BIODIVERSITY OF AMPHIBIAN AND REPTILE AT MAWAS-BOSF CONSERVATION AREA, CENTRAL KALIMANTAN
By: Angga Prasetya
Indonesia is a tropical region that is influenced by two continents namely Asia and Australia, which makes this region rich diversity of flora and fauna. However, wealth of information about the flora and fauna has not been published in Indonesia, especially on amphibians and reptiles. Several types of amphibians and reptiles have a narrow area and limited distribution, sometimes only found in a specific habitat type, so the types that have specific habitat is best used as a kind of indicator of environmental change.
Areal Blok E-BOSF Mawas Conservation Program, Central Kalimantan is a former secondary forest Peatland Programme (PLG). Tuanan study area is peat swamp forest peats that have varying depths. Borneo peat swamp forests are not only important as a buffer hydrology, carbon sequestration, but also are home to many flora and fauna, especially amphibians and reptiles. The main threat to the amphibians and reptiles are shrinking and loss of habitat. It is generally caused by the clearing of forests for conversion into agricultural land, plantations, and settlements. Therefore, this study was conducted in order to know the diversity of species of amphibians and reptiles in the area Mawas-BOSF Conservation Program, Central Kalimantan.
The research will be carried out for 5 months starting from May to October 2013. The method used in this study is a survey Visual Contact (Visual Encounter Survey / VES). In addition to record the types of amphibians and reptiles, the study will also take some of the data types of habitat and physical conditions of the environment, such as temperature, humidity, altitude and water pH.