Dissertation Research Project

sydney henderson Start Date: Feb 20, 2017 - End Date: Jun 19, 2017
  • Indonesia

My Travel Story

by: sydney henderson Start Date: Feb 20, 2017 - End Date: Jun 19, 2017
I will be travelling to Indonesia in the summer of 2017 to collect reserach for my dissertation project. The aim of my research is to study how rising temperatures, as a result of sea surface warming, will effect the population of fiddler crabs inhabiting the Ambeua mangrove on Kaledupa island, Indonesia. The Ambeua mangrove boasts the highest diversity of fiddler crabs anywhere in the world, and there is a dynamic relationship between the mangroves and fiddler crabs. The crabs provide a valuable service to the mangrove, as they enhance sediment oxygenation and nutrient recycling by digging and maintaining extensive burrowing systems. It has been suggested that crabs inhabiting the mangroves will have more difficulty acclimatizing to rising temperatures, due to the shaded nature of their usual habitat. Little is known about the thermal ecology of fiddler crabs, and it will be very relevant to study how rising temperatures will affect them.
This is the trip of my dreams, based on a life-long obsession with crabs and a pssion for conservation
  • Indonesia