Clean & Green Singapore!

The weekend was well spent at the clean and green Singapore (CGS) carnival over at the marina barrage, a newly-opened dam that marks Singapore’s first city reservoir.

We had a good view of the city and Singapore flyer from the marina barrage. The scenery was simply spectacular! (:

While walking around the marina barrage, viewing other exhibits from the other schools and admiring the beautiful scenery. There was actually free kayaking and aqua-biking. For the not so adventurous ones, there was the water taxi. We did not actually have the chance to do any of that.

We had a booth of our own, shared with another project about banded leaf monkeys from our school.

Our poster, together with the other posters kindly provided by team seagrass, was put up.

We even had official tags and the great meals provided for us. There was even breakfast and tea! Ms. Siti and Ms. Weiling also got us some snacks!

 

On the first day (Friday), we were indeed honoured to have PM Lee visit our booth and hear a short intro of our project from us!

 

Although we encountered some problems along the way, like explaining our project in mandarin, we slowly got more experienced and better in conversing with the public. Moreover, sometimes all the aunties and uncles only wanted freebies and we had to control the giving out of free stickers, colouring sheets and masks.

 

Rain poured on Sunday but that didn’t dampen the atmosphere as the public continued flowing into the marina barrage. There was actually a great crowd for all three days as shuttle buses were filled up and RC groups made up the crowd.

 

Although it has been tiring, we all felt that it was worth it. We hope that the public has learnt more about seagrass:D

Cheryl Jiemin Joyce Xinyi Jolyn Danielle

161008 Seagrass Monitoring

Hello, we’re back from those terrible exams to bring you updates on our project! We went to Labrador Park at 5.30pm on the 16^th of October to monitor our seagrasses there again, along with Ms. Siti from National Parks! It was drizzling slightly so we wore bright red ponchos and used waterproof papers to do our task!

 

We were surprised to find more algae than usual in the seagrass patch. Ms. Siti explained that it was probably the blooming season for the algae and thus its abundance. They grew practically everywhere and hid the seagrasses D:

 

 

 

We are also now clearer about the difference between mud and fine sad, thanks to Ms. Siti! She pointed out that if the substrate is fine sand, we will still be able to feel the tiny grains when we rub our fingers together, but as for mud, it’s lumpy and we will not be able to feel the distinct grains. here are photos we took of various substrates!

 

 

Shell!

 

 

Fine sand!

 

 

 

Mud!

 

 

The colour is practically the same and may be deceiving but the feel of each substrate really is different!

 

We also noticed a couple having their wedding photos taken at Labrador Park! Must be because of the beautiful scenery there(:

 

 

 

Our team is also recently preparing for our booth at Clean and Green Week, otherwise known as Clean and Green Singapore 2008 (CGS 2008)! You can come down to visit the booths related to CGS to learn more on the environment how you can do your part! We’ll be over at the marina barrage from the 31st Oct (Friday) to 2nd Nov (Sunday)! Do come and support us! (:

 

Cheryl Joyce Jiemin

Enhalus acoroides

Enhalus acoroides

 

Category of Organisms	Seagrasses
Kingdom	Plantae
Phylum/Division	Magnoliophyta
Class	Liliopsida
Order	Hydrocharitales
Family	Hydrocharitaceae
Genus	Enhalus
Species	acoroides
Binomial Name	Enhalus acoroides

 

Appearance: The leaves are very long and ribbon-like (30-150cm long, approximately 1-2cm wide) with many parallel veins and air spaces, generally dark green in colour and thick. The inrolled leaf margins make the leaves tough (hard to tear)

 

Distribution: Widely distributed in the tropical parts of the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific and are very common in the Indo-Malay Archipelago and in the Philippines

 

Environment/habitat: Common in shallow intertidal areas with sandy and muddy substrata, but can extend down to 4m depth

 

Rhizome: Has thick rhizomes (underground stems) that are massive (1.5 cm in diameter), branching monopodially when a new shoot is formed. The rhizomes are densely covered with long black fibrous bristles which are the remnants of a leaf sheath. They have coarse, cord-like and hairless roots which have wide air-channels. The roots are 10-30cm long and 3-5mm thick arising from the axillary buds of the ventral leaves.

 

Propagule dispersal: The fruits are round and large (4-6cm in diameter) with dark, ribbed skin and 6-7 white seeds. When the ripe fruit bursts, the seeds are released and float for only about 5 hours before they start to sink. The seeds are estimated to be able to travel 42 km.  When the seeds settle, roots develop rapidly and the seeds germinate quickly. Enhalus acoroides spreads mostly by vegetative reproduction.

 

Reproduction: Flowers only in habitats where the flowers are exposed at low tides because this species undergoes aerial surface pollination. The seed upon liberation from the fruit germinates immediately after it sinks to the muddy bottom. Enhalus acoroides has white flowers- male flowers are tiny while female flowers are larger. The male Enhalus acoroides bears a single pedunculate inflorescence containing numerous flowers whilte the female Enhalus acoroides bear single uniflorous inflorescences. Flowering is more or less continuous over the year, and represents the investment of around 20% of above-ground production

 

Importance/Value: Enhalus with long strap-like leaves form good wave breakers and extensive beds give some protection to shorelines exposed to strong waves. Such thick vegetation also provides good hiding places for small species and the young of other organisms. It is a common food for the dugong. Tiny algae often grows on the leaves of this seagrass, providing food for grazing creatures such as snails. The fruits are sold as human food in the market and the seeds are eaten raw by coastal dwellers. Enhalus is highly productive and contribute greatly to oxygenation of the seas as well as carbon sequestration, leading to reduction in the effects of global warming.

Thalassia hemprichi

 

Thalassia hemprichi

 

Category of Organisms	Seagrasses
Kingdom	Plantae
Phylum/Division	Magnoliophyta
Class	Liliopsida
Order	Hydrocharitales
Family	Hydrocharitaceae
Genus	Thalassia
Species	hemprichi
Binomial Name	Thalassia hemprichii

 

Appearance: The leaves are usually sickle-like hooked/curved shaped and are dark green. With short black bars of tannin cells in their leaf blades, they are around 10-40cm long although in Singapore, leaves are only about 10 to 20cm long.

 

Structure: They have thick rhizomes, of up to 5mm, with air channels and conscpicous scars between shoots. With 10-17 longitudinal leaf veins and leaf sheaths of 3-7cm long, they are firmly anchored.

 

Distribution: They are widely distributed in the coastal waters of the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific, they are often found on shallow reef flats and in large beds. They are common on reef flats where it may form dense meadows. Moreover, they can also be found colonizing muddy substrates, especially at low tide.

 

Environment/ Habitat: They are often found on shallow reef flats, where it may form dense meadows. Moreover, it is common to see them in large beds and also be found colonizing muddy substrates, especially at low tide.

 

Reproduction: The inflorescence on the flowers is usually single, each having a separate spathe on short shoots. The male flower releases pollen grains in long chains within their mucilage tubes while the female flower has papillate stigma have papillate stigmata with surface pellicles that undergo esterase activity and their cuticle accumulated with acid phosphatase. Thalassia hemprichi usually produce relatively larger fruits.

 

 

halophila ovalis

Common name: Spoon seagrass/ Paddle weed
Halophila Ovalis

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliphyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Alismatales
Family: Hydrocharitaceae
Genus: Halophila
Species: Ovalis

Description: Halophila Ovalis is a small herbaceous plant. The leaves are ovate in outline, appearing on stems that emerge from rhizome beneath the sand. The roots get up to 800 mm long and are covered in fine root hairs. It is also connected by a series of interconnecting rhizomes as in grasses.

Habitat: This plant occurs in sea beds and other saltwater environments. It is also frequently seen in reefs, estuaries, islands, inter-tidal areas, on soft sand or mud substrates. It can dominate a sand bank or other patches of the sea bed and is thus often found in meadows.

ulva lactuca

Ulva Lactuca

Kingdom: Protista
Phylum: Chlorophyta
Class: Ulvophyceae
Order: Ulvales
Family: Ulvaceae
Genus: Ulva
Species: Lactuca

Description: Ulva lactuca is a thin flat green alga growing from a discoid holdfast. The margin is somewhat ruffled and often torn. It may reach 18cm or more in length, though generally much less, and up to 30 cm across. The membrane is two cells thick, soft, translucent and grows attached, without a stipe, to rock by a small disc-shaped holdfast. Green to dark green in color this species in the Chlorophyta is formed of two layers of cells irregularly arranged, as seen in cross section. The chloroplast is cup-shaped with 1 to 3 pyrenoids. There are other species of Ulva which are similar and not always easy to differentiate.

Habitat: This sea lettuce is found in all levels of the intertidal. However, in more northerly latitudes and brackish habitats, it is found in the shallow sub littoral. In very sheltered conditions, the plants that have become detached from the substrate can continue to grow, forming extensive floating communities. Ulva lactuca can be found on suitable substrata in estuaries. It is particularly prolific in areas where nutrients are abundant.

3rd August Seagrass Monitoring

Hello all!

 

On 3^rd August, early in the morning when the sun was hardly up, we trudged all the way down to Labrador park for our second data collection. Throughout the journey to get there, we were all very afraid that the tide would be too high for us to do anything as the tide was 0m at 6.26am and we could only start work at 7.30am. Luckily for us, the tide was still low and all went well.

 

Basically, what we did on that day was to cut off all the Thalassia Hemprichii growing in our selected patch. (The grass which we poked holes the last time we went down). Cutting the grass may sound easy, but it was not quite so. We had to crouch all the way down and grasp each piece of grass and cut it from its base. Even a tiny distance away from the base would make our measurement inaccurate. The repeated bending down, feeling for the base, cutting and straightening our back to place the grass on sheets of newspaper was no easy job and our legs soon got cramp. Danielle, who was carrying the newspaper (to put the sea grass) with her hands outstretched also had to maintain her balance on the uneven ground. A slip would render all the tediously hand-picked sea grasses to be washed away. However, even though it was hard work, we felt very accomplished after removing all the sea grasses. (There were 169 pieces!)

Then, we did quadrat sampling for our patch and the senior’s patch. This trip down was about a month after our previous trip, however, there is no significant difference between the data collected last month and this month for the senior’s patch. Maybe we ought to give the grasses a little more time.

 

Originally, we wanted to find another patch of sea grass to carry out another succession (for more accurate results). However, the tide was coming in really quickly and we had no choice but to run back to the beach. Guess we will have to do it the next time we go down!

 Every time we go down to Labrador park, we would always see sea creatures that we have never seen before and this trip down was no exception. We saw a female flower crab! Mr Lim said it was a female crab because its abdomen was circular ( If we did not remember wrongly!) We also saw a water spider! We never knew spiders could live in water! Also, we saw the Velcro crab once again, at where we found it one month ago!

 

 

 

The Flower Crab

The Marine Spider

 

 

Although this trip down took away some (or rather, much) of our sleep time, I guess it is rather worthwhile and fruitful!

Sorry for the late entry!

Danielle, Jolyn, Xinyi

030308 Seagrass Monitoring!

Hello friends! Haha on 3 August, while half the world was asleep, we were out at Labrador Park doing our second data collection at 7am in the morning! :O

It seems that we have become much better and much more efficient in data collection, considering how much less time we took to complete 33 quadrats as compared to the very first time we tried  

As for the interesting organisms this time round, there was this female swimming crab! Too bad Mr Lim didn’t elaborate on how he knew it was a female crab and not a male! We shall ask him next time (: What’s scary is how once it is on the sand, it camouflages itself so well that we wonder how many millions of crabs we could have stepped on whenever we walk around on the seagrass patch!

The crab lifted up the plastic container with much ease and her grip on the algae was very strong too! She may be a female, but is very mighty indeed! It was very interesting. But the problem is, it was hard to detach the crab as pulling it might break its pincers. Hence, the only way is when it sees that there is an escape route. Mr Lim then released it and we watched it scurry away and started digging a hole to burrow into the sand once again.

Mr Lim caught it while he was with the other group at the area they were doing their transect. Sadly, it seems that all the interesting organisms seem to be found near where they are working at but not so much in the middle of the seagrass meadow where we are most of the time! We probably aren’t observant enough. Oh well, at least Mr Lim always shares what he and the other group finds (:

 

We also caught a marine spider. It actually cannot swim but it lives in the waters because it can move very fast and glides across the surface as though it is walking on water. In fact, it is no different from an ordinary spider, it just lives in a different part of the world.

We also met our little friend again! the velcro crab! It was on the same exact spot and its camouflage amazed us all over again! Mr Lim said it was the same old crab we saw the other time. Hmm, we wonder how he knows?

 

We actually saw a really huge pincer which was orange! It looked like a cooked crab! However, we didn’t bother to discover further and couldn’t find it again after that.

 

We are really sorry for the late entry!

 

Cheryl Jiemin Joyce!

The Videos!

The videos are finally here!

Velcro crab

This one might be a mole crab!

7 July 2008

Hello! We are here to update again! This is our second post with regards to our trip down to Labrador Park on 7^th July. It was our third trip down to the beach and our first data collection.

First, we decided on the 2 areas to be monitored. One is where Jocelyne’s group had plucked out the sea grasses which are currently growing back, and the other patch is chosen by us for comparison and further succession. Each area has a dimension of 25X25 cm. We hammered tent poles around the selected areas with a rock. It was an amusing moment because there were rocks beneath some of the areas where we wanted to hammer the tent poles. The rocks were muddy too so when were hammering like there will not be a tomorrow, mud flew everywhere, ha ha!  

 
Area being marked out with tent poles

Then, we analyzed the 2 plots of sea grasses with the quadrate for future comparison and spent the rest of the time squatting around the patch of Thalassia that we have chosen and poking needles through the blades of it. (The holes, which are at the end of Thalassia, will be used to measure its growth rate.) Poking holes through sea grasses may sound easy but it was very tiring (and dangerous- Mr. Lim poked his finger and it bled. ><). We could not really see the bottom of the sea grass and had to feel around with our fingers. Although it was only a 25X25cm patch, there were many Thalassia and it was impossible to keep track of the ones that had been poked, so we had to estimate.

Also, we did some coastal cleanup on the beach while waiting for the other group and this was what we collected!

 

 

Most of the rubbish consisted of glass pieces, though we did find quite a number of clothing!

Not to forget our findings! 

 
Velcro crab and its camouflage

Mr. Lim was thoroughly excited when he lifted the brick that Jocelyne’s group had placed as a marker the last time, and found that this little guy (as Mr. Lim calls it) was hiding underneath it. Indeed, marine creatures are professionals at camouflaging, none of us realized this crab was a crab when the brick was lifted!

We had planned to insert a video here, however, we do not know how to upload a video; adding media onto wordpress and youtube backfired on us!

Blue sea anemone- You could say we’re friends with this creature, we see it everytime we visit! They are like the mimosa; when you touch them, they shrink back and grow bigger gradually later.

Another kind of anemone (with tentacles) at its larges!. We had to be careful not to agitate it to result in it shrinking back when we took the picture. Interesting find!

And last but not least, a crab of unknown identity!

Mr. Lim was yet again very excited about this as he and Jocelyne examined it closely. They took many many pictures and a video!

Again, we wanted to upload a video here, but D: So sorry!! Maybe, next time?

Here is a group shot with Jocelyne, our senior.

All in all, although the trip ate up our youth day holiday, we aren’t complaining! The day ensured much laughter and joy, as well as a deeper understanding toward our marine environment. We cannot wait for our next trip. Our bootees are ready! :)

Danielle, Jolyn, Xinyi