Alas Karetan Forest Biodiversity Project

Alas Karetan is a forest located in Kediri, East Java, Indonesia. This forest plays an important role in the hydrological cycle and preservation of artesian springs at that location. This tropical forest is a heterogeneous forest with high canopy cover. The surrounding community directly benefits in the form of sustainable use of natural resources. Apart from that, this forest is also a local recreation area for tourists.

Because of its very important function, it is necessary to carry out biodiversity research to determine the potential of Alas Karetan forests and can become a basic reference for conservation management. The research team under the supervision of Iska Desmawati, M.Si., and Indah Trisnawati Ph.D carried out profiling of the diversity of trees, shrubs, insects, epiphytic plants and also fungi. Not only that, a tree mortality assessment was also carried out to determine the condition of tree mortality in the forest. The method used in tree mortality analysis can be checked at the following link.

Additionally, the project assesses the impact of human activities, climate change, and habitat degradation on these ecosystems. The findings from this research are crucial for informing conservation strategies, sustainable forest management practices, and policy decisions, ensuring the preservation of biodiversity and the overall health of forest ecosystems.

During this reseacrh project, I assisted tree scientist to asses tree mortaility and damage and create a strategy to tag and map the tree in mentioned area. Apart from that, I also worked as a photograph documenter that has responsibility to properly take the specimen pictures. A glimps of research activities can be seen from this youtube video.

I also took part in the analysis of tree mortality using K means clustering method to see environmental factor that might have impacted tree mortality status the most and see whether any certain pattern or cluster in this area.