Best of our wild blogs: 20 May 12


Last Open House at the Raffles Museum
from wild shores of singapore and Peiyan.Photography

Are Singapore’s mangroves to remain ecologically-sustainable over the long-term? from Mangrove Action Squad

UV Fluorescence in Millipedes and Scorpions
from Macro Photography in Singapore

Life History of the Tawny Palmfly
from Butterflies of Singapore

sunda pygmy woodpecker @ the esplanade - 18may2012
from sgbeachbum


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Getting to grips with a changing Singapore

One can feel envy over swanky homes for rich foreigners, or let go and get on with life
Chua Mui Hoong Straits Times 20 May 12;

Labrador Park was my hunting ground as a child. Or rather, Labrador Villa Hawker Centre, the tiny food centre on its edge close to Pasir Panjang Road, was.

My parents ran a char kway teow stall there for years, from the time I was a toddler who would curl up to sleep on a box by the door, to when I graduated from university, when they sub-let the stall.

They finally gave it up when my mother found it too tiring to take a bus from our home in Upper Thomson to Pasir Panjang every day just so she could sit there and keep up the charade that she was the towkay and the folks running the stall were her 'workers'. This was so my parents wouldn't get booked for illegal sub-letting of a hawker stall.

Last week, a friend and I drove to Labrador Park. The hawker centre of course is gone, razed to the ground. The park has been gentrified. There's even an MRT station leading to the park now.

A seafronting boardwalk beckoned. We walked its length. Our jaws dropped as we sauntered past gorgeous expensive condos, past luxury yachts and ships at the cruise centre, past the riverine waterways.

It was dark and the place looked empty, but I could see its potential to be a teeming glitzy waterfront, once the shops and cafes are open, more residents move in and the place dances to life.

I should have felt excited and proud. Instead, I felt a niggling sense of envy. The leasehold condos there start from about $2,000 psf to buy, and from $5,000 to rent a two-bedder. They are far beyond the reach of most Singaporeans, myself included.

This was my childhood area, now being remade into a luxe haven for the rich - and probably foreign - elite.

I thought of my feelings at Labrador Park last week, when news erupted about the Ferrari driven by a Chinese immigrant, which hit a taxi in the wee hours of Saturday night. The Singaporean taxi-driver and his Japanese passenger died, as did the Ferrari driver.

Footage from another taxi at the scene suggests the Ferrari driver beat a red light and crashed into the taxi.

Singaporeans online and in coffee shops have been talking about the incident. The usual anxiety felt by locals over the large influx of immigrants is intensified by the tragedy of innocent lives lost.

Then there is the potent mix of envy at the lifestyle of the foreign elite, which adds a dangerously emotive underlay to the cauldron of feelings over the large influx of immigrants.

It is a tinderbox of feelings that can turn nasty, online and offline.

The rich-poor gap has always existed, in Singapore and in all societies. Singaporeans are familiar with, and have made peace with, the contours of the social landscape.

We know what it means when someone says he lives in Queen Astrid Park, versus Queen Street, versus Queenstown. But whichever queenly estate Singaporeans live in, there has been hitherto a shared communality of experience forged in schools, during national service, in hawker centres, and in meritocratic, multiracial workplaces. We may come from different socio-economic strata but our hearts beat to the same rhythm.

Singapore's well-to-do have usually borne their wealth lightly and simply, with some humility. We celebrate immigrants' rags-to-riches stories, like the flower seller who built the CK Tang empire. Our history is peppered with stories of rich philanthropists: Tan Tock Seng, Tan Kah Kee and Khoo Teck Puat.

In 2005, the issue of elitism and foreigners cropped up. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sketched out in a speech his vision of an 'inclusive elite' - where it is demonstrated 'to all that if you work hard, do well, you will make it to the top, which is the whole basis for Singapore's success'.

He made it a point to say that foreigners should be part of this elite, but he also added: 'We discourage ostentation in lifestyles, dress or social norms, which will make others who are less affluent feel out of place.'

Seven years on, the lifestyle of the rich in our midst has become more visible, thanks in part to the glittering residential skyscrapers and Marina Bay Sands integrated resort. The norms of the rich - both foreign and local - are evolving.

We can get huffy and say foreigners shouldn't flaunt their wealth in Singapore. Even the Chinese Embassy here saw fit to issue a statement to remind its nationals overseas to abide by local laws and live 'responsibly and gracefully'.

But the truth is, we also benefit from having the global elite here. They buy our properties. They spur domestic consumption. They create jobs for retail assistants, food and beverage workers, financial services support staff, marketing agents. Because of the ranks of the global elite in our midst, we have access to arts and entertainment options, and hotels and shops, that would not find it worth their while to set up here if only middle-class locals gave them custom.

I know all that intellectually.

And still, when I walked past the condos at Keppel Bay, when I went to see the W Residences at Sentosa last year, I felt a sense of dislocation.

What is my country coming to, if a place from my childhood becomes a playground for the rich foreign elite? I wonder: Do I belong here? Or do they?

And yet the average fair-minded Singaporean knows such sentiments do ourselves no credit. We are a nation of immigrants after all. My own parents boarded a ship from Swatow to Singapore to make a life. They found a home here and raised three children.

Perhaps because of my background, I find it easier to accept struggling immigrants rather than super-rich ones.

When I see a mainland Chinese couple manning a hawker stall, sometimes with a child helping out, I am reminded of my own family. I patronise their stall and mentally wish them well, hoping my family's story of social mobility continues into another generation.

If I accept poor immigrants, why should I be less accepting of rich ones?

There are no rational reasons.

And so, I had to grapple with my own mixed feelings and come to an emotionally and ethically acceptable position as I reflected on Labrador Park. This is how I reasoned it out to myself.

Walking past the harbourfront area with the swanky condos is like visiting the house of your childhood, which has been transformed from a modest abode into a temple of luxury.

You feel a sense of possessiveness over the house, because it was part of your shared history. You feel a twinge of regret: that could have been your home too, if only you had the money to do it up and didn't have to sell it. You feel a tad envious and an amorphous, barely acknowledged, resentment at the new occupants.

But really, there's another way to look at it.

The shared history is real and never goes away. But time moves on and things change. If you can let go of your sense of possession, and accept that your childhood home is part of your past but has a different future, then you can admire it for what it has become without denying its humble past.

The truth is, Singapore is changing, often faster than many of us, especially those middle-aged and above, can bear.

We would like to hold on to simpler times of yore. The smart ones among us keep sane by finding our own sanctuaries where we can relax and enjoy the lifestyle we are comfortable with, where we can have our $2.50 mee pok tar (minced pork noodles) and teh peng (iced tea) in shorts, T-shirt and slippers.

But we also know we have to let go and allow the country to move on - if only so that our own children, the fast-paced, fast-talking, fast-living digital natives - will want to call it home.


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Fishes now the first line of defence for Singapore water quality

Wayne Chan Channel NewsAsia 19 May 12;

SINGAPORE: PUB, Singapore's national water agency, has helped develop a new automated system which uses fish to monitor water quality.

The system uses cameras to monitor the activity of freshwater tiger barbs, which is then analysed to detect signs of distress that could indicate a problem with the water.

There are 20 fish monitored in each system and if half of the fish die, a red alert will be triggered and the system will automatically collect a water sample for further testing.

PUB's technology department manager Elaine Quek said the automated system helps the agency monitor multiple locations at once without the need for much manpower.

"We don't really need to have someone staring at the fish tank or visually inspecting it all the time. It gives you a signal when something is wrong. So essentially, we don't have to put in so much manpower to monitor a number of installations," she said.

"All the different units are deployed at different places around Singapore, and the signals are all tied to one control centre. If something happens to the fishes in one of the units, the control centre gets an alert immediately.

"So you only need maybe four, five men at the control centre to monitor many installations around the island," she added.

There will be 42 such units deployed around Singapore by June, with the number to be increased to 105 units over the next few years.

Units will be installed in places where water is treated and passed into the distribution system. Locations include service reservoirs, waterworks, as well as critical locations such as the Causeway, Ms Quek said.

Each unit costs about US$20,000 to US$80,000 to set up.

The system is one of many water innovations to be showcased at the upcoming Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) in July, and is already reeling in business overseas with contracts of up to US$7 million expected over the the next three years.

ZWEEC Analytics, the company behind the system, said displaying it at the last Singapore International Water Week has helped it hook up with China's Water Resources ministry.

"SIWW has been a good platform for us to firstly, display our very first prototype, and then of course, we did a deployment with PUB and we drew a lot of attention from various countries," CEO Liaw Kok Eng said.

"We have already sold some units to Taiwan, and we also deployed some in China -- one is in Tianjin Eco City, the other one is in Wuhan, which is under the China Water Ministry."

Mr Liaw said the China projects are many times bigger than Singapore's implementation, with the China South-North Water Transfer Project involving about 2,500 monitoring stations.

ZWEEC Analytics is now in talks with India, which wants to use the system in its waste water treatment industry to monitor the quality of waste water before it is discharged into the environment.

- CNA/wm


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Fun at museum's last open house

Jose Hong Straits Times 20 May 12;

More than 700 people crowded the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at its last open house yesterday.

The event was part of the museum's winding down as it prepares to move into its new home, which is also on the grounds of the National University of Singapore. The new Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum is due to open in 2014.

Visitors were engaged in activities such as guided tours, workshops and children's booths.

This year's open house was smaller in scale, due to renovation works, and all the space in the museum and the corridor outside was used.

That, however, did not seem to deter the visitors.

When The Sunday Times visited the museum around 4pm yesterday, the corridor was still filled with families taking part in activities. And even near the closing time of 5pm, volunteers held an extra pottery session for children to make clay dinosaur models because of the strong demand.

Ms Seng Ling Ling, 34, who visited the museum with her husband and two children, said the open house was very educational because of the many specimens on exhibit. These included stuffed animals such as turtles and birds and preserved specimens such as butterflies, crabs and jellyfish. The specimens in the scientific collection are open for public viewing only during open houses.

Ms Sandy Tee, 39, praised the volunteers who guided the families around the museum, saying that they engaged their audience very well. She added that her two children, Darius, five, and Claudia, six, spent almost all their time at the badge-making booth.

The open house's 60 volunteers, mostly made up of NUS students and alumni, were very enthusiastic about the event.

Ms Iffah Iesa, 20, who had never volunteered for previous museum open houses, said she joined because she was 'very interested in biodiversity'.

'I have met a lot of people who are like-minded, which is the great thing about this event', added the second-year life sciences student at NUS.

She felt that the final open house, rather than being something to be sad about, was a cause for celebration. 'Once we move into a bigger environment we can benefit more people and hold bigger exhibitions,' she said.

The event was also held in collaboration with the National Heritage Board's Children's Season and to mark International Museum Day.

With the open house over, the museum will settle all outstanding loans it has with major research institutions around the world, ranging from the National History Museum in London to the National Museum of Natural History in Washington.

The loans are mainly of marine invertebrates such as crustaceans and worms.

At the same time, it will host members of the international scientific community who are arranging to examine and borrow specimens from its collection.

The museum's scientific collection, which holds more than 500,000 specimens, will be closed to all but museum staff after September.

Ms Joelle Lai, research officer at the museum, said staff will then start taking inventory of the scientific collection. 'We have a lot of archival material that we need to digitise and there are a lot of miscellaneous things that we will need to work on as well,' she continued.

However, the main gallery will remain open until April next year. And even when that closes, lovers of the museum need not wait till the new museum opens to have access to its natural history as it will be holding roving exhibitions as part of its continued public outreach.


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Reef Check in Malaysia: Protect our coral reefs

Intan Maizura Ahmad Kamal New Straits Times 19 May 12;

Coral reefs are economically, culturally and aesthetically important, learns Intan Maizura Ahmad Kama

“LOOK what I found, mama. Cantik-kan (isn’t it beautiful?),” I remember my little one saying to me on a beach sojourn some months back, her little hand tentatively holding up a piece of dried coral for me to admire.

She wanted to find some more so that she could bring them home to decorate our modest aquarium. Unfortunately, I had to pique her excitement. I remember telling her that corals belong in the sea and it wasn’t good to destroy anything in nature.

I recall her retort: “But it’s just a piece of rock... it’s not alive.”

Oh, but it is. Suffice to say corals are often mistaken for rocks or plants, but they are actually composed of tiny, fragile animals known as coral polyps. When people say coral, they’re in fact referring to these little animals and the skeletons they leave behind after they die.

“Corals or more specifically, hard corals, are the architects of coral reefs, one of the greatest natural wonders of the world’s ocean,” says Julian Hyde, Reef Check Malaysia’s affable general manager during a lunchtime chat.

“Unfortunately, they’re facing a threatened existence as a result of rising ocean temperatures and human activities, including destructive fishing and marine pollution.”

Reef Check is a non-profit organisation and the world’s largest international coral reef monitoring programme involving volunteer recreational divers and marine scientists.

Although coral reefs occupy less than one per cent of the world’s ocean floor, they’re one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth. In fact, some 25 per cent of marine life are found in and around coral reefs.

“The health of coral reefs is a sensitive barometer for the health of our oceans and our planet,” says Hyde, who came to here 14 years ago and started his career here with an environmental consultancy company before moving to Tioman Island to run a dive centre.

But with three-quarters of reefs under threat, efforts to identify and mitigate specific stresses and thereby preserve corals are now more important than ever. This year, says Hyde, Reef Check Malaysia will be trying to collect information to contribute to the study of coral reproduction, which will hopefully lead to better management of coral reefs in the country.

Unless these corals are replaced through successful reproduction followed by settlement and metamorphosis of the coral seed called planula larvae, the reef goes into decline, and the important functions and benefits of the coral reef are lost.

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE
Coral reefs are not only home to a huge number of ocean dwelling fish, they also feed, protect and inspire hundreds of millions of people around the world. “Reefs are tremendously important economically,” adds the 50-year-old Yorkshire-man who’s married to a Malaysian.

“When you think about how many tourists come to this country... yes, they go to KL for the shopping and may be Penang and Malacca for the history, but there’s also a large number of them who look forward to making the trip to the islands for snorkelling or diving. If we don’t have those reefs, I believe a significant chunk of our tourism attraction will go. Islands like Redang, Kapas and Perhentian rely on their reefs for visitor traffic.”

Without these tourists, the local economy will suffer, says Hyde. People living on the island will be without jobs. Some work is being done on putting values on reefs but things are still in the early stages, he shares. “Latest figures suggest that our reefs are actually worth RM50 billion a year — that’s serious stuff. Thousands of people around the country are employed working in resorts, dive centres as snorkelling operators... they’re all being employed by the coral reefs so we have to start looking after them.”

THREATS TO CORALS

Corals face two different kinds of threats — local and global. The former can comprise damages incurred as a result of development, for example, siltation as a result of trees being chopped down and when there’s a lot of waste and sewage pollution caused by large numbers of people on the island. Divers and snorkellers too can contribute to the damage. “But we can still manage these things,” says Hyde.

And then there’s the global threat, which effectively refers to global warming, which in turn leads to coral bleaching. “And more recently people are talking about ocean acidification. As a local organisation working with the local communities, with Marine Park Department, there’s nothing we can do about the global threats. What we can do is manage and reduce the local threats so that the reef is as healthy as possible, so that when the global threats come along, the reef is healthier and is better able to withstand the negative impacts.”

WORKING WITH COMMUNITIES

In Perhentian, Reef Check has been working with resorts, dive operators and snorkelling guides for the last couple of years to get them to understand the importance of the reefs and the roles they can play in managing them. “And just to give them a better voice we helped them to set up an association of operators there, which is now able to easily engage with the government for example, in things like the waste problem,” says Hyde.

“We’ve also done some work in the village communities like educating the kids about the reefs and their value, and what they can do to preserve them.”

Their hard work has borne fruit. “We’ve made progress with the waste management problem so there’s less trash going into the water,” says Hyde. “Everybody knows what the problems are and we now think we know what the solution is. We’re presently looking to secure funding to try and reduce the pollution from the resorts. That will take another stress away from the reefs. If we can reduce all of these local threats, our reefs will be as healthy as we can make them.”

EXCITING DISCOVERIES

Coral reefs and coral reef science don’t change as fast as computer science, chuckles Hyde, when asked whether there’ve been any exciting discoveries. “It’s a slowly evolving thing. The latest thing that’s catching our interest now is a concept called ‘resilience’, which goes back to that concept of building healthy reefs and keeping reefs healthy, minimising and managing local threats so that they can withstand the external threats. This is exciting because it can be executed on a very local level.”

Involving the local people means that you effectively give them the responsibility of managing the reefs, Hyde explains.

“They’re the ones who’ve been fishing there for generations, they know where the fish are, they know how things are changing, they run the local businesses on the island, they have an economic interest in making sure that the reefs are healthy, so why not involve them?”

Unfortunately, they’re not so involved at the moment, says Hyde. “The department is striving to find ways to get them involved and there are several programmes currently going on. One of them is the Rakan Park programme on Tioman, which involves some of the local population. They’re helping the department to understand a bit more about what’s happening on the island.”

He adds: “They’re now talking about a programme, which will hand over some of the management responsibilities to the local population. If you look at successful marine management around the world, it always involves the local population.”

PREVENTION IS KEY

Every year, we’re learning more about corals, how they live and how they replenish their numbers. An exciting phenomenon is the process of mass coral spawning, an occasion during which numerous species of coral spawn at the same time, releasing billion upon billion of eggs and sperm. “Not much is known about coral reproduction to date,” concedes Hyde. “However, what we do know approximately when it will occur, which is around the full moon following the spring equinox. This year, mass coral spawning was predicted to occur two to three days before or after April 6, between 8pm and 10pm.”

This kind of knowledge helps in preserving these precious resources, as well as allow us to improve the opportunities for recovery when damage occurs. Hyde adds: “However, prevention will always be the key. No matter how successful reseeding is, we cannot speed up the growth rate of corals. Large coral colonies cannot be replaced in less than the several hundred years it took them to attain that size.”

Email wecare@reefcheck.org.my if you want to get involved in reef preservation.

Corals survival

What do corals need to survive?

Sunlight: Corals need to grow in shallow water where sunlight can reach them. Corals depend on the zooxanthellae (algae) that grows inside of them for oxygen and other things, and since this algae needs sunlight to survive, corals also need sunlight to survive. Corals rarely develop in water deeper than 50 metres.

Clear water: Corals need clear water that lets sunlight through to survive. They don’t thrive well when the water is cloudy. Sediment and plankton can cloud water, which decreases the amount of sunlight that reaches the zooxanthellae.

Warm water temperature: Reef-building corals require warm water conditions to survive. Different corals living in different regions can withstand various temperature fluctuations. However, corals generally live in water temperatures of 20º-32ºC.

Clean water: Corals are sensitive to pollution and sediments. Sediments can settle on coral, blocking out sunlight and smothering coral polyps. Pollution from sewage and fertilisers increase nutrient levels in the water, harming corals. When there are too many nutrients in the water, the ecological balance of the coral community is altered.

Saltwater: Corals need saltwater to survive and require a certain balance in the ratio of salt to water. This is why corals don’t live in areas where rivers drain fresh water into the ocean.

Source: The Coral Reef Alliance (www.coral.org)


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Taking a bite out of the Phuket shark trade

Phuket News 20 May 12;

PHUKET: The disturbing discovery by a Phuket News reader of the selling of endangered hammerhead sharks in Kata market has been exasperated by the shocking realisation that the practice is not ‘technically’ illegal.

Gwyn Mills, CEO of Pattaya-based environmental organisation Dive Tribe, explained that the laws in Thailand regarding fishing practices are murky at best.

“It largely depends on where they’ve been caught... There are harsher penalties if they’ve been caught in a National Park as opposed to open waters for example.”

The problem lies in the fact that fishing behaviour is often not recorded in Thailand, with fishermen and fishing crews often failing to submit their behaviour and locations to CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).

CITES is an international agreement between governments charged with ensuring that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

Another problem is that statistics as to the number of sharks are very hard to accurately record. However, it is estimated that the hammerhead population in the Atlantic Ocean has radically declined by over 95 per cent in the past 30 years.

The main cause of this drop-off is over-fishing, due to the rise in demand for shark fins from markets in East Asia, especially China, of which hammerheads are the most popular species.

Tony Andrews, the Regional Manager of PADI Asia Pacific diving society, however, believes that the sharks featured in this photo were not caught for their fins, and will probably end up as decorative display pieces in local Thai restaurants.

“I know it’s horrible to say, but in the fisherman’s defence, this is not down to the finning trade. Sharks that are being finned are normally finned at sea with the carcass being thrown overboard, to ensure that the boat has more room for storing the fins.”

David Roe, a Marine Conservation Officer from Project Aware, which organises divers to tackle major ocean conservation issues ‘Sharks in Peril’ and ‘Marine Debris’, agrees that it’s incredibly important to make the distinction between shark fishing and shark finning, at least from a legal perspective.

“With shark finning, the valuable fins are kept while the less valuable shark body is discarded at sea to leave room for more valuable animals.

"If they sell the body for meat and the fins for the shark fin soup trade, this would be seen as making full use of the animal, as outlined in the UN’s Food and Agriculture’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing.”

So, although the practice is not illegal, it is according to Mr Roe and many market shoppers, nonetheless heartbreaking.

This is why Project Aware is working to have hammerhead sharks listed under CITES Appendix II at the Conference of Parties in Thailand, March 2013, which would lead to enforced protection of the mammal.

Mr Roe believes that resistance to listing any more than the three sharks currently listed on the appendix is due to their high economic value.

If their bid is successful, it would not necessarily prevent such shocking scenes in the marketplace, as the listing only places control over international, not domestic trade, but Mr Roe sees such a listing as a major step forward in the conservation of the species.

The biggest step Mr Roe, Mr Andrews and many other campaigners see as needing to take place, is a change in attitude and that might, according to some reports, need to start at the very top.

A petition by change.org is gathering steam, calling for the removal of the Asian representative of CITES, Dr Giam Choo Hoo, on grounds of conflict of interest owing to his purported links to the shark finning industry.

For his part, Dr Giam, a Singaporean, has said that the attempted ban of the shark finning trade is rooted in cultural bias and is in fact discriminatory. For him, the eating of shark fin soup is a delicacy, and a tradition that has great importance and significance for many around the region.

Regardless, Project Aware and PADI have joined forces and are taking action against the shark finning trade by raising awareness amongst the global dive community about issues threatening sharks, and turning divers – those most in contact with the animals – into champions of shark protection.

Mr Mills of Dive Tribe is also keen to continue the good work he started in Pattaya here on the island, “We’ll be opening a base in Phuket to raise awareness and educate about how the shark finning and fishing trade is worsening the plight of the sharks.

"We’ll also visit universities and run courses.”

Overall, it is imperative to remain patient, according to Project Aware’s Mr Roe, who believes change will come, albeit slowly.

“It’s important to remember that the biggest issue with shark fishing is that currently, in most cases, it is unsustainable and unmanaged.

“[We are] calling for properly managed, science-based shark fisheries. We are also campaigning for a ‘fin’s naturally attached on landing policy’ so as to end the cruel and wasteful practice of finning.”

For more information, visit: projectaware.org


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UK citizen scientists get to grips with moth survey

Mark Kinver BBC News 17 May 12;

About 13,000 moths have been captured and recorded by citizen scientists in southern England in a project described as the largest of its kind.

Researchers hope the data will help them understand how species will migrate in response to climate change.

During the month-long survey, 87 different species were recorded.

The survey is one of the Earthwatch projects being highlighted at the organisation's annual lecture on Thursday evening in central London.

One of the speakers, Dan Bebber - Earthwatch's head of climate change research - will use his presentation to deliver some of the main findings from the survey.

During the course of a month in the summer of 2009, volunteers from the charity helped a team of researchers from the University of Oxford mark the wings of more than 13,000 moths.

The survey, known as a mark-release-recapture (MRR) experiment, was conducted in a well-researched woodland habitat in Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire.

More than 650 moths, from 41 species, were recaptured.

Dr Bebber said: "A small percentage of those marked moths were recaptured again, but from the number we did recapture we were able to determine what factors affect the ability of moths to disperse."

The largest recorded distance travelled by a one moth - a broad-bordered yellow underwing - was 13.7km.

Dr Bebber said the survey seemed to suggest that woodland species were the most effective when it came to dispersing.

"Relatively large species with pointed wings that preferred woodland landscapes dispersed further than other species," he told BBC News.

However, he added that even these species did require wooded corridors, such as hedgerows, to disperse and were not found on maiden trees - single trees found in fields.

"The habitats within the UK had been fragmented for a long time," Dr Bebber explained.

"It is probably the ones that can move relatively long distances that are still found in the UK.

"Those species that were not able to disperse so well have probably disappeared over millennia."

Dr Bebber will present his findings at the Earthwatch Institute's annual lecture, Climate Change and Forests, which is being chaired by TV presenter Kate Humble.


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