In Sebangau National Park, our records date back to 1993 and represent the most complete species inventory available for the peat-swamp forests of Central Kalimantan; our surveys have often been the first of their kind ever conducted in an area.
Our biodiversity research has two primary goals:
- To document and describe biodiversity in Borneo’s forests (assessment); and
- To understand how and why forest biodiversity varies over space and time, in response to both natural events and, particularly, human activities (monitoring).
This is improving our understanding of the forest’s biodiversity value, how this might be translated into benefits for society and, crucially, how human activities affect these values and benefits. Such understanding is essential for effective conservation management, in which the impacts of both human threats (e.g. illegal logging) and conservation initiatives (e.g. forest patrols) must be evaluated to improve conservation outcomes.
Our research includes investigating the effects of canopy gaps on butterflies, a doctoral study of fish to support the development of traditional fish ponds as a sustainable livelihood, plus our preliminary surveys in the Mungku Baru area of the Rungan Landscape, which were important in initiating conservation efforts in the region.