Marjolijn Christianen

After 1 week of preparation the penyu team arrived at Derawan. Here Ibu Heldi invested my last payments in improving her place. Now it feels even more like home and our own research station even! In the week that my supervisors are here we revisited the seagrass meadows that they sampled in 2003. Sampling the [...]

Last year Laura was working together with me in Indonesia for her MSc. Now she already harvested a mega-seagrass-experiment for her own Phd. research. After receiving al lot of positive sms from Laura, when I was in Indonesia, I was looking forward visiting her experiment in Viane. Wouter also showed us his research on seagrass [...]

Derawan did not changed a lot since I left 10 months ago. This time Wawan and me came for only a few weeks to do 3 experiments on Derawan Island and to go to the other important Green turtle foraging grounds on Maratua (40km from Derawan) and Pulau Panjang (8 km from D).  What did [...]

And now a horror story about infections and dangerous animals, which combination was still lacking on this blog. Halfway my experiments I got stung by a stingray when I walked to the experimental site (knee-deep water). I felt something very sharp and hard stinging 5 cm into my feet, 3 cm under my ankle, resulting [...]

This time I will be here for 6 weeks only, visiting seagrass meadows of Pulau Tikus (Pulau Seribu, in front of Java) and Derawan (Kalimantan) again. I am working together with Wawan Kiswara (the Indonesian seagrass expert from Jakarta) who is very helpful and has a never-ending hospitality surge. Together with his daughter Nina we [...]

*Next fieldwork period from Augustus 2009* Are you looking for a research project for your MSc specialisation? AND: Interested in Marine Ecology and Ecosystem wide processes? Would like to participate in fieldwork in the Derawan Archipelago, East Kalimantan, Indonesia Would like to gain experience in fieldwork in an experimental setting and in chemical laboratory technique [...]

After performing the same experiment with transported Thalassia hemprichii last year I wanted to test the same treatments in the field. So after some creative thinking I came up with this set-up (click for more pics): I’m (amongs others) testing if high ammonia concentrations could cause troubles to seagrass.

Time is flying. The enclosure experiment is finished and Laura and Madelon left for their holidays. Time for me to visit the civilized world and put some pictures on the internet. It isn’t very structured but that is because only emailing this pictures costed me 1 1/2 a small discription can be found next to [...]

In the first week at Derawan I saw so many turtles, therefore a post about the “production of new turtles”. Yesterday night I saw 4 turtles (Chelonia mydas) crawling on the beach to search for a suitable site to lay their eggs above the high tide line. She digged out a large hole in the [...]

Before my supervisors arrive and the experiment will be started I’m first testing my cage set-up. The cages are build out of concrete-iron with fishing nets on the sides and on top of the cage, attached by cable ties. The net is 5cm in diameter to prevent the turtles from getting stuck into the net. [...]

The first days I’m testing the set-up of my experiment, I’m snorkeling 4 hours a day to check out the seagrass and the turtles here (also found dugong grazing trails!), and I’m talking to officials here and setting up logistics at this island. The 21th of May my supervisors and students are arriving so I [...]

Trying to find all the materials needed for research is one thing. Transporting them to Derawan is really much more adventurous. The rainy season is not over yet and the road between Samarinda and Berau is in bad condition and sometimes not excisting anymore. But this is the only way to get your stuff (if [...]

Before I can start with experiment 1, I have to start from scratch with the collection of the materials which are needed to start experiment 1. The family of the homestay in Balikpapan are pro-actively helping me with every weird thing that I carry to their house. After showering I exitedly noticed that the father [...]

I wrote a “Indonesian Visa & Research permit procedure for Dummies Guide” to help you find your way when you have to do al of this by yourself (updated in 2011, PDF). Currently the instruction are stated clear at this site of RISTEK

Finally! 23 hours before my flight left to Jakarta I got my VISA! It was a really stressful last week and without Pak Wawan helping me, I would never had made it in time before my flight left. So for all of you curious about how this procedure worked out for me here is a [...]

Without revealing to many details, I show you some pictures about my first experiment of my Phd project. Together with Tjisse I’m looking (amongst others) at the effect of ammonium on Thalassia hemprichii under high and low light conditions. Here are some pictures of the experimental set-up: A detail of on of the 40 shoots [...]

To get permission to do my fieldwork in Indonesia I’m trying hard to get al the required documents together. These are all the documents that you need to apply for a research permit.