In Jurong Lake Park... :)

1)When does biodiversity start and end?
- There is no definite answer to this question.
2)What kind of measures to take if there is biodiversity in Jurong Lake Park?
-We need to spot and check on the organisms and may have to draw a graph on the population behaviours.
3)How do we take measures?
-We might want to go to Jurong Lake Park frequently to check on the organisms, whether their population is increasing or decreasing. A graph will show that over a long period of time, the organisms in Jurong Lake Park may have decreased due to lacking of biotic and abiotic factors.
4)What do we really care about the survival of animals?
-There is no definite answer to this question, we may care for their diet but that is too exaggerating.
5)What is the link between biodiversity and the flora and fauna in the park?
-Biodiversity in the park refers to the animals and plants species living in the ecosystem while the flora and fauna refer to the greens like trees and plant populations.
6)Is the flora affected more or the fauna?
-We cannot say for sure whether which is more affected by the presence of humans.
7)What is we go back to the current situation even after taking action?
-It proves that human are not taking any efforts in conserving the environment and that they do not care about their own lives because if they destroy the environment, they destroy theirselves too.
8)Will this scenario happen again if it was another place?
-Overall, the world's population of animals and plants species have decreased from their historical highs, we can deduce from this fact that if it were another place, there may be this situation of organisms lessening.
9)How to increase awareness of the importance of the biodiversity to the residents?
-Flyers, this blog and personal talks
10)How does the biodiversity benefit the people?
-The biodiversity has always indirectly benefit people by providing them with food as a result of photosythesis. It has benefit animals in the ecosystem by providing them with the prey-predator, mutualism etc relationshop which result in the food we consume.
11)What should we use to conserve the biodiversity?
-We should take measures so that the organisms that are gradually decreasing in a habitat can be noticed and then 'saved' form their 'collapse'. We should not litter in the park because we might change to living conditions of the park which result in starvation and animals and plants not being able to adapt in the environment. There is so much we can do to conserve the biodiversity.

ManGO! :)

Unknown flower species that we are unable to identify

Unknown eggs species.

Spider Web forming.(aranea telam)

Sea of unknown seeds.

Bubbles forming, presence of organism in the water.

There are ripples, the photographer said that it was some kind of fish species.

Dug out soil, presence of earth animals.

Unknown seed or fruit. May be pong pong or coconut.

Plastic bags, human presence.

Mimosa flower.

Mangrove-like tree.

Lizard.

Fungi-like plant.

shell of a snail.

Beer Bottle, human presence.

Cricket, clamouflaging.

four spotted chaser

Bitten leaf, presence of caterpillars.

Polluted drain.

Duck weed-like plant growing on broken tree branch

Exposed Shoreline

Flame of the Forest.(Flamma saltus)

Exposing shoreline.

Something like Fragipani flower.

ManGO! :)

Part A: Introduction to Jurong Lake Park
Jurong Lake is a 70ha freshwater lake and it is located in the western region of Singapore. The lake serves as a reservoir contributing to the part of the water supply of the country. It lies next to the Lakeside MRT Station. The Chinese Garden and Japanese Garden are located near the Lake. Landscape sanetery called Jurong Lake Park was built around the perimeter to the lake and was completed in January 2006.
During the trip, we saw fishermen waiting patiently for fishes to get hooked, we saw species of small animals in the pond but could not take picture of them becuse of the light reflection. We also saw a centipede, it was fast and hid around when we tried to take picture of it, it ended up in a leaf litter, we could not manage to snap a picture of it and felt that it was a pity as there is only one of it under the plank. Flying insecs flew to our legs but we too could not take pictures of them and have to bear with the itchiness in order to find more organisms. In conclusion, we find that the trip was unforgettable and a very fruitful one as we learnt that actually a biologist is not easy to be.

ManGO! :)

Bird Nest Fern( Asplunium Nidus)

Apple snail eggs; presence of Apple Snails(Pomacea Canaliculata

Phylum: Mollusa
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Mesogastropoda
Famliy: Ampullanidae

Coconut Trees( Cocoes Maecenas)

Fishing Activites; presence of human, may have caused fish population to decrease thus affecting the food chain.

White Feather; presence of bird, may have dropped this feather while chasing prey.

Moulted bee "cocoon"; presence of bee, last stage of life cycle and may have gone to look for mate.

Dead fish with insects. Insects is NOT decomposer but they help in decomposing. Dead fish still has flesh, may not be long before it died.

Grasshopper in drain( bruchus expansus)

Ixora, soil is fertile.

Ant hole , presence of ants, may have fragrant smell nearby.

Dead wasp, cause of death may be starvation as the wasp does not seem to have been attacked in any ways.

Plastic cup; presence of human. Human may have created a new habitat in the cup.

Algae and lichen growing on a tree trunk.

ManGO! :)

Websites credits:
http://www.antblog.co.uk/observations/antsofsingapore.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phylum
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/cerc/danoff-burg/invasion_bio/inv_spp_summ/Pomacea_canaliculata.html

ManGO! :)

Raise YOUR Awareness!
Have you ever wondered what is so great about being a biologist? Have you wondered why we study the environment, the community, the habitats of organisms? Well, if you have, then we might want to find out some conservation methods made by park authorities and of course, what we, have found out about. You will be amazed by the information we have provided you with. :D Have fun!

ManGO! :)

Part F: Credits and acknowledgement
All of the members have played important roles in this project, we feel that we have done a great job and everyone has played equal roles and has put in our best efforts. Everyone of us has taken pictures and created the blog. Without any members of our group, this work wouldn't have been completed. We would like to say that we have put in this not because we want to save time, but to let our efforts be appreciated.

ManGO! :)

Part E: Conservation efforts at Jurong Lake Park
The conservation effort of restricting fishing activities to only at Jetties instead of other places and without live baits such as small fishes or meat, this is to let the fishes roam freely around the lake and to control the amount of fishes to be caught.
Park users are not allowed to go into deep grasslands near the pond or with many trees. It is to conserve the organisms present there, like small fishes or tadpoles and the trees which may be cut down rapidly if there were no restriction. Presence of human is a disturbance to the organisms, this can cause the disturbance to be decreased too. It is a good conservation method.
Well, yes the authorities are doing their part to safeguard the natural environment. They placed notices like "Do not go further", "Jetty", "Fishing is only allowed within the jetties itself without live bait" to conserve the living of the animals there and also restrict the amount of human activities that may cause harm to the organisms, for example, over-fishing. The authorities let the organisms roam freely in the environment instead of caging them like a zoo. They try to make the living conditions as natural and physical as possible like having many trees, plenty of water and oxygen and carbon dioxide supply. We think that the efforts put in by the authorities are effective because it does not cause much harm to the surrounding habitats which may disturb the ecosystem there, unlike the human activites. However. there are things which we may think that are further protective and conservative to the environment like having more mangrove trees so that much more organisms can live in them, not allowing smoking in the park as the smoke may cause breathing difficulties in some organisms and not to prevent the trees from getting in fresh air.

ManGO! :)

Part D: Impact of Man on Jurong Lake Park
Human presence have caused the park to be littered with lighters, cigarette buds, beer bottles, plastic bags and may have disturbed the eco-system there. For example, fishes may eat small plastic bags or cigarette buds and cause them to die. Their prey and predator which are the tadpoles and crocodiles respectively, their population will be affected and this in turn throw the entire ecosystem off balanc. It might have been worse if the presence of human led to a new species in the community in the ecosystem, its population might unstoppingly go bigger and bigger and there may be no food for other species and they may die of starvation. In conclusion, the presence of human can cause much impact on the environment in the park. Over-fishing may have caused the fish population to decrease and result in starvation of its predators that leads to dying.

ManGO! :)

Part C: "Specialty" Community
There was a small pond and many trees blocking sunlight accompanied by leaf litters scattered around. There was also a lake where we found a dead fish with many flies around it. We were lucky to find an ant hole with many ants crawling in and out. There were many kinds of flying insects which we did not manage to capture and organisms growing on trees and drains with green algae and liken. There were people jogging and fishing and cycling. There are road paths for us to walk about freely and some bench for us to sit down and have a break. The environment is filled with greens and are wonderful to the sight, we just need to open our eyes and see, the beauty and the perfection of this park, this community.

ManGO! :)

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