Entries Categorized as 'Biology'

Bleaching at Pulau Hantu

Date June 28, 2010

Ria Tan and Loh Kok Sheng visited Pulau Hantu early on Sunday to check out the island’s intertidal reef is responding to the widespread coral bleaching in the region, that’s been observed since May 2010.

Exploring Intertidal Hantu with Dr. Dan and students from Duke

Date March 15, 2010

After a morning of diving, I stayed on Hantu Island as the divers departed and waited for Ria Tan to arrive at dusk and low tide with Dr. Dan Rittschof, his students from Duke University, and Chris Klock from the Netherlands. Walking down the shore into the now drained out lagoon, it doesn’t look like [...]

Swimmer crabs mating preamble

Date March 2, 2010

A pair of Swimmer crabs (Thalamita sp.) are observed during an inter-tidal walk at Singapore’s Pulau Hantu. The male is the one holding onto the female, and walking about. The male is attempting to access the female’s apron. When that is successful, the two would have graduated from this frontal position, and have their abdomens [...]

Hantu Island an experimental site for costal protection design

Date November 24, 2009

Designing innovative coastal protection using ecosystem-based approaches By Peter Todd Increasing urbanisation in Singapore has resulted in extensive replacement of natural habitats with man-made habitats. A good example is the artificial seawall, that has becomes a ubiquitous feature of the coastline. Being vertically very steep, and structurally quite simple, this compressed intertidal region represents a [...]

Thought coral reefs were the “rainforests of the sea”?

Date October 9, 2009

Well, if you were at Siti M Yaakub’s talk about sea grasses this evening, you would’ve heard something else! Turns out sea grass beds are worth about ten times more to the global economy than rain forests! Siti’s enthusiastic presentation made learning about seagrasses fun and fascinating! With the simple diagram above (which Siti claims [...]

8 Oct (Thu): “Dugongs: Mysterious Mermaids or Meat?”

Date October 7, 2009

Prof Helene Marsh is giving a talk about dugongs later this week! And a prelude to Prof Marsh’s talk is Siti Maryam Yaakub of TeamSeagrass. Siti will share about seagrasses of Singapore and the efforts being made to better understand manage these valuable ecosystems.

Sentosa IR shore: dredging, reclamation and other works

Date October 2, 2009

The following post was first published on Wild Shores of Singapore Work on the sea wall of Resorts World near the bridge to Sentosa that began in Mar 09 continues until Mar 2010.

21-23 Oct (Wed-Fri): ASEAN Conference on Biodiversity 2009

Date September 28, 2009

The theme of the ASEAN Conference on Biodiversity 2009 is “Biodiversity in Focus – 2010 and Beyond”. The sub-themes selected for the Conference reflect the current global and regional priorities: (a) Biodiversity and Climate Change; (b) Access to Genetic Resources and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising out of their Utilisation; and (c) Economics of Ecosystems [...]

Helping Albacore tuna come out of the can

Date August 11, 2009

Scientists are set to study the earbones and organs of more than 2000 albacore tuna to better understand the growth, age and breeding patterns of this increasingly important species. Albacore tuna are harvested from tropical to temperate waters, mainly for canning, but also to satisfy the growing market for fresh fish in Europe and the [...]

Blog Log, 26 July 2009

Date July 27, 2009

Divers at Pulau Hantu enjoyed exceptional visibility today. Volunteer dive instructor Peimin said it’s the best it’s been since April! Sure am bummed I missed it once again. So here I am blogging vicariously (again) but feeling none less thrilled about what was spotted today on Hantu’s reefs! From shellfish to slugs, pipefish to seahorses [...]