Aspideretes nigricans was long thought to be one of the rarest turtle species of the world, being restricted to a single site in Bangladesh; its specific distinctness was repeatedly doubted. Using mtDNA sequence data of all four Aspideretes species, we provide evidence that A. nigricans is a distinct species that is sister to A. hurum. Furthermore, A. nigricans is not endemic to Bangladesh, but also occurs in Assam, India. While all applied phylogenetic analyses (Bayesian Analysis, Maximum Likelihood, Maximum Parsimony, Neighbor Joining) strongly suggest a well‐supported clade containing the four Aspideretes species and Nilssonia formosa, the monophyly of Aspideretes is at best weakly supported. We propose to synonymise the genera Aspideretes Hay, 1904 and Nilssonia Gray, 1872, resulting in an expanded genus Nilssonia with the species N. formosa (Gray, 1869), N. gangetica (Cuvier, 1825), N. hurum (Gray, 1831), N. leithii (Gray, 1872) and N. nigricans (Anderson, 1875). Genetic structure within N. nigricans is weak, while we detected two distinct genetic lineages within N. gangetica, one occurring in the Brahmaputra River system and the other in the Ganges and Indus River basins.

Despite its status as District-Based Marine Protected Area, studies pertaining coral reef biodiversity never been conducted in Olele that located in the Gulf of Tomini, biodiversity hotspot in the Coral Triangle. Hence, we aims to investigate diversity, distribution and abundance of scleractinian coral, underpinning the health of reef ecosystems. This study was conducted using Line Intercept Transect on three research stations which were divided into three main zonations, reef flat (3 m depth), upper reef slope (10 m depth) and reef slope (18 m to 20 m depth). Fifty meters long transect were laid in each zonation, thus total transect were nine. The results showed that there were 35 species of scleractinian coral from 12 families. Each zonation has a different pattern of abundance and dominant life form. Based on coral health assessment using Coral Mortality Index (CMI) and the ratio between living and dead coral coverage, coral reef ecosystems in Olele were in healthy condition with the range value 0.29 ± 0.1 and 3.60 ± 1.14. This preliminary study should be used as a basic reference for database and novel direction of conservation management strategy in District-Based Marine Protected Area Olele.

Lie S, Suyoko A, Effendi AR, Ahmada B, Aditya HW, Sallima IR, Arisudewi NPAN, Hadid NI, Rahmasari N, Reza A. 2018. Measurement of microplastic density in the Karimunjawa National Park, Central Java, Indonesia. Ocean Life 2: 54-58. Plastic debris enters the marine ecosystem in various sizes, ranging from micrometers to millimeters. Specific densities of plastic particles can vary greatly depending on the type of polymer and the manufacturing process. The highest microplastic density is usually related to the shoreline and circulation of currents in the middle of the sea. Microplastics are then degraded into fragments or particles that are very small and digested by marine biota. In recent years, there have been increasing environmental concerns about microplastics. The purpose of this study was to determine the types of microplastics and their density in the Karimunjawa Island region, and to determine the environmental impact of microplastics. The method used was sediment sampling, with sand samples taken at a depth of 2-5 cm from the sand surface in a plot that was 10 meters away, with another plot in a 50-meter straight line. After that, microplastics were separated from sand samples in the laboratory using saturated saline solution. Next, the microplastics identification process was carried out by differentiating based on color, size, number, and microplastic form or category. In this study, four types of microplastic were found, i.e. fiber, fragment, film, and foam. At Legon Lele Beach and Ujung Gelam, fiber was the most abundant with 111 and 66 particles, respectively. The least in number was film- with 6 particles in Ujung Gelam Beach and 3 particles in Legon Lele Beach.