Sungei+Buloh+Team+6

Good job! Very comprehensive, informative article, with a good attempt at reflection and interpreting your observations. Needs more elaboration and depth! INTRODUCTION

The Sungei Buloh wetland reserve is in the North-West of Singapore. It was opened in 1993 and there were probably bamboo trees there, as Sungei maens River and Buloh means Bamboo. Sadly, the bamboo no longer exists. When the wetland reserve was opened there were also many prawn frams. However, now the mangroove is under the protection of the Nature Reserve. The wetland reserve is a very important stop for birds migrating between the breeding grounds of North Asia and the Southen Hemisphere, and if you're lucky, you may see some migrating birds from September to March. The migrating birds are attracted to the abandoned prawn ponds and mudflats, so we must protect this precious peice of land from pollution and deforestation Mangroves in the Reserve



Native Plants and Animals These are some native plants here. Pictures from [].

Animals from []. This is a Golden Orb Web Spider. It is one of the commonly seen spiders in the wetland reserve. Their silk is very strong, almost as strong as Kevlar, which is the strongest man made material ever invented. This is a Malayan Colugo (Flying Lemur) //Galeopterus variegatus// It is uncommon to be seen during the day as it is nocturnal. The Malayan Colugo is widely distributed throughout Southeast Asia, ranging from the Sunda Shelf mainland to other islands – Northern Laos (Ruggeri and Etterson, 1998),Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia (Peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak),Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia (Kalimantan, Sumatera, Bali, Java) (Corbet and Hill, 1992; Stafford, 2005) and many adjacent Islands (Francis, 2008). It is neither a lemur nor it flies.
 * Kingdom: || Animalia ||
 * Phylum: || Chordata ||
 * Class: || Mammalia ||
 * Order: || Dermoptera ||
 * Family: || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Cynocephalidae ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Genus: || **//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Galeopterus //** ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Species: || **//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 10pt;">G. variegatus //** ||

This is a mud skipper, also commonly found in the reserve. It is a carnivore that eats insects and it is very special, as their gills can contain water that is used to breathe on land. They can also BREATHE AIR through blood rich membranes at the back of their mouth and throats. Oriental small-clawed otter <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Oriental Small-clawed Otter **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> ( //<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Aonyx cinerea //<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">), also known as **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Asian Small-clawed Otter **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">, is the smallest otter species in the world, weighing less than 5 kg. It lives in mangrove swamps and freshwater wetlands of Bangladesh,Burma, India, southern China, Taiwan, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines,Thailand and Vietnam <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">.
 * //Aonyx cinerea// **



Monitor Lizard // Varanus albigularis // <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Monitor lizards are usually large reptiles, although some can be as small as 20 centimetres (7.9 in) in length. They have long necks, powerful tails and claws, and well-developed limbs. Most species are terrestrial, but arboreal and semi-aquatic monitors are also known. Almost all monitor lizards are carnivorous.
 * Kingdom: || [|Animalia]  ||
 * Phylum: || [|Chordata]  ||
 * Class: || [|Mammalia]  ||
 * Order: || [|Carnivora]  ||
 * Family: || [|Mustelidae]  ||
 * Subfamily: || [|Lutrinae]  ||
 * Genus: || // [|Aonyx] // ||
 * Species: || //**A. cinerea**// ||

// Limulus polyphemus //
 * Kingdom: || [|Animalia]  ||
 * Phylum: || [|Chordata]  ||
 * Class: || [|Reptilia]  ||
 * Order: || [|Squamata]  ||
 * Suborder: || [|Scleroglossa]  ||
 * Infraorder: || [|Anguimorpha]  ||
 * Superfamily: || [|Varanoidea]  ||
 * Family: || [|Varanidae]  ||
 * Genus: || //**Varanus**// ||
 * Kingdom: || Animalia  ||
 * Phylum: || Arthropoda  ||
 * Subphylum: || Chelicerata  ||
 * Class: || Merostomata  ||
 * Order: || **Xiphosurida** ||
 * Family: || **Limulidae** ||

Cotton Stainer Bug
 * Horseshoe crabs** are <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">arthropods that live primarily in shallow ocean waters on soft sandy or muddy bottoms. They will, however, occasionally come on shore, e.g. for mating. They are commonly used as bait and in fertilizer, and in recent years there has been a decline in number of individuals, as a consequence of coastal habitat destruction in Japan and over-harvesting along the east coast of North America.

Dysdercus decussatus These colourful bugs feed only on the seeds of the Sea Hibiscus (//Hibiscus tiliaceus//). Both adults and nymphs are often found in groups under the leaves or among the flowers of this plant.
 * **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Main features: Medium (12mm) bugs. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Adult: Distinctive yellow cross on black wing cases with red bodies and black legs. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Juvenile: All red, wingless. In //Dysdercus decussatus//, the immatures have black legs. ** ||  ||
 * **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In another //Dyscercus// species, they have black heads instead. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Status in Singapore: Common **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">World distribution: Tropical areas. **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Classification: Family Pyrrhocoridae. ** ||



This is a Collared Kingfisher. It is the most common kingfisher in Singapore, because of their wide diet, from crabs to insects to small snakes to earthworms and to prawns. These birds are very aggressive and will attack other birds if they come to their hunting grounds. This is the guinea grass. It is a native plant of Africa and was introduced to Singapore. It has high amounts of protein (13-21%) and is very fine and soft. It is used for food and nesting material for plants.

Tree from []. <span style="color: #ff0300; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 26px;">INVASIVE PLANTS Invasive plants and animals are dangerous, as it will compete with native species on food, nutrients and water. Sometimes, the invasive plant might be better suited to the enviroment and win the <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> struggle. After that, the native species will become extinct. Singapore's situation is already critical as there are 60+ invasive plants and animals there.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Seven Golden Candlesticks is an invasive plant from North America, although it is quite a beauty and has some medical properties. Its flowers look like candles, that is how it got its name. Like the rain tree, it closes its leaves during night and cloudy times. This plant competes with the other plants with sunlight and as their leaves are big, I think they can absorb more sunlight.

<span style="color: #18fbdc; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 26px;"> When I visited the Sungei Buloh wetland reserve, I spotted some weeds and other invasive plants in the wetland reserve. This, I feel, is very dangerous as invasive plants and animals can wipe out most native species. This might be destructive as invasive plants will compete with other native plants for sunlight, water and minerals. When I visited the wetland reserve, I also saw lots of litter in the mangroove [2]. This is disaterous as migrating birds might eat up the trash, thinking that it is actually food and, in the end, get poisoned. I think one way to solve this problem is to install more trash bins and place signs to remind the visitors to throw their trash into a bin. Another good way is to inform people of the consequences of littering to make them more concious of what they are doing.

References [1] [] [2] [] [3] @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunda_Flying_Lemur rss url="http://p5gescience2011.wikispaces.com/" link="true" description="true" number="10" date="true" author="true" Top Contributors: include component="editors" days="100" imageSize="small" showUsername="true"