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 [...]

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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 very stressful [...]

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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 [...]

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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.

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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.

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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 and Biodiversity.
Registration is [...]

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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 United [...]

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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 [...]

Posted in Biology, Blog Log, Volunteers 2 Comments »

World Ocean Conference and Coral Triangle Initiative participants should urgently consider nutrient pollution is killing coral as photographic evidence indicates, not CO2 induced climate change. Wrong diagnosis can be fatal.
World Wildlife Fund and recent Indonesia CTI conference effort must focus on sanitation and proper sewage treatment to overcome nutrient pollution that is feeding algae that [...]

Posted in Biology, Climate Change, News No Comments »

Ocean acidification is the name given to the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth’s oceans, caused by their uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Scientific data collected over many years are conclusive that oceanic absorption of atmospheric CO2 is causing chemical changes in seawater, making them more acidic (i.e. lowering pH). [...]

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