Best of our wild blogs: 28 Dec 10

What's new at TeamSeagrass? Plenty!
from teamseagrass

Hermits and robbers
from The annotated budak

No Ghosts. Just Dragons.
from Pulau Hantu

101227 Odontomantis. Partial life history.
from Singapore Nature

Sundial snail wins!
from wild shores of singapore

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Exotic stingray pets in Singapore

Swimming into their hearts ...
Lynda Hong Ee Lyn Today Online 28 Dec 10;

SINGAPORE - It may be the Year of the Rabbit soon but it is another creature that is getting lots of attention.

The exotic stingray is swimming its way into the hearts of pet owners.

Those in the pet business say the economic recovery has boosted sales of pet stingrays by as much as 10 per cent compared to one to two years ago.

Enthusiasts are willing to shell out anywhere between $50 and $5,000 for these freshwater beauties.

Exotic stingray breeder Dennis Phua said enthusiasts get to know of these fishes through friends, fish shops and the Internet. "They are very rare, these stingrays. They are pretty exotic, not everybody is able to get his hands on this exotic fish and this heightens interest," he said. Many of the exotic rays come from Brazil and they cost more than those bred on farms in Singapore.

A 20-gallon glass-walled fish tank, with aeration, would keep a couple of stingrays quite happy. Rays tend to burrow into sandy bottom tanks and only show up during feeding time. So most enthusiasts opt for a plain glass-bottomed tank. Evelyn Lam and Lynda Hong

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Subterranean warehouse in Singapore

South-east Asia's first underground rock cavern for oil storage expects strong industry demand, reports UMA SHANKARI
Business Times 28 Dec 10;

JTC's ground-breaking Jurong Rock Cavern (JRC) project, which has been in the making for close to a decade, is finally taking shape.

Construction of the $950 million first phase of the mega-project is now about one year along and some of the development's caverns, tunnels and associated facilities are in the process of being built.

JTC also said that interest from industry players - especially manufacturers on Jurong Island - is strong.

JRC, which will be South-east Asia's first underground rock cavern for oil storage, will offer some 1.47 million cubic metres of oil storage space for the storage of liquid hydrocarbons such as crude oil, naphtha, condensates and gas oil once it is completed in 2014.

The project is the result of JTC's bid to unlock the potential of subterranean depths beneath the sea in its efforts to create more industrial space in land-scarce Singapore.

JTC started feasibility studies and site investigation works, and started first conceptualising the JRC development plan from 2001 to 2005.

The detailed design of JRC was ready in mid-2008, after several years of work. The result: a gigantic rock cavern, located some 132 metres below ground level underneath Banyan Basin on Jurong Island.

JTC aims to provide infrastructural support to manufacturers on Jurong Island with its innovative JRC and provide greater synergy to these companies. The project is also seen as a strategic investment that will reinforce Singapore's position as a leading petroleum and chemicals hub.

JRC's first phase reached a milestone with the completion of two access shafts and start-up tunnels in 2009.

When the first two caverns are completed in 2013, they will yield a capacity of 0.48 million cubic metres. And by the time the entire phase one of the facility is completed in 2014, 1.47 million cubic metres of oil storage space will be available to the industry.

The entire phase one will involve eight kilometres of tunnels, with five caverns made up of two storage galleries, with each gallery being 340 metres long, 20 metres wide and 27 metres high. Each gallery, about nine-storeys high, is large enough to contain water from 64 Olympic-size pools.

JRC's first confirmed customer is the Jurong Aromatics Corporation (JAC) consortium, which is set to start building a US$2.4 billion petrochemicals complex on Jurong Island next year. The JAC facility is slated to come onstream in 2014, soon after JRC's completion.

JTC is also now exploring phase two of JRC, which can potentially add another 1.32 million cubic metres of storage space.

Underground caverns were first pioneered about 40-50 years ago. According to JTC, there are currently more than 200 rock caverns around the world, used for storing materials such as crude oil, petroleum products and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

One of the key benefits of such storage space is that they allow better utilisation of large tracts of land on the surface for higher value-added activities. JTC said that the 1.47 million cubic metres of oil storage space that JRC would offer translates to surface-land savings of about 60 hectares.

Going underground enhances safety. For one thing, physical security is improved as liquid hydrocarbons are stored at subterranean depths. The strategic storage also offers better fuel security.

In addition, storage underground is also more environmentally friendly, JTC said.

Pushing industrial boundaries

The agency is currently conducting on-going studies on underground oil storage as construction on JRC continues. It recently called a tender for a study on interaction between water seepage and oil.

The investigation will cover normal groundwater seepage - which is salty in nature - from the rock walls into the caverns and will study the effects of seepage water on the crude oil and oil products that will be stored at JRC from mid-2013.

JTC had conducted environmental impact studies as far back as 2006, after it found JRC to be economically and technically viable.

With the progress of the JRC, underground space is now seen as a viable option for certain industrial activities, said JTC chief executive Manohar Khiatani in the agency's latest annual report.

An underground warehousing and logistics facility at Tanjong Kling and Jurong Hill is currently being explored, Mr Khiatani said.

In fact, the JRC project has already yielded another similar cutting-edge space usage solution - an underground science city.

Feasibility studies for the underground science city will be carried out and this will set the stage for the marketing of subterranean developments to other emerging economies, JTC hopes.

This series is brought by JTC

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HK duck's epic Arctic trip sheds light on migration

Yahoo News 27 Dec 10;

HONG KONG (AFP) – A wild duck has returned to Hong Kong after an epic 12,000-kilometre (7,500-mile) round-trip to the Arctic which conservation experts say has provided new information about bird migration.

Environmental group WWF said the female northern pintail duck, which was fitted with a transmitter in December last year, returned to Hong Kong's Mai Po Nature Reserve at Christmas.

The bird was the only one of 23 from Hong Kong tagged with a miniature solar-powered transmitter to have returned to the Chinese territory, the group said in a press release.

The tracker shows the bird left Hong Kong on February 25 and reached the Arctic Circle in mid-June.

It stopped in east and northeast China and the Yellow Sea off South Korea before reaching Siberia, where it stayed for three months presumably for breeding before heading south in late September.

Flying at an average speed of 50 kilometres (31 miles) an hour, the duck travelled 1,700 kilometres (1,060 miles) in three days, stopping in Russia and Japan before reaching the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on December 18.

It eventually returned to the Hong Kong wetland nature reserve around Christmas after a round-trip totalling about 12,000 kilometres.

The BBC said WWF used Google Earth to locate the duck's feeding areas and route back to Hong Kong.

Katherine Leung, an expert with WWF Hong Kong, told the South China Morning Post the tagging project provided important information on bird migration.

"During migration, ducks face many threats, like natural predators, hunters and diseases.

"Another worrying trend is development projects, including (land) reclamation, which results possibly in habitat loss for them and other waterbirds," she said.

"Their migration route will help us protect them better in the future."

Only two other transmitters of the 23 fitted to the ducks are still working. Others likely fell off, were not transmitting or the ducks had been hunted.

The BBC said on its website one of the birds was shot dead over Russia and its transmitter was tracked to what was believed to be the hunter's home.

Another duck, a Eurasian wigeon, appeared to be staying in North Korea having spent more than a month there, the WWF said.

The project was carried out by WWF Hong Kong in partnership with the University of Hong Kong's microbiology department, Asia Ecological Consultants and the US Geological Survey to study wild duck migration and the role of migratory birds in avian influenza.

Hong Kong was the site of the world's first major outbreak of bird flu among humans in 1997, when six people died of a mutation of the virus, which is normally confined to poultry.

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Malaysian Nature Society: Don’t destroy forest reserve to grow oil palm

The Star 28 Dec 10;

THE Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Selangor Branch is dismayed to learn of the Selangor Agricultural Development Corporation (PKPS) proposal to convert the remaining peat forest in the Kuala Langat South (KLS) forest reserve to oil palm.

Although PKPS reported that the forest reserve does not have valuable hardwood and consists mostly of trees from the macaranga genus, independent scientific reports note that the forest reserve retains a rich diversity of native species, including important commercial trees and notable timber species such as Kempas (Koompasia malaccensis), Meranti Bakau (Shorea rugosa) and Ramin (Gonystylus bancanus).

MNS notes that scientists from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia doing research in Kuala Langat South found that the forest was extremely rich in species, with a high potential for finding insect and animal species that have never before been recorded in Malaysia and some which were entirely new to science.

Scientific expeditions in recent weeks further produced evidence of the presence of sunbears and panthers in the Kuala Langat South Forest Reserve.

In addition, peat forests such as Kuala Langat South provide valuable ecological services, such as maintaining freshwater quality, hydrological integrity, and carbon storage and sequestration.

The National Conservation Strategy also notes that the KLS forest reserve plays an important role in flood mitigation.

Local and indigenous communities also depend on peatlands for their livelihood. Any human influence on the Kuala Langat South Forest Reserve, therefore, can affect its form and function.

For the above reasons, we urge the Selangor State Government to conserve the KLS forest reserve for present and future generations.

GARY PHONG,
Chairman, MNS (Selangor Branch).

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Malaysia: Trials of a mighty river

Zora Chan The Star 28 Dec 10;

RAJANG River, the country’s longest river, seldom gets the media limelight. In 2010, however, the river made waves - not only in Malaysia but around the world - and for all the wrong reasons.

On Oct 7, a landslide occurred along Melatai River, a tributary on the upper reaches of the Rajang in Ulu Baleh, Kapit Division, and brought down tonnes of soil, sawn timber and wood waste into the river.

The disaster was reported widely including by the London-based BBC. Video clips of the logjam were also available on YouTube.

It was estimated that more than 300,000 cubic metres of logs and debris were washed away in the incident. It was an unprecedented logjam .

The debris, stretching for 50km on the river coupled with swift currents, brought down two bridges and damaged five jetties.

The logjam first shocked folk from Kapit and then a day later, those in Sibu. It halted express boat operations and other riverine activities for two days as the Rajang became dangerous for navigation.

Thousands of fish, including the prized ‘patin’ and ‘lulong’, which cost between RM35 and RM45 per kg, floated lifelessly to the surface of the river as their gills were clogged with mud.

The State Government said the logjam was a natural disaster and blamed the weather for the incident, stressing the prolonged heavy rainfall had caused the landslide which caused the logjam.

However, the people particularly those from Kapit and Sibu, were not convinced that it was merely an act of Mother Nature.

They scoffed at news reports which quoted authorities for saying that logging companies were not to be blamed for the disaster as they believed uncontrolled logging activities along Melatai River was the root cause.

The people were infuriated by the excuses and demanded an explanation.

Some Ibans who lived and depended on the river called for a grand miring ceremony to appease the gods so that the disaster will not recur.

They believed that the gods were angered by the massive destruction of the forests by logging companies.

So, on a cold and rainy Oct 17, the grand offering or ‘Muja Menua’ in Iban was held at the mouth of Melatai in Ulu Baleh at the break of dawn.

Gong Gerai, 75, of Rumah Singkuai, Nanga Selaut along Baleh River, insisted the logging companies were largely to be blamed for the logjam.

“We never experienced such a disaster before these companies arrived,” he said. Gong was one of 200 Iban elders who took part in the grand offering.

There were some 60 ‘piring’ offerings, and a dozen chickens and two pigs were sacrificed. The heads of the pigs were buried near the river mouth while the carcasses were placed on bamboo rafts and floated down the river.

The ‘Muja Menua’ basically served as a double-edged sword - firstly, to appease the gods which the Ibans believed was necessary and secondly, to send out a warning to logging companies to be more careful in their activities.

Land Development Minister Datuk Seri Dr James Masing, who officiated at the offering, said the ceremony should serve as a warning to all those involved, particularly timber companies, to respect mother nature when exploiting the state’s natural resources.

“The Ibans who live along the river have been very tolerant to the extent of asking for the forests’ and rivers gods’ forgiveness on behalf of those who they believed had caused the logjam.

“They are not doing this ceremony out of guilt, but in good faith. This shows how generous the community is. If this disaster happens again, the Ibans might not be so patient,” he warned.

Masing, who flew over the affected area by a helicopter to see for himself the extent of the damage, was still convinced that the cause of the logjam was not only a natural disaster but also excessive human activities.

“It rained for centuries here but why did the landslide and logjam occur all of a sudden?” he asked.

If there is any lesson that can be learnt from the logjam, it is that the words “sustainable development” must not be mere a lip service. There are laws and guidelines when it comes to harvesting natural resources, but are they being complied with or enforced effectively?

It’s high time for Sarawakians to stand up and demand that all natural resources be harvested according to a high standard of environmentally sound practices, and prosecute those who fail to do so.

Only strong public pressure will ensure the wise-use of the environment for posterity.

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Floods bring crocodile warning for Australia's north

Yahoo News 27 Dec 10;

SYDNEY (AFP) – Flooding in Australia's tropical north has prompted a warning about crocodiles, with several of the reptiles spotted in swollen waterways, an official said Monday.

The flood threat near Ingham in the eastern state of Queensland is easing but acting mayor of Hinchinbrook Shire Council Andrew Lancini said several residents had sighted the saltwater predators.

"There's usually reports of crocodiles (during floods)," he told AFP.

"You would be surprised if we didn't (have them)."

Torrential rains have inundated much of Queensland state after Tropical Cyclone Tasha crossed the coast early Saturday, and south of Ingham many towns are cut off by flood waters.

The town of Chinchilla in the state's south was suffering what could be its worst deluge in decades after more than 100 millimetres (4 inches) of rain fell overnight, forcing the evacuation of several homes.

Justin Byrnes, who owns the town's Club Hotel, said rising floodwaters had inundated several businesses and were on track to be the worst in memory.

"What we're hearing is that this will far exceed '83, which is probably the worst one in memory that's documented," he told ABC radio.

The Queensland state government has announced disaster relief for some areas and urged residents not to attempt to drive through flood waters after 20 people were rescued from creeks and rivers in the past two days.

Forecasters said rain was set to continue in southern Queensland for several days while there was a possibility that a low-pressure system in the north of the state could form another cyclone.

Floods have also hit parts of New South Wales state to the south of Queensland while the nation's west has endured soaring temperatures, prompting authorities in Perth and other areas to be on alert for bushfires.

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British wildlife benefits from return to 'traditional' seasonal weather

Conservationists express relief as insects, birds and other wildlife flourish because of cold winter and decent summer
Steven Morris The Guardian 27 Dec 10;

This year's weather may not always have been to everyone's taste but for British wildlife and plant life, at least, a return to four "traditional" seasons has been good news, conservationists said today.

The cold winter, reasonably decent summer and good old-fashioned spring and autumn benefited many kinds of fauna that had suffered through previous mild wet winters and soggy summers.

The National Trust, which produces an annual Christmas round-up of how the weather has affected wildlife, expressed relief.

Matthew Oates, the charity's nature conservation adviser, said: "For the first time in a generation we have experienced a traditional year of weather and our wildlife has mostly responded favourably. A cold winter enabled wildlife to hibernate properly while a warm spring and early summer created ideal conditions for insects and led to bumper autumn berry crops in our orchards, woods and hedgerows."

Two years ago the trust was warning that "unseasonal" weather could start to spell disaster for many species of insects, birds and mammals. It was especially concerned about miserable summers that were making life difficult for creatures from craneflies (or daddy-longlegs) to species of butterflies, members of the tit family and bats.

This year, Oates said there had probably been more winners than losers. He picked out native endangered and beloved species such as the heath fritillary butterfly on Exmoor, the netted carpet moth in Cumbria and puffins on the Farne islands as having done well.

In other positive signs: • There were an unusually large number of queen wasps, perhaps because the colder winter led to successful hibernation.

• It was a good early spring and early summer for many flowers as the dry weather meant they were not overgrown by vigorous grasses.

• Bluebells were still in flower at the end of May in woodlands as far as south-west as Devon, and autumn produced a fantastic colour display and was "great" for grassland fungi.

• The large blue butterfly had its most successful year yet at Collard Hill in Somerset, and attracted a record number of visitors.

• An abundance of the (largely passive) hornet, which has spread well in southern UK recently.

• Hazel catkins, which usually appear in March and April, appeared early in autumn at Washington Old Hall, Tyne and Wear, for the second year running • Mammals generally entered the winter in good condition, especially badgers, wild deer, and the wild sheep and goats in Cheddar Gorge.

• Large flocks of chaffinch with some bramblings in woodland, abundant redwing and fieldfare in hawthorn hedges, and rare waxwings appearing in unusually high numbers.

Insects largely had a good year, until the weather turned in mid-July and the country was hit by an unseasonal gale that killed off many winged creatures. And those poor old daddy longlegs have continued to suffer.

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China mulls GMO food law, grain law ready in 2011

Reuters AlertNet 27 Dec 10;

BEIJING, Dec 27 (Reuters) - China's National People's Congress, or parliament, is proposing legislation on the management of genetically modified (GMO) food, the official Xinhua news agency said in a report seen on Monday.

The legislation will cover the import and export of GMO food and production, development and research of GMO grains.

China's Ministry of Environmental Protection is preparing a law on overall GMO safety, while parliament's agriculture and rural affairs committee is proposing a law specifically about GMO food, Xinhua said, without saying when it might become law.

China is the largest producer of GMO cotton, but it has been much more cautious about accepting GMO food than some other producers, such as the United States.

Last year the Ministry of Agriculture's biosafety committee gave the first safety approval for GMO strains of rice and corn, paving the way for a large scale commercial production of those GMO strains within 2-3 years. [ID:nSP364484]

But the approval has caused controversy in the country about whether the GMO strain of rice, the staple food for 1.3 billion people, is safe.

Greenpeace said it found illegal sales of GMO rice in some markets in the country, sparking concerns that China may have loose management over GMO products, despite a similar regulation put in place by the State Council, or cabinet, in 2001.

Parliament is likely to pass a draft grain security law in 2011, which will strengthen the responsibility of local government officials to boost grain production to ensure ample supplies for the world's most populous country. (Reporting by Niu Shuping and Tom Miles; Editing by Benjamin Kang Lim)

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China to spend $30 bln on water conservation in 2011

Reuters AlertNet 25 Dec 10;

BEIJING, Dec 25 (Reuters) - The Chinese government is expected to spend about 200 billion yuan ($30.10 billion) on water conservation projects in 2011, a tenth more than in 2010, the state-run China Daily reported on Saturday.

Priority will be given to improving irrigation to ensure grain security and projects to combat drought and floods, the newspaper said.

It cited Water Resources Minister Chen Lei as telling a government meeting that some of the investment would come from a 10 percent levy on income earned from the leasing of land. The newspaper did not elaborate.

Other funds would go towards renovating water supply infrastructure for main agriculture regions and ensuring safe drinking water for 60 million rural people, the newspaper added.

"Over the next 10 years, Chen said he hopes the country can double its current average annual investment in water conservation construction," it said.

The government has invested about 700 billion yuan on water conservation over the past five years, the newspaper said.

Chen Xiwen, director of the central government's rural work leading group who advises top leaders on rural policy, said the government would specifically target water conservation next year because of worry about grain production, it said.

While grain production will rise to 546.4 million tonnes this year, up by 15.6 million tonnes on last year, there are worries about next year's harvest because of natural disasters, which could push up food prices, Chen Xiwen added.

The government is paying close attention to the cost of food after prices rose nearly 12 percent in the year to November, leading overall consumer inflation to a 28-month high of 5.1 percent.

"We have to accelerate the construction of water conservation facilities as one of the key infrastructures the country needs to secure increasing grain production. We must address issues arising from the country's rapid urbanisation, which has consumed land that used to be used for farming," he said.

Chen Xiwen said this month water shortages and the encroachment of urban development on rural land posed challenges for China to extend increases in grain output after seven years of growth. ($1=6.645 yuan) (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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