the previous years. In this expedition the team members did not only come from Mapagama, but also from various faculties at UGM. They are Gracia Melsiana A (Postgraduate in Agriculture, 2017), Kresna Muharram (Electronics and Instrumentation, 2016), Fariz Ardianto (Forestry, 2016), M Ismail Hamsyah (Anthropology, 2017), Fahrudin Firda Raharja (Vocational School, 2017), Faizal Musthofa (Cartography and Remote Sensing, 2016), M Khalid Arrasyid (Economics, 2016) and Demetria Alika P (Forestry, 2018).
“All members of this expedition team have gone through several stages of selection since last April,” he explained.
