A HOLOCENE RESEARCH REPORT Abstract: The ninth-century world-heritage Buddhist monument of Borobudur (Java, Indonesia) stands above the floor of a dried-out palaeolake, but it remains uncertain as to whether it was ever constructed on a lake shore. Here we reveal through new chronological and palaeoenvironmental data on the extant sediment record of the area that Borobudur intentionally stood by an existing lake. For the first time, evidence of this conjunction validates quite literally the debated cosmological interpretation of the edifice as an aquatic lotus symbol upon which Buddha is seated. The fluctuating life history of the lake spanned at least 20000 years.

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The Peatland Restoration Agency of the Republic of Indonesia (BRG-RI), an agency that is mandated to restore 2 million hectares of degraded peatland by 2020, has developed a 3-R approach towards tackling the problem based on the program of rewetting, revegetation, and revitalization of livelihood for the peatlands restoration in Indonesia. The Rewetting program that aims to rehabilitate hydrologically a peatland to a near natural state is carried out by canal blocking, canal backfilling, and construction of deep wells. To know the progress of the restoration activities by BRG, it is very important to understand the effectiveness of canal blocking on rewetting of the tropical peatland. The effectiveness of canal blocking was investigated through the monitoring of groundwater level (GWL) fluctuation around the canal block. This study was carried out at a canal block that is located at the peatland of Sungai Tohor Village, Kepulauan Meranti Regency, Riau Province. For monitoring of GWL fluctuation as the impact of canal blocking, five dipwells were set at the peatland that are perpendicular to the canal with the distance of 20 m, 70 m, 120 m, 170 m, and 220 m respectively. The results of this study show that the impact of canal blocking could raise the water table in the peatland at the radius of about 170 m from the canal. The radius impact of the re-wetting might be bigger or smaller, that strongly depends on the hydrotopography situation of the area.

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Abstract. Silviana SH, Saharjo BH, Sutikno S. 2019. Effect of wildfires on tropical peatland vegetation in Meranti Islands District, Riau Province, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 20: 3056-3062. Wildfires are one of the main causes of forest destruction, disturbing forest sustainability. Wildfires are mainly caused by human activities, such as land clearing, wood harvesting, draining, etc. Wildfires could induce the loss of vegetation. This study was aimed at assessing the effect of wildfires on both vegetation biomass and necromass on coastal peatland ecosystems in Sungaitohor Village, Tebing Tinggi Timur Sub-district, Meranti Islands District, Riau Province, Indonesia. Analysis of vegetation and both above and below the ground biomass composition were performed. The approach used a paired sample with 4 replications (n = 4 burnt, n=4 unburnt). The variables observed in every research sites was analyzed using Student-T test. Models were generated and then validated to understand the effect of fires on biomass. The results showed that there was a significant difference in the studied parameters between the unburned area and burned area (P <0.01). Wildfires affected the quantity of living plants (biomass) which was indicated by the fact that biomass is unburnt and burnt areas were in the ratio of 2.67 : 1. The quantity of dead plants (necromass) was greater in the burned plots than in the unburnt plots. All these findings suggest that high intensity of forest fires had occurred in the study sites.

River estuary water quality analysis from the aspects of physics, chemistry and biology. Physicsaspect measured were temperature, salinity, brightness and acidity (pH). Chemistry parametersare ammonia, nitrate and nitrite. While the biology aspect of the parametersanalyxed were phytoplankton abundance. Each parameters measuredat each station withamount 16 stations. The distance of station from estuary Dumai river to Rupat strait are 25 m, 50 m and 100 m.Sample of parameter measured taken at tide receded toward and tide towards the down.