Our Forests in February!
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!
Life History of the Harlequin
from Butterflies of Singapore
Day 1 of Year of the Rabbit @ BSP
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature
Kranji mangroves: cool spiders and colourful crabs
from wild shores of singapore
Alvina Soh Channel NewsAsia 5 Feb 11;
Students from Crescent Girls School and CHIJ Kellock Primary School got together to do some wetland planting at Alexandra Canal
SINGAPORE: The community got together to do some wetland planting at Alexandra Canal on January 7 as part of the Active, Beautiful and Clean (ABC) Waters Programme.
The initiative is aimed at giving the canal a makeover and be a recreational destination for the public.
Students from Crescent Girls School and CHIJ Kellock Primary School got their hands dirty for a good cause.
They were busy planting the wetlands along a 1.2 kilometre stretch of the Alexandra Canal - from Tanglin Road to Delta Road.
And it was a memorable experience for them.
"I feel really good because its like I'm giving back to society. I'm playing my part for the rest of the students, the people who live here, and the residents, so it feels very satisfying," said Lim Fang Yi, a student from Crescent Girls School.
Another student, Ayisha Fathima also from Crescent Girls School, said: "I am extremely excited and happy because it's a great opportunity for me to learn my favourite subjects, chemistry, biology and geography outside the classroom."
Various organisations also got into the act to beautify the place.
Mas Shafreen, Manager, 3P Network, PUB, said: "[It is] not just about providing engineering infrastructure, beautiful spaces, but its all about getting the community involved.
"So you're looking at secondary school students interacting with primary school students, interacting with government organisations as well as private sector organisations, so the takeaway is not just for the students."
National water agency PUB said the project is aimed at inculcating a sense of ownership in the Canal.
"After a few months, I'd like to come back here and see the fruits of our hard work," said Nabiha Safudi, a student from Crescent Girls School.
More facilities such as a lookout deck at Tanglin, a shallow water play area and an educational hut are planned for the area.
- CNA/fa
Midges, cockroaches, rodents, pigeons and crows can be eradicated if they are deprived of food sources
Rachael Boon Straits Times 6 Feb 11;
Tiny green and black flies, known as chironomid midges, are no longer engulfing the open areas and homes of residents in Bedok Reservoir Road, thanks to the combined efforts of Aljunied Town Council, National Parks Board, Public Utilities Board (PUB) and National Environment Agency (NEA).
In separate tests run by PUB and NEA, the population of midge eggs and larvae there has fallen by 95 per cent.
That was the latest infestation to hit Singapore. Through the years, other pests such as cockroaches, rodents, mosquitoes and pigeons have caused Singaporeans much headache.
Account executive K.L. Tan was plagued by pigeons for more than 10 years at her private apartment in Tanglin, until anti- roosting spikes were installed on her window ledge last year.
The 24-year-old says: 'The pigeons liked to rest there and they pooped a lot. I used to have an old window aircon unit and they stuffed twigs into whatever space they could find. It was their nesting area.'
More annoying, and worrying, were their droppings as it was unhygienic.
The pigeons were a nuisance so Ms Tan and her neighbours informed the estate management. It took a while for the spikes to be installed as the management had to find suitable timings for apartment owners to be home for the installation.
The management previously tried to arrange for the shooting of the pigeons but as the apartments were close to the Botanic Gardens, the shooting was called off.
The reasons for different kinds of pest infestations vary but one common cause is the availability of food and nesting opportunities.
A spokesman for the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) says it is impossible to rid an area completely of pigeons, as they are free-roaming birds and can travel to occupy any free area.
Also, birds and all animals are likely to congregate where food and shelter are abundant and easily accessible.
The AVA says: 'Members of the public facing bird nuisance may apply control measures such as using repellents, eliminating food sources and roosting or nesting opportunities that attract birds to congregate, or engage pest control services to mitigate the nuisance.'
In any case, public feeding of pigeons is prohibited. Anyone caught feeding stray pigeons in public places can be fined up to $500.
Another pesky creature is the Norway rat. This species makes up 90 per cent of the rodents in Singapore, according to a survey done by NEA.
The environment agency found that some of the root causes of infestations include poor refuse management of premises and bin centres, as refuse provides rats with food; improper storage of food; and poor housekeeping practices in shops, markets and food centres.
What happens when the rats are already a problem? An NEA spokesman says: 'Our officers would look for signs of rat activity or harbourage in affected areas. This
includes rat burrows, runways or paths the rats take, droppings and gnaw marks.
'Detected burrows will be treated with rodenticide and sealed after no further activity is detected. Our officers will also try to establish the root cause of the rat activities so that it can be addressed.'
Mr Thomas Fernandez, chairman and chief executive officer of pest control company PestBusters, says it can take up to six weeks to make a place as large as a shopping centre free of rats.
He says: 'You have to put in control measures and understand the biology of rats. For example, they eat 10 per cent of their body weight and are usually territorial as they want to keep the family together. You cannot just put one rat trap out for a family of 10, you must know how many families there are within a 30m radius.
'After measures are taken and the area appears rat-free, we still have to monitor the area by putting out food to lure any hidden rats. The situation has to be monitored continually.'
Pestbuster Rentokil Initial Singapore, which was recently involved in the spraying of insecticide on the walls of HDB blocks in Bedok Reservoir Road to eliminate the midges, says the public should be aware that pests do return after a while as they are masters in survival. Some species of cockroaches are believed to be millions of years old, after all.
Rentokil technical manager Lim Min Hui says: 'Regular detection and vigilant monitoring is necessary to ensure pest infestation is under control.
'Pest infestation may cause damages and risks if left untreated, such as insecure infrastructure, damaged properties, spreading of diseases, bites and allergies, and potential electrical short circuits which may lead to a fire.'
Joel Cooper Straits Times 6 Feb 11;
I have always prided myself on my refusal to believe in ghosts. Spine-chilling tales of spectres, spirits and bogeymen leave me totally unmoved.
My wife, however, is a different story. She won't watch spooky movies and sometimes even leaves the bedside lamp on to ward off things that go bump in the night.
This has caused some tension - especially as I'm a fan of films like The Exorcist and can't get to sleep unless it is completely dark.
But when we took a three-night break to Pulau Ubin, we found ourselves, for once, on exactly the same page.
It was already quite late when we arrived on the island and its ubiquitous bicycle hire shops were closing. We wanted to explore anyway, so we set off on foot along one of the many deserted roads through the forest.
As the shadows lengthened, the jungle seemed to come alive with unfamiliar and threatening noises. There is something about the twilight hour that can bring out a primal fear in even the hardiest of sceptics. In my native Britain, it is traditionally considered the time when vampires and werewolves emerge from their lairs to stalk the earth.
What we hadn't realised is that in equatorial Singapore, the sun sets far quicker than in our northern homeland, which we left four months ago to work at The Straits Times.
Before we knew it, it was nearly dark and we found ourselves still a long way from the resort where we were staying. Despite my determination to remain sceptical about the supernatural, I was starting to feel more than a little creeped out. Behind every twisted trunk I imagined some malign presence lurking, ready to pounce and devour us.
Without uttering a word, my wife and I began walking quicker and quicker until we were practically running through the forest in the direction of home, our nerves jangling at every little movement in the trees.
Without warning, a shadowy creature burst from the bushes. I let out an effeminate shriek and grabbed hold of my wife's arm for dear life.
The creature turned menacingly to face us. It had sharp-looking teeth and a bristling tail. It was about the size of a dog.
Hang on! It was a dog.
I carried on walking with my tail between my legs, feeling more than a little silly.
After that, I endured non-stop ribbing from my wife. 'Who's the coward now?' she teased.
Thankfully, my colleagues on The Straits Times news desk reassured me that I was far from the first person to get spooked on Pulau Ubin. They regaled me with hair-raising tales, including one about the Hantu Tetek, a voluptuous female ghost who sneaks into men's bedrooms at night and smothers them with her ample charms. To be honest, my wife was a bit more concerned about this one than I was.
Fleeing Ubin by boat won't keep you safe either, I was told. Apparently the ghosts are into island hopping.
Even gaudy Sentosa - where the only place you would expect to feel scared is on a roller coaster - has more than its fair share of spooky stories.
When night falls and the noise and bustle of the amusement parks fade to just a memory, holidaymakers staying in chalets have reported hearing fingernails scratching at the windowpane as if someone, or something, wants to get in.
Nobody can deny that the urban jungle makes a great setting for blood-curdling tales of the supernatural. During my four years working for The Sun based in East London, I would sometimes trudge home in the small hours through a grimy street said to be visited by the gory spectre of one of Jack the Ripper's butchered victims.
Yet it is brooding, untamed forests like Pulau Ubin's that truly allow our imaginations to run riot.
Cycling along the island's twisting tree-lined trails brought childhood memories flooding back of exhilarating afternoons spent mountain-biking with my friends near the village where I grew up in Surrey, south-east England. They say that area is stalked by the headless ghost of Sir Thomas More, who was decapitated by King Henry VIII.
Sometimes my friends and I would camp out in a back garden in tents or bivouac shelters built from branches.
Huddled inside our flimsy sleeping bags, we did our best to chill one another to the core with tales of murders, of unexplained accidents and of the restless souls they left behind.
Despite our boyish bravado, as the eerie glow of torchlight transformed our faces into hideous gargoyles these stories seemed to take on a terrifying plausibility.
I never really believed a word of them, of course. Still, I always steered clear of the woods at night. Well you can never be too careful, can you?
The writer, from England, is a Straits Times copy editor. He has lived in Singapore for four months.
Bangkok Post 6 Feb 11;
The number of sea turtle nests along the Andaman Sea coast had declined this egg-laying season because of a more volatile climate, a marine expert says.
Kongkiet Kittiwattanawong, a researcher at the Phuket Marine Biological Centre of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, said yesterday a survey conducted by the centre found the number of turtle nests on the Andaman coast had decreased from 50 in recent years to only 40 this year.
He said the turtles had probably stopped coming to the nesting grounds due to the effects of global warming.
Their breeding season runs from November until March. The turtles look for a quiet environment with an ideal temperature of about 29 degrees Celsius to lay eggs. However, temperatures in the nesting areas this season have been above and below 29 degrees.
Mr Kongkiet said hundreds of leatherback turtles started laying eggs on Mai Khao beach in Phuket 20 years ago, but this year only one nest was found on the beach.
Thailand is home to four endangered species of sea turtle: the Leatherback, Olive Ridley, Green and Hawksbill.
Reluctance by UK firms to check source of imported wood contributing to devastating deforestation around the world, finds WWF report
Tracy McVeigh guardian.co.uk 5 Feb 11;
British firms are still selling wood products that come from questionable sources in parts of the world where illegal logging is having a devastating effect, a new study has revealed.
The report found that wood used in kitchen worktops, doors and decking, on sale in the UK, comes from parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Congo Basin where illegal felling is putting animals, plants and people under threat. Numerous species, including the orangutan, are under direct threat of extinction because of the black market trade in timber.
The "What Wood You Choose?" study suggested British businesses aren't checking their sources and in some cases are even misleading the public that the wood they are selling has ethical credentials where none exist.
New EU timber laws are due to come into force next year, but this WWF-funded study shows few retailers are prepared for the legislation which could leave them open to conviction. The study found that in some cases companies had little idea where their wood products originated from and were reluctant to find out.
It also found that some companies' websites were misusing the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo, implying that all their products are covered by the certification scheme when in fact only some are. WWF used a combination of formal requests, investigators posing as buyers and made phone calls and visits to sawmills in Indonesia and Malaysia to track timber products.
Colin Butfield, WWF's head of campaigns, said: "This study should act as a wake-up call to companies here in the UK. Consumers are the ones with the power to demand that whatever they're buying, from doors to kitchen worktops, is FSC [certified]. If it doesn't have the FSC logo then it could originate from a place where there have been devastating impacts on species, such as the orangutan, and communities that earn a living from the forest.
"The EU law, coming into force in early 2013, will mean anyone intending to sell timber products into the UK market will have to show where it's come from and that it isn't illegal. The study suggests that UK businesses are a long way from meeting the demands of that new law."
CNY nature walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk - 12 Feb 2011
from Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs
Vulturine Guineafowl spotted in Singapore
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Myrialepis paradoxa: Paradoxically Yours
from Flying Fish Friends
Little Sisters Island
from Singapore Nature and wonderful creations and wild shores of singapore
Museum Hopping for Bunnies
from My Itchy Fingers
Imports of delicacy nearly doubled since 2003 despite campaigns
Lester Kok & Grace Chua Straits Times 5 Feb 11;
EVERY Chinese New Year, campaigns by conservation groups ask diners to stop eating shark's fin.
But recent figures show that Singapore's imports of the delicacy have nearly doubled since 2003. The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), which supplied the numbers, said nearly 2,500 tonnes were imported last year, up from 1,300 tonnes eight years ago.
The figures include dried, salted and canned fins, and refer to those meant for both domestic consumption and export.
And last week, conservation group Traffic delivered more alarming news: a report that a decade-long United Nations shark conservation scheme has failed.
Shark's fin importers here say that demand is rebounding, after a small dip due to 2009's economic crisis.
The price of shark's fin goes up 10 to 15 per cent a year, but demand is rising even quicker thanks to growing affluence in East Asia.
Mr Melvin Foo, managing director of seafood importer and exporter Sineurope, explained that 95 per cent of what he imports goes to places like Japan and China. Just two to three tonnes, or less than 5 per cent of his imports, are sold here.
All imports of sharks and shark's fin are regulated through an AVA licensing scheme. According to Mr Foo, shark's fins sold here must be landed along with the body of the shark, to prevent a practice known as live shark finning, where fishermen slice the fin off the fish and dump it back into the water. And, he says, demand for shark meat actually comes from Europe, where it is more valued and fins are considered waste.
The World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) wildlife conservation group would prefer sharks not to be eaten at all. In its Singapore Seafood Guide published in February last year, WWF Singapore advised people to choose seafood from sustainable sources and to avoid all shark products.
Its website, www.wwf.sg, states it is not aware of any shark fisheries that are sustainably managed.
A Singapore-tailored online campaign was also launched by the group last week: the 'Say No to Shark Fin' pledge.
Sharks are typically either caught deliberately or as accidental bycatch.
When overfished, their populations are slow to recover as they take a long time to reproduce and mature. And according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of endangered species, six species of shark are considered critically endangered, meaning their populations have declined by as much as 90 per cent in the past couple of decades.
But campaigns here are soldiering on.
The latest, by Project: FIN on social networking site Facebook, asks people to change their profile pictures to an image which reads: Celebrate Chinese New Year with no shark's fin soup.
A year ago, the WWF launched its Sustainable Seafood Guide for Singapore, in which it noted that most shark fisheries were unregulated and many species were overfished.
And posts on government feedback site Reach have asked for all government functions not to serve shark's fin.
Already, some hotels like those at Resorts World Sentosa do not serve the dish. The Fairmont Singapore has removed not only shark's fin, but also Chilean sea bass and bluefin tuna - which are also overfished - from its menu.
Other hotels like the Marriott are moving away from it. A spokesman said: 'We have made a conscious decision to substantially reduce the number of shark's fin dishes available on our a la carte menu.'
But the Marriott continues to serve shark's fin when guests ask for it, out of respect for local culture and guest preferences, she added.
Still, hotels like the Marriott and Mandarin Orchard say more couples are asking for shark's fin alternatives for their wedding banquets.
WWF Singapore's managing director, Ms Amy Ho, said the practice of eating shark's fin will stop only when the customers choose to stop.
She said sharks play an important role as top predators in the marine ecosystem, adding: 'All these ecosystems are very important to preserve nature for future generations to come.'
New Straits Times 4 Feb 11;
KINABATANGAN: A recently launched Kinabatangan Carnivore Programme aims to study animals more closely to ensure their conservation.
Sabah Wildlife Department director Dr Laurentius Ambu said the programme initiated by the department intended to advance understanding and conservation of the diverse carnivores of the Lower Kinabatangan floodplain.
Launched by the department, Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), a non-governmental organisation Hutan and WildCRU, the programme is funded by four American zoos -- Houston, Columbus, Cincinnati and Phoenix -- and private donors in New York.
"We are collaborating with Andrew Hearn from WildCRU (University of Oxford, United Kingdom) who spent the last four years studying clouded leopards and other carnivores in Danum Valley and Tabin Wildlife Reserve. His experience with camera trapping is primordial for the success of this project," said Ambu.
DGFC director Dr Benoit Goossens said it would be a long-term programme to provide insight into Bornean carnivore ecology and density and develop Bornean carnivore species distribution and habitat suitability models.
Two undergraduates from Cardiff University Rob Colgan and Rodi Tenquist said last November they found a sequence of 12 pictures showing a clouded leopard female and her cub walking along a trail.
"Our preliminary data show that carnivores are still present in the Kinabatangan floodplain. However forest fragmentation and habitat destruction result in their decline. The pictures show that these animals rely on forest corridors for moving around forest patches," they said.
Hutan co-director Dr Marc Acrenaz said like other species such as orang utans, gibbons, proboscis monkeys and elephants, carnivores needed corridors of forest for surviving in the Kinabatangan.
"Without these corridors, most populations will decline and go extinct."
Yahoo News 4 Feb 11;
MONTREAL (AFP) – The UN Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity said Friday it hopes a global treaty on the harvesting of genetic resources will be ratified by early 2012.
The Nagoya Protocol enters into force 90 days after it is signed by 50 states.
"We hope to get them (the 50 signatures) before the end of the year," the Montreal-based organization's spokesman David Ainsworth told AFP.
Adopted in October 2010 at a conference in Nagoya, Japan, the protocol sets out new rules for the collection of genetic resources such as wild plants to make medicines, cosmetics and other products.
It also calls for a fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
Coveted by drug and other companies in developed nations, these materials are mostly found in developing nations such as Brazil with its treasure trove of resources in the Amazon basin.
The legally binding protocol ensures that countries with genetic resources enjoy some of the profits of the assets' commercial development.
However, many details of the protocol, such as how much this may cost pharmaceutical companies and developed nations, were left for later negotiations.
During a ceremony in New York on February 2, representatives of Colombia, Yemen, Brazil and Algeria signed the Nagoya Protocol. It is to remain open for signature until February 1, 2012.
Genetic resources from plants, animals or micro-organisms are used for various purposes, ranging from basic research to the development of products.
Users of genetic resources include research institutes, universities and private companies operating in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, agriculture, horticulture, cosmetics and biotechnology.
ScienceDaily 4 Feb 11;
Things are not always what they seem when it comes to fish -- something scientists at the Smithsonian Institution and the Ocean Science Foundation are finding out. Using modern genetic analysis, combined with traditional examination of morphology, the scientists discovered that what were once thought to be three species of blenny in the genus Starksia are actually 10 distinct species.
The team's findings are published in the scientific journal ZooKeys, Feb. 3.
Starksia blennies, small (less than 2 inches) fish with elongated bodies, generally native to shallow to moderately deep rock and coral reefs in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans, have been well-studied for more than 100 years. It would have been reasonable to assume that there was little about the group left to discover. Modern DNA barcoding techniques, however, suggested otherwise. While trying to match larval stages of coral reef fish to adults through DNA, the team of scientists noticed contradictions between the preliminary genetic data and the current species classification. Further investigation revealed that the team was dealing with many species new to science, including the new Starksia blennies.
"DNA analysis has offered science a great new resource to examine old questions," said Carole Baldwin, a zoologist at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and lead author of the paper. "This discovery is a perfect example of how DNA barcoding is illuminating species that we've missed before, particularly small cryptic reef fishes like Starksia blennies. We don't know where we stand in terms of understanding species diversity, and our work suggests that current concepts may be surprisingly incomplete."
But DNA analysis cannot stand on its own -- Baldwin and her team only recognize genetic lineages as species if they are supported by morphology. So traditional morphological analysis, such as comparing patterns of pigmentation and numbers of fin rays, is conducted to solidify their findings.
One interesting aspect of the research is that Starksia species that were thought to be broadly distributed throughout the Caribbean -- as most Caribbean reef fish species are -- break up into multiple species with geographically restricted ranges. One species in the study, for example, was divided into three -- a species in the east (Bahamas/Turks and Caicos), one in the south (Curacao, Netherlands Antilles) and another in the west (Belize, Central America). Baldwin predicts that other widespread species in the genus may also represent species complexes that break into multiple, geographically distinct species after further study. Furthermore, the team's DNA data suggest that other types of Caribbean fish (e.g., some gobies) may similarly represent species complexes comprising numerous new species, and traditional concepts of speciation in the Caribbean may need to be re-evaluated.
The team's combined molecular and morphological approach has not only increased the number of currently recognized species, it serves as an example of the continuing nature of scientific discovery. Because the resiliency of marine populations to human exploitation may be linked to species richness, an improved understanding of the diversity and distribution of deep-reef life may be critical.
Matt Walker BBC News 4 Feb 11;
It is one of the most unusual of all big predators, but the odd-looking, cat-like fossa, the largest carnivore on the island of Madagascar, faces an uncertain future.
Few fossa can now be found in a place that was once a stronghold, as villagers hunt the animal as bushmeat and in a bid to protect their own livestock, which the fossa eats.
Its population may be declining rapidly, says one of the few scientists to have studied it in the wild, and it could already be critically endangered.
Fossa are a highly specialised predator.
Secretive and cat-like, they are expert climbers and well equipped for chasing down lemurs in the forest, preying on even the largest lemur species.
But they also take small shrew-like creatures called tenrecs and almost any other vertebrate animal living in Madagascar's forests, with the exception of humans, crocodiles and possibly wild boar.
However, very little is known about them, as only a handful of scientists have been able to study fossa closely in the wild.
For example, it was once thought to be closely related to civets and their relatives, but genetic evidence suggests it is actually related to other Malagasy carnivores that together are related to mongooses.
Little is also known about how many fossa exist on Madagascar, with official estimates suggesting that fewer than 2500 survive and the animal should be considered as Endangered.
But according to one scientist studying it, the fossa could be in an even more perilous state.
Ms Mia-Lana Lührs is currently studying the fossa for her PhD at Germany's University of Göttingen and the German Primate Center.
She has also helped the upcoming BBC natural history series Madagascar film the creatures in the wild.
Within the past three years, she has recorded a substantial fall in the numbers of fossa living in Kirindy, a reserve within forests on the west of the island.
This area was considered to be a stronghold of the fossa.
In 2007, Ms Lührs recorded 18 different males regularly visiting a particular tree that male and female fossa use to mate in.
In 2008, she recorded 14 males, and in 2009 just ten.
Last year, only two males were sighted.
"Fortunately, I have seen seven males shortly before in another part of the forest where I observed, so I know that at least nine males are still alive," she told BBC News.
But overall, her studies, which use GPS tracking collars to follow individual fossa, suggest no more than 30 fossa of either sex now exist in Kirindy.
A forest fragment that size would be expected to be home to many times that number.
"That is not sufficient for the population to survive without management," she says.
Habitat destruction is one significant cause of the fossa's recent decline reason.
But the large predator is also coming into conflict with people, as it leaves the dwindling forest in search of food.
A survey conducted last year by colleague Moritz Rahlfs in villages surrounding Kirindy found that 12 fossa had been killed recently by people living in just eight villages, to prevent the fossa from stealing their chickens.
"If the killings continue at such high rates, we have three years left to see fossas in Kirindy," says Ms Lührs.
The carnivore also faces other threats.
A separate recent piece of research by PhD student Christopher Golden of the University of California, Berkeley, has already found that fossa are hunted for food by people within 55 to 60% of those villages studied in northeastern Madagascar.
Fossa body parts are also used in traditional medicines in some parts of the island.
Ms Lührs suspects the fossa may already be critically endangered.
"There is this fascinating weird creature at the other end of the world and it might soon go extinct," she says.
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