On the 11th of May, 1967, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew introduced the ‘Garden City’ vision for Singapore. This vision aimed to transform Singapore into a clean city with an abundance of greenery to help improve the livelihood of its people.
Conservation Biogeography of Singapore and Beyond
Our Field Trip Experience exploring the Tropical Rainforest and Keppel Wetlands at the Singapore Botanic Gardens
Tag: Singapore Botanic Gardens
Have you ever experienced the duality of long-tailed macaques? They can be either cute or aggressive. You are lucky if you encounter the cute ones. But what if the aggressive ones are hot on your trail? What should you do then?
Singapore is proudly known as the “City In A Garden”. One of Singapore’s jewels is the Singapore Botanical Garden (SBG). With more than 150 years of history, SBG has a significant value in Singapore’s modern landscape. It provides educational opportunities and important refugia for the conservation of endangered species as well as ecosystems. Deservedly, on the 4th of July 2015, SBG has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC).
Figure 1: Sundaland. Source: Lotus Arise.
Nature in Singapore
Sundaland — a biogeographical landmass in Southeast Asia currently referring to islands Java, Borneo, Sumatra, and those in the Malay Peninsula — forms one of the world’s largest equatorial tropical forests, and is a known hotspot for biodiversity since the early Miocene. Continue reading
Three weeks ago, a family of smooth-coated otters traipsed into the Keppel Discovery Wetlands for the first time in many months. Basking in the murky waters of the swamp, the otters’ return heralded a gradual but noticeable recovery of the ecosystem from overgrown hydrillas (Figures 1 and 2).
Figure 1. A family of native smooth-coated otters (Lutrogale perspicillata), which are Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and Critically Endangered in Singapore Red Data Book 2008, returned to the Keppel Discovery Wetlands on 5 February 2022 (credits: Bryan Tan , 5 February 2022)
Figure 2. Invasive Hydrilla plants (Hydrilla verticillata), a fast-growing invasive species and one of the most difficult-to-eradicate weeds in the world (photo taken by me on 12 February 2022)
In the heart of Singapore lies a green space hundreds of years older than the buildings that surround it. Having played a myriad of roles over the years- from an experimental garden for cash crops, to the centre of Singapore’s ‘garden city’ vision, the Singapore Botanic Gardens now plays a significant role in research, education, and conservation. Unfortunately, invasive species are threatening this tropical paradise. Read on to find out what you can do to help! Continue reading
In the heart of Singapore Botanic Gardens on a humid Saturday afternoon, a group of students from NUS’ Applied Biogeography module trek along a beaten cement path as the sounds of various birds and insects fill the air. Their professor eagerly calls them over to look at a palm tree, its pleated leaves larger than their faces. “So here you see an example of adaptation, where the understory foliage has larger leaves for more sunlight,” Professor Gretchen explains excitedly as the rest listen with great interest. The plant in question, with a quick iNaturalist identification, turned out to be the Vanuatu Fan Palm (Fig 1), a common species found in the understory layer of tropical forests. Its large leaves allow for the tree to absorb more sunlight due to the low sunlight penetration in the understory, while its pleated texture helps the plant save energy. Such is an example of the unique adaptation strategies that different species adopt to help them survive in the forest.
I had so much fun at the Singapore Botanic Gardens field trip on the 5th of February 2022! That is a com-peat (‘complete’) understatement to describe my joy in discovering the stark and unusual world of flora that thrives in the acidic soils of the swampy forest. Whenever I think of freshwater swamp forest (FWSF), I am reminded of the last remaining patch of primary FWSF, the Nee Soon Swamp Forest (NSSF) which occupies a mere 0.87 km2 and home to many endemic species such as the Reticulated Swamp Crab, (Parathelphusa reticulata) and the recently discovered Singapore Firefly, Luciola singapura. FWSF used to occupy 16% of primeval Singapore’s land but today, it is occupies only a minuscule 0.39%. FWSF are well-known for their environmental benefits in peat accumulation and as carbon sink. Regionally, they have been cleared and used for their rich, fertile soil to grow oil palms plantations. It takes millenniums for peat to form in wetlands conditions. It’s a shame that in the past century, vast areas of FWSF have been cleared for development or drained for oil palm plantations. The field trip, however, has invigorated me with hope in conservation and restoration knowing that there are other FWSF in Singapore! To swamp you with the joy of conservation, the Gardens by the Bay has announced a new freshwater wetland too!
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