They looked happy when they discovered unidentified marine biota and were then capable of describing them. With the experience, she claimed she began to be keen on taxonomy, especially morphological taxonomy.
By
Mediana
·7 minutes read
DOKUMENTASI PRIBADI
Dwi Listyo Rahayu
For decades, Dwi Listyo Rahayu, 64, has researched marine biota. Today, she has shifted her role by delving into the diversity of kelomang (hermit crab) and kepiting (true crab) species. Hermit crabs or Paguroidea have the function of maintaining marine balance and true crabs or Brachyura make holes at the bottom of waters to help aeration.
Over half a century after the Snellius I Expedition, the governments of Indonesia and the Netherlands cooperated to conduct more research into the eastern waters of Nusantara (Indonesian Archipelago). Indonesia was represented by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and Holland by the Netherlands Council for Oceanic Research, which is under the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Science. Both countries agreed to continue using the previous name, Snellius II.
The expedition had five research themes, which were geology and geophysics, the ventilation of sea depths, the pelagic system, coral reefs, and the impact of rivers on the marine environment. The Snellius II Expedition started in June 1984. Dwi Listyo Rahayu, better known as Yoyo, who had only worked two years as a researcher with the LIPI- Ambon Research Station, joined the expedition team.
With the experience, she claimed she began to be keen on taxonomy, especially morphological taxonomy.
Her participation in the Snellius II Expedition got Dwi acquainted with senior taxonomy researchers. They looked happy when they discovered unidentified marine biota and were then capable of describing them. With the experience, she claimed she began to be keen on taxonomy, especially morphological taxonomy.
After the expedition, she won the scholarship under the Overseas Fellowship Program (OFP) of the first class initiated by BJ Habibie. With this scholarship, she studied for her master’s in Biology Oceanography at Université de Paris 6, Pierre et Marie Curie, in Paris, France.
At first, she would work as a shrimp researcher, for the reason that shrimp is edible. So, Dwi sought a taxonomy professor conducting shrimp research, but the material for research turned out to be in New Caledonia. Then she searched for research material available nearby, which was in Paris. It was at the time that she was offered to work on hermit crabs.
“My first reaction was ‘what are they? (hermit crabs are) not fit for consumption.’ Out of curiosity, I consulted a broad range of literature to support research work. I was surprised to find that the latest publication of hermit crabs in Indonesia was in 1937 and there was no more afterward,” said Dwi when contacted on Saturday (24/4/2021) from Jakarta.
From then on, she was immersed in the diversity of hermit crabs until she earned her doctorate from the same university. Dwi felt she was favored by the OFP scholarship rule requiring the master’s degree to be completed with the doctorate. The working network with morphological taxonomy researchers from several countries like Europe, the U.S. and Japan opened the way for her to further investigate hermit crabs.
The network later also made her a guest researcher at various Museums of Natural History, among others in Singapore (Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum-NUS); Japan (National Science Museum, Tokyo; Natural History Museum and Institute, Chiba); France (Museum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris); and the U.S. (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC).
DOKUMENTASI PRIBADI
Dwi Listyo Rahayu
After Snellius II, Dwi was involved in international biodiversity expeditions such as Karubar, Sjades, Comprehensive Marine Biodiversity Survey (CMBS), Panglao and Kumejima. Besides Indonesian territorial waters, she has also undertaken hermit crab and true crab taxonomy research work in various Indo-Pacific waters.
Love of the sea
Living alongside the sea has indeed become her daily activity since childhood. A native of Banyuwangi, she enjoyed her weekends on the beach with her father. After graduating from senior high school, she decided to study fishery at IPB University. Her final assignment also dealt with marine research.
Finishing her postgraduate study, Dwi returned to her job in Ambon. When rioting occurred in Ambon in 1999, all LIPI-Ambon researchers including Dwi had to evacuate. After taking refuge for a week, she and her peers were forced to leave Ambon as the situation was increasingly uncontrollable.
She went back to the LIPI-Ambon office to gather all specimens and put them into a backpack before exiting from Ambon by boat to Jakarta.
Dwi was merely thinking of saving the hermit crab specimens from the Siboga Expedition (1899-1900), a collection from a number of museums in Europe, which she had not yet finished studying. She went back to the LIPI-Ambon office to gather all specimens and put them into a backpack before exiting from Ambon by boat to Jakarta.
The specimens were published in 2005. “There were around 20-25 bottles of specimens. I only took clothes and some other needs. The entire literature was left behind,” she related.
The opportunity for marine exploration again arose when she was in Jakarta. Her husband got the chance to serve as a consultant in Papua, Dwi was offered to explore and research into crabs in Papuan mangroves.
“Leaving Ambon without literature, I still grabbed the crab research opportunity. I went to Singapore, photocopying the whole literature to support my crab research,” recalled Dwi.
From the mangrove research in Papua, several species have been described and published, which are Elamenopsis gracilipes, Amarinus pristes, Clistocoeloma amamaparense, Paracleistostoma quadratum, and Clibanarius harisi.
From 1988 up to the present, 2 genera and 71 new hermit crab species as well as 6 genera and 76 new true crab species have been discovered, described and published in 88 scientific articles in national dan international journals. She wrote the findings independently or with other researchers.
There’s a feeling of amazement and gratefulness to the Creator every time Dwi succeeds in identifying new species, let alone those in Indonesian
waters. She is convinced that Indonesia is country of super-biodiversity. She predicts Indonesia is home to 200-300 hermit crab species.
Some of the new hermit crab species in Indonesia she has described independently or with other researchers are Clibanarius rubroviria, Calcinus morgani and Pagurus fungiformis.
However, the wealth of marine biota has not yet been widely studied by Indonesian researchers. The other concern felt by Dwi is the declining number of youths willing to undertake morphological taxonomy research. Most of the younger generation is fond of handling genetic taxonomy. In fact, without any command of morphological taxonomy, genetic taxonomy research will have difficulty.
“What I’ve researched today is basic science. Taxonomy is the basis of biology. If the taxonomy is unknown, scientists won’t be able to talk and it has an impact on other aspects such as cultivation and ecological conservation,” she said.
Dwi has never regretted her life’s engagement in hermit crab and true crab studies. Actually, in the beginning she was interested in studying the taxonomy of instantly commercial crustacea like shrimps.
“I have a research partner working on the culture of edible marine biota. We’re in accord, right?” she laughingly said.
She is also guiding one of her students so as to be able to carry on her morphological taxonomy research.
She still intends to do a lot more research into the diverse species of hermit crabs and true crabs through expeditions and by finishing the study of specimens already available. She is also guiding one of her students so as to be able to carry on her morphological taxonomy research.
In her spare time, Dwi chooses to read detective novels she has bought at airports abroad. In her view, while being entertained, she can hone her English language proficiency beneficial for her scientific journal article writing.
By sundown and while still in her office at the LIPI-Lombok Marine Bio-industrial Center, Dwi enjoys the atmosphere of the sea. “There’s a good view of seagrass plains to watch,” she concluded.
Dwi Listyo Rahayu
Born:Banyuwangi, 31 July 1957
Education:
- First degree, Fishery, IPB University
- Master’s (1988) and doctor’s (1992) degrees, Biology Oceanography, Université de Paris 6, Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
Occupation:Chief Researcher, Research Professor, LIPI Marine Bio-industrial Center in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (2005-present)
Awards:Satyalancana Karya Satya 10, 20 and 30 years, and Satyalancana Wira Karya
