How do green sea turtles influence sediment carbon dynamics in tropical #seagrass ecosystems? This is exactly what Susi Rahmawati is investigating during her PhD in our group at WUR….

Over the past few weeks, we set up her experiments at one of her field locations, Belitung, an island off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Although this area isn’t particularly known as a key foraging site for green turtles, we found all seagrass to be closely cropped. We placed exclosures, measured greenhouse gases in underwater chambers, took deep sediment cores, measured seagrass biomass and productivity, mapped the area and counted turtles and other grazers.

After a year of meticulous preparations and numerous permit applications, it was wonderful to see Susi in her element in the field. It was a privilege to work with Susi, Rebecca James, and colleagues from #BRIN – @BayuPramuda, #Yaya Ulumuddin – and to have Riski and WUR student benrilo mubarok there. Our residence and research permit process went smoothly thanks to sofia yuniar sani and Udhi Eko Hernawan

Next fieldwork locations are Kapoposang (Sulawesi) and Derawan (Kalimantan). Next year, we’ll return to these sites to monitor progress.

#SeagrassResearch #MarineEcology #CarbonStorage #WUR #Indonesia #LPDP grant #Chelonia mydas