Odonata of a heath (kerangas) dominated mosaic forest in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Aquatic insects, particularly members of the Order Odonata, have been long considered as good bioindicators for tracking response in ecosystem shifts and gradients, in both larval and adult life-staged (Valente-Neto, et al., 2016). In tropical regions, Odonata diversity can be high. The forests and peatlands of Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) are one area that accommodates a variety of Odonata species with high endemicity due to habitat diversification (Dolný et al., 2011; Dow & Silvius, 2014). One ecosystem that has not been explored extensively for its Odonata communities is the mixed-mosaic heath (kerangas) forests. Three previous studies on Odonata have been conducted in only heath forests in Indonesia (Orr, 2001; Orr, 2006; Purwanto et al., 2019). With this in mind, we conducted a preliminary study of the Odonata community in the mixed mosaic kerangas dominated forest of the Mungku Baru Education Forest (KHDTK) in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. This research was led by Jorian A. Hendriks as part of his undergraduate thesis at the Maastricht University, Netherlands. The research contributes to a larger programme of documenting the biodiversity of and conserving this unique habitat type in Central Kalimantan undertaken by Borneo Nature Foundation (BNF) and Universitas Muhammadiyah Palangkaraya (UMP) who manage the KHDTK along with the local community of Mungku Baru. This research was conducted for a period of three months from November 2019 to February 2020. Data mobilization and publishing were supervised by BNF and the Faculty of Forestry, Universitas Gadjah Mada, through the Biodiversity Information Fund for Asia (BIFA). All activities were conducted under required permits from relevant local and national institutions in Indonesia.