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Expeditions > Indonesia > Options > Forest dissertations/theses |
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Indonesia forest dissertation/thesis topics IN201 The ecology and exploitation of rattans (Weeks 2 - 8; need to have completed IN001) The rattans, climbing palms that are harvested to provide raw material for building furniture and baskets, are the most important non-wood forest product in the Lambusango forests. Research by Operation Wallacea has identified 19 species of rattans in Lambusango alone. There are a number of ways that this topic could be developed. One project could examine the characteristics of soils and forests in which the most frequently encountered of these different species grow in order to assess the key environmental factors that influence rattan distribution and community composition. Another project could estimate the rates of rattan production and exploitation rates in different parts of the forests from re-surveying a series of standardised plots around the various camps from which similar data have been gathered in previous years. Another project could review the various techniques used to assess rattan extraction rates and determine a strategy that could be used by forest rangers to monitor extraction and licence rattan collectors.
IN202 Mapping forest change in space and time (Weeks 2 - 8; need to have completed IN001) The forests of Lambusango change across the landscape, with some forest on recent limestones, others on much older limestones, sandstones and cherts and others still on ultramafic rocks, one of the rarest forest types in south east Asia. These forests are also changing with encroachment being a problem at points around the edges. One team is carrying out detailed and broad scale mapping of forest characteristics on a variety of geology and at differing stages of degradation and regeneration and use these data to classify Landsat imagery from Lambusango. Various dissertations could be developed around these data sets such as assessing changes in forest cover over time. Additionally species distributions could be correlated with satellite derived environmental variables to then predict the wider distributions of those species. This topic requires that you have some prior experience of processing remote-sensed imagery as you will have to process your data independently once you get home.
IN203 Medicinal Ethnobotany (Weeks 3 - 8; need to have completed IN001 and IL002) The people of Buton have a long tradition of using local plants in medicine. One of the Opwall researchers is recording some of this knowledge before it is lost, as modern medicine becomes available. Local people are being interviewed, with the aid of a translator, targeting those with a special knowledge of traditional medicine, particularly the local expert in a village ('dukun'). The objective is to establish which plants are used to treat medical conditions such as cuts, coughs, tiredness, headache, stomach ache, skin ailments, problems of childbirth, mental illness and cancer. Methods used in the preparation of medicines will be recorded. Short walks into the forest and farmland will be made to find the medicinal plants, which will be identified to species - this may involve taking photographs of the plants and visiting Kew Herbarium after the fieldwork is completed. Comparisons can be made with the published literature on the properties of the species. Efforts will be made to learn the rationale for using particular plants for treating particular ailments. This might not be simply because the plant is known to cure the ailment, using objective standards of proof. This study can be used to develop a series of dissertations looking at questions such as how reliant different communities are on traditional medicine, whether communities are using the same herbal medicines for the same illnesses, how traditional knowledge is being passed on etc.
IN204 The effects of forest disturbance on butterfly communities (Weeks 2 - 8; need to have completed IN001) Butterflies are often used as biodiversity indicators - community composition is affected by levels of forest disturbance and openness of the canopy. Operation Wallacea teams are completing annual forest butterfly surveys from pollard walks, sweep netting and fruit baited traps at each of the studied field camps. This survey could be utilised to ask a series of dissertation or thesis questions. For example one project could study the effects that environmental variables associated with forest disturbance have on butterfly abundance and diversity. Collection of data on habitat structure at these sites would then allow the impact on butterfly communities that forest structure factors have, such as degree of canopy openness, amount of understory vegetation etc. Alternatively the effect of height on butterfly community composition could be studied from fruit baited traps set at different heights in the canopy. The effectiveness of the various survey techniques could be examined to determine the effect of time on the effectiveness of pollard walks, how sweep net catches compare with pollard walks and fruit baited traps, how bait type affects catches of butterflies etc. IN205 Influence of habitat structure on herpetofaunal assemblage composition in Sulawesi (Weeks 2 - 8; need to have completed IN001) The general aim of this project will be to examine relationships between forest habitat structure and herpetofauna assemblage composition. As part of the above overall research and monitoring project, you will assist the herpetology scientist in the collection of herpetofauna data at approximately 45 sampling sites stratified into areas with differing levels of forest disturbance. The surveys at each site will be completed using five buckets buried in the ground with a fence running over and connecting each bucket. These pitfall traps will be checked daily. Time constrained diurnal and nocturnal censuses will also be undertaken at each site and where possible with the help of the canopy access team spotlight surveys of the canopy will be completed for arboreal herpetofauna. These data could be supplemented by taking habitat structural measurements at each site, using standard measurements previously developed and the spatial patterns of assemblage composition and individual species with respect to habitat characteristics determined. This project could focus on either the pitfall data, or ground census data.
IN206 Life history and morphology responses of forest scincid lizards to forest structure and disturbance (Weeks 2 - 8; need to have completed IN001) Changes in forest structure brought about by disturbance potentially influence microclimate of the forest floor. This has implications for activity patterns, resources, predation and competition of forest reptiles. In order to persist in such modified environments species may respond to these influences with changes in growth rates, morphology and life history. This project will assess variation in morphology an life history traits of three common forest scincid lizards: Eutrophis rudis, Sphenomorphus variegatum and Parvoscincus sp. As part of the above overall research and monitoring project, students on this project will assist the herpetology scientist in the collection of herpetofauna data at pitfall sampling sites, measure morphology and life history traits of these species, and examine relationships with habitat structure.
IN207 Demography of stream-breeding frogs on Buton: influence of hunting. (Weeks 2 - 8; need to have completed IN001) Southeast Sulawesi is home to one of the world's largest frogs, Limnonectes grunniens (individuals over 800 grams have been recorded!). Unlike most frogs, this large species appears to have very few natural predators (e.g. frog-eating snakes, birds and mammals). The only vertebrate predator potentially capable of eating adult L. grunniens in forests environs is the Malay Civet. In addition to these natural predators though, L. grunniens is hunted for human consumption. Previous research on Buton indicates that large frogs in populations subjected to strong hunting pressure are more wary of people than at more remote sites where hunting pressure is presumed to be lower or non-existent. The aim of this project is to get robust data on the population ecology of this species at disturbed and undisturbed population sites. Monitoring transects have been established along streams supporting populations of Limnonectes grunniens near the research centre of Labundo and the Lapago and Anoa node camps. Populations will be censused at each site, using mark-recapture techniques. Life history, behaviour and microhabitat associations will also be measured. Each site will be sampled on consecutive nights for 5 days, which will then be repeated twice during the season. Spatial and temporal variation in population density, key life history traits and behaviour will be compared between sites and across years. As part of the above study, dissertation students will assist scientists collecting data at each node camp. These data can be used to generate population density estimates and size structures for each site, and relate these to relative human accessibility.
IN208 Habitat associations of bird species and effectiveness of survey strategies (Weeks 2 - 8; need to have completed IN001) There are around 80 species of birds regularly found in the forests of Lambusango; about 60% of these are endemic to the Wallacea region and range from large hornbills to tiny sunbirds. Bird communities are being surveyed as part of the Opwall programme at 24 sites at each camp using 50m fixed-radius circular plot point counts. Each study site is being surveyed three times, with the total number of species detected after three counts being recorded in order to establish patch occupancy rates. Sampling is being conducted each morning between 06:00 - 07:30, this being the period where bird activity and vocalization is greatest, yielding the greatest number of contacts. Point count samples are begun immediately on arrival at each study site, with no 'settling in' period being used. This has been shown to allow the recording of any birds disturbed by the surveyors, thereby increasing the number of contacts made per count. A 10 minute sampling period is used, as counts of this length have a reduced likelihood of multiple contact recording, while still being capable of detecting >80% of bird species present in an area. In addition mist net surveys will be completed and point counts conducted in the canopy to compare with ground based point counts. Projects within this topic could concentrate on determining the habitat associations of particular groups (eg hornbills, cuckoo shrikes, flowerpeckers etc) or could assess how the communities overall change in relation to levels of forest disturbance. Methodological studies could also be included such as comparing the results of analysis of taped calls at the point count sites with those recorded during the actual counts or the effectiveness of mist net surveys versus point counts. IL209 Trap selectivity for small mammal surveys (Weeks 2 - 8; need to have completed IN001) Small mammal trapping is being completed at the Labundo and Lapago sites throughout the Opwall season using three different trap sizes. The traps are being set adjacent to pitfall traps. These data are ideal for a dissertation looking at the effect of trap size on small mammal species captured and whether pitlines catch a different proportion of the forest floor small mammal community. Anecdotal information from Borneo suggests that baits such as palm oil nuts may be much more effective than standard peanut butter and rolled oats that has been used as bait in previous years for the Buton programme. Another project could experimentally compare several bait types with respect to trap success.
IL210 Factors affecting bat assemblage composition (Weeks 2 - 8; need to have completed IN001) The main focus of the bat research programme is studying the species richness and composition of bat assemblages found inside the forest. These species are adapted to life in dense vegetation and are therefore expected to be especially vulnerable to the effects of logging, rattan extraction and other types of forest disturbance. Potential projects could focus on characterising spatial patterns of different species, or temporal and spatial comparisons of assemblage composition, relating this to habitat structure and levels of human activity.
IL211 Ecology of Sulawesi's top mammalian predator (Weeks 2 - 8; need to have completed IN001) The Malay civet is the principal (possibly the only) mammalian carnivore in the Lambusango Forest. Very little is known about the population dynamics of civets or indeed any other rainforest carnivore, and this project provides an excellent study system to investigate population processes in this ecologically important group. The project builds on a 7-year data set working on a marked population of civets occupying a 4 km2 area of forest. So far more than 110 civets have been tagged, and the project is beginning to build up a unique picture of civet ecology. Dissertation projects can add to this long-term study by repeating annual surveys which involves a 7 - 8 week capture-mark-recapture (CMR) study to estimate population density and to identify which animals are still remaining in the population from previous surveys. Projects could focus on comparing observed population metrics (e.g. density, age structure, average body mass) of Malay civets in the Lambusango forests with those published in studies from elsewhere in their range under different ecological conditions, or even with other similar-sized mammalian carnivores living in contrasting habitats. Project students can also examine elements of civet survival (e.g. what attributes of a civet make it more likely to be found in the population in the following year?) using data from the previous survey season (data includes physical attributes such as age, size, and sex and behavioural attributes such as the number of times it was captured within a season). This project provides experience in how to carry out a CMR study for a small carnivore and how to estimate population density from CMR data using CMR models (e.g. CAPTURE, Jolly-Seber). These are standard tools in wildlife ecology and a must for any budding wildlife biologist.
IL212 Sleeping site selectivity by the Buton Tarsier (Weeks 2 - 8; need to have completed IN001) Tarsiers live in small groups which emerge from their sleeping sites in trees, tree falls, thickets or holes in the ground at dusk and return at dawn. Previous work on Buton has shown that tarsiers are using sleeping sites, including strangling figs, rock crevices and vine tangles for sleeping sites. By observing tarsiers returning to and emerging from these sites it is possible to map them, measure group size and assess the key features of sleeping sites. Occurrence of sleep sites will be assessed, using dawn triangulation/quadrangulation sampling over 0.75 ha plots. Colony sizes will be estimated using dusk sleep site monitoring techniques. Quality and availability of potential roost sites will be evaluated in the vicinity of each plot. This topic could be developed into a series of research questions. For example how does the quality and availability of sleep sites influence tarsier group size and group density? Alternatively how is availability of sleep site resources distributed with respect to landscape, habitat variability and human disturbance? Techniques could be explored to assess relative abundance/biomass of invertebrates, perhaps using torch light traps with sticky cards installed adjacent to sleeping sites to yield indices of tarsier food availability at the various sites.
IL213 Effects of forest disturbance on Buton macaque behaviour (Weeks 2 - 8; need to have IN001) The Buton Macaque is endemic to SE Sulawesi. Of all the known macaque species it is one of the least studied with the only published papers on the behaviour of this species coming from Operation Wallacea field research. There are three semi-habituated troops of macaques used for behavioural research - one in a forest/farm matrix, one in disturbed forest and one in relatively undisturbed forest. One project could examine behavioural responses to disturbance in terms of overall activity budget, feeding behaviour, aggression and ranging. Data could be collected through scan sampling and comparisons made between age and sex classes of monkeys as well as between the troops.
IL214 Crop raiding and human-wildlife conflict in Buton macaques (Weeks 2 - 8; need to have IN001) Macaques are important crop pests and troops that live in forest edges frequently enter farmland to raid crops. As part of a long-running study on crop raiding, this topic monitors farms on the forest edge to record crop losses by monkeys and to characterise the crop-raiding behaviour. Projects could examine questions such as whether some crops more attractive to the raiding macaques, how macaques raid farms and the impacts of human activity on the farms. This would allow planting regimes to be established to minimise losses and effective methods of deterring the macaques to be developed. Macaques that crop raid come into contact with human environments much more frequently than those in the forest. They may therefore be exposed to different parasites from their forest-dwelling counterparts. These parasites may be detrimental to macaque health, but the macaques themselves may also act as disease reservoirs. Another project could compare intestinal parasite loads from faecal samples of forest and farm macaque troops in order to test the hypothesis that crop-raiding macaques have higher parasite loads than forest troops.
IN215 Density and distribution of Sulawesi megafauna (Weeks 2 - 8; need to have completed IN001) Three of the largest and most charismatic vertebrates that are present in the forests of Buton are endemic species of conservation concern: the anoa, a highly endangered dwarf buffalo, the Buton macaque, a poorly studied endemic primate and the knobbed hornbill which is often captured for the pet trade. A survey team will assess the abundance of anoa, macaques and hornbills on 3km transect lines at the forest node camps. Various projects could be completed as part of this topic. Anoa distribution could be assessed using patch occupancy analysis and hornbills and macaques through distance sampling. Forest structure could be assessed through standardised sampling at points along the transects and the distribution of the target species related to forest structure and levels of human activity. |
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