Join Mary Mulligan (PhD student, University of Göttingen and IPB University) and Lutz Fehrmann (Forest scientist, University of Göttingen) as Mary tells stories of her team’s adventures in the tropical mountain forests of Lore Lindu National Park in Sulawesi, Indonesia! Trekking through the forests and wading through rivers and waterfalls, the team set out to measure a set of tree biodiversity plots scattered around the park, to experience life together in the forest, and to enter the mysterious wilderness of Lore Lindu with hopes of discovering some of her hidden treasures.  

 

"Doing research is so much more than publishing the plain figures and tables that you later find in scientific articles," said Mary. "Whenever we look on a graph or table in such a publication, we should never forget that someone went out deep into the forest to take the measurements and collect the data that we are analyzing and looking at. Many of us had such life-changing experiences as young researchers and may still remember these days where we had enough time and freedom for such adventures. After all the fund raising, project planning, preparation, effort and hardship and sweat you suddenly find yourself standing in a beautiful tropical forest and you know it was worth it."

 

All of this work was made possible due to the unending dedication of local workers, students and staff of Tadulako University and IPB University, and staff of Lore Lindu National Park, with substantial support from the Research Consortium (IPB University, Göttingen University, and Tadulako University) of Forest Program III Sulawesi of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry of Indonesia (MoEF) and the German Development Bank (KfW, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau).