"The good man is the friend of all living things"
Mahatma Gandhi
On what was a breezy and warm Sunday morning, I had the opportunity to go on a nature walk along MacRitchie's Prunus-Petai Trail with BES's very own Drongos, a guiding interest group featuring awesome BES seniors! (find out more about what they do here!!!).
A breezy Sunday - taken just before the start of the walk
A relaxing walk of ~2.5hrs, the focus of this series of walks is to educate others on the biodiversity present in Singapore's nature reserve, and the impending threats they face should the development of the Cross-Island Line proceed. (to learn more about the saga, follow the Love MacRitchie movement here)
What got me thinking was when my guide, Judy, started to talk about how the fruits and flowers of plants along the boardwalk were food sources for wildlife residing in the area. Hearing her prompted me to think about my entry for this blog.
BES Drongos after their guiding session!
(Source: Jacqueline Chua (14 September 2014))
(Source: Jacqueline Chua (14 September 2014))
My blog content has
presently been focused on the challenges of fulfilling human needs. But food
isn't a need exclusive to humans. Aren't animals (and by
extension of that idea biodiversity) part of this bigger picture? Don't they
need food too and just where do they get their source of food from in
Singapore? Do animals and other forms of
biodiversity in Singapore have sufficient food sources to feed on?
Reports and studies indicate that Singapore is a sanctuary for many species of wildlife. Our tropical climate and multiple habitats (ranging from coastal mangroves to inland forests) lead to more forms of biodiversity in comparison to temperate and arid environments (Laurance et al., 2012). So what would these species
do to procure food then? Obviously they don't visit the supermarket or the food
court like we do (just imagine the social trauma people would experience should a
monkey order a bowl of noodles; that'll make us all go bananas!), rather they
source their food from where they live, climbing trees, entering water bodies,
even foraging through the soil for smaller animals, plants and nuts to feed on.
Let me share some pictures of plants I
have taken today, which are actually food sources for animals residing in the Prunus-Petai Trail of MacRitchie:
The first picture is of a Fishtail Palm (Caryota mitis). This palm's fruit is one of the foods for the common palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus)
The 3rd picture shows the Mousedeer plant (Anisophyllea disticha). Found in lowland secondary forests across the region, the fleshy red drupes produced by the plant are known to be eaten by birds, as well as the lesser mousedeer.
This last picture is the Tampinis tree (Streblus elongatus). Having a neighbourhood (Tampines) named after it, birds and squirrels are known to go after the sweet tasting fruit, whereas Long-tailed Macaques feed on their leaves as well.
Not featured (due to a lack of pictures) but also known to bear fruit are the Nibong palm, a palm with prickly needles on its stem to deter climbers (Oncosperma tigillarium) as well as the Golden Hairy Figs (Ficus aurata), a longan-like fruit in terms of its shape.
As a whole, while humans have historically been caught in strife and wars, animals seem to live their lives in peace in comparison, sure a few get eaten by others and by humans, but that's part of natural selection in action. Humans have also lived off these forests and this is continued by many ethnic tribes all around the world, such as the Batwa (which was mentioned briefly during my ENV1101 lecture). In fact, National Geographic published an article last month discussing about the interconnectedness behind human health and environmental health from assessment studies done in Madagascar.
However, human needs seemed to have changed and drastically increased with the advancement of technology and society as a whole over these past 50-60 years. Termed the 'Great Acceleration' by some in the scientific community, we observe a sharp increase in development and urbanization across the world (Steffen et al., 2011). This is also rather evident in Singapore, where we have progressed tremendously from Third World to First, but also transformed from forest to urban jungle, losing much of our original forest cover. With our increased demand for natural resources on a global level, the availability of these resources will deplete in the future, and could be an indication of the environment reaching its carrying capacity, which is suggested in a Malthusian model for population-resource relationships.
This last picture is the Tampinis tree (Streblus elongatus). Having a neighbourhood (Tampines) named after it, birds and squirrels are known to go after the sweet tasting fruit, whereas Long-tailed Macaques feed on their leaves as well.
Not featured (due to a lack of pictures) but also known to bear fruit are the Nibong palm, a palm with prickly needles on its stem to deter climbers (Oncosperma tigillarium) as well as the Golden Hairy Figs (Ficus aurata), a longan-like fruit in terms of its shape.
As a whole, while humans have historically been caught in strife and wars, animals seem to live their lives in peace in comparison, sure a few get eaten by others and by humans, but that's part of natural selection in action. Humans have also lived off these forests and this is continued by many ethnic tribes all around the world, such as the Batwa (which was mentioned briefly during my ENV1101 lecture). In fact, National Geographic published an article last month discussing about the interconnectedness behind human health and environmental health from assessment studies done in Madagascar.
However, human needs seemed to have changed and drastically increased with the advancement of technology and society as a whole over these past 50-60 years. Termed the 'Great Acceleration' by some in the scientific community, we observe a sharp increase in development and urbanization across the world (Steffen et al., 2011). This is also rather evident in Singapore, where we have progressed tremendously from Third World to First, but also transformed from forest to urban jungle, losing much of our original forest cover. With our increased demand for natural resources on a global level, the availability of these resources will deplete in the future, and could be an indication of the environment reaching its carrying capacity, which is suggested in a Malthusian model for population-resource relationships.
Comparing forest cover from 1819 to the 1990s, it is suggested that Singapore has lost close to 90% of its original forest from rapid development (Source: http://mangrove.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/text/1004.htm)
In this light, I would talk more about (in my subsequent post) what happens when human needs and the needs of
animals residing in our natural environments clash? What happens if animals are
no longer able to get their food, and what conflicts arise in satisfying human
needs.
Stay tuned for the next post! And here are two more pictures of what you might be able to find during the trail, do visit Prunus-Petai Trail if you can!
Jelutong tree or the Chewing Gum tree - the tallest tree in MacRitchie reservoir park
A Riang Riang tree situated near the reservoir water
References:
Laurance, W., Useche, D., Rendeiro, J., Kalka, M., Bradshaw, C., Sloan, S., Laurance, S., Campbell, M., Abernethy, K., Alvarez, P. and others, (2012). Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas. Nature, 489(7415), pp.290--294.
Steffen, W., Persson., Deutsch, L., Zalasiewicz, J., Williams, M., Richardson, K., Crumley, C., Crutzen, P., Folke, C., Gordon, L. and others, (2011). The Anthropocene: From global change to planetary stewardship. Ambio, 40(7), pp.739--761.
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All Scientific Names for species in this post were obtained from:
The DNA of Singapore, (2014). Information Search. [online] Available at: http://137.132.71.21/dna/search/information/20/1/U2ltcG9oIEFpcg [Accessed 14 Sep. 2014].
The DNA of Singapore, (2014). Information Search. [online] Available at: http://137.132.71.21/dna/search/information/20/1/U2ltcG9oIEFpcg [Accessed 14 Sep. 2014].