- Antara/ Herka Yanis Pangaribowo
VIVAnews - Indonesia has a total of 154,000 sqm karst regions from the tip of Sumatra to the eastern part of Papua. The ecosystem is unique and authentic, which is important for human life. Unfortunately, its existence is threatened by human activities.
Karst has cave systems that developed into rare fauna habitat. A researcher from the Biological Research Center of the Indonesian Institute of Science, (P2 Biologi LIPI), Yayuk R Suhardjono, revealed that several types of fauna in karst ecosystem have a very small population and very limited distribution.
Fauna such as: bats, swallows and sritis hold an important role in the ecology as pollinators, insect eaters and seed spreaders.
“Moreover, karst plays another role as an important water supplier because of the presence of underground springs with which people use as source of water,” said Yayuk.
The Biological Research Center has been conducting karst and cave research and exploration since 2001. The research specifically observes biodiversity, which unveils some previously unknown species. LIPI will share the interesting findings today.
Another researcher, Cahyo Rahmadi, said karst ecosystem has biological potentials that have yet to gain attention as regards the economic value.
“It needs further study in terms of economic valuation of all kinds of environmental services in the karst ecosystem,” he added.
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