Maiden Labrador Walk!

8th March 2008 marks the maiden walk @ Labrador Park with Toddycats! Guides for the day were nature veteran Sivasothi, ever-passionate Oi Yee and Justin...

Divided into 3 groups, the visitors, mostly members of Toddycats, were introduced to the wonderful, yet fragile, wildlife of our last rocky shore habitat on mainland Singapore... The following are the pictorial updates of the event....

In summary, the Labrador walk was indeed a success! First-timers to the place were marvelled by the beauty of the place, while other participants re-experienced the wonderful 'hidden treasures' found on our Nature Reserves....

Note: For those interested to find out more about the Labrador Project under toddycats or want to be part of us, we want to hear from you. Please email us at: labradorpark.tc@gmail.com

Revival of Labrador Project!

Ever since the newspaper article on 29th Oct 2007 featuring the Singapore Polytechnic's SEACILs project. Some wildlife bloggers, upon discovery that the debris they found on the intertidal of Labrador shores were linked to their project, began blogging extensively about their concerns for Labrador habitat.

This subsequently led to the Straits times article on 26th November 2007 titled: 'Nature lovers fear coral project will cause damage'.

Despite all the noise made by the 'nature lovers', there was no improvement in the debris condition of Labrador. Instead, more debris from other sources began appearing as well, which further dampened the natural landscape of Labrador. Apparently situation in Labrador worsen by the day...... until this year...

During the last visit on 8th January 2008, some of the concrete debris began to disappear from the site, apparently removed by some unknown groups. This led to an entry titled: 'A new Hope', showing optimism for the once-dire-state of Labrador. Although there is still much debris to be removed from the shore, the removal of these debris, though may appeared insignificant, do signals a starting point for return of the former glory of Labrador Nature Reserve.

Riding on this new hope, the Toddycats of RMBR has reinstated the Labrador Project with the following aims:

• To raise awareness to the public of our rocky shore in Singapore
• To interest them in the conservation efforts, as well as looking out for our nature reserves
• To create a continuation in imparting nature awareness through training of guides etc

Hence, a team, made up of nature lovers, is formed to fulfil the aims. In the near future, the team will conduct walks, cleanup sessions, training sessions and other events in relation Labrador Nature Reserves. Therefore, look out this space for more updates!

For more information/enquires on the Labrador Project, please email to: labradorpark.tc@gmail.com

Other blogs featuring Labrador:

wildfilms

reddotbeachbum

Justin's dive adventures

Under protection?

Haven't been back to Labrador in a looooooong time and I realize how much I miss it...

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Today the nerites were out in full force after a short shower... the colours.. just amazing

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a mollusc threesome

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ovalis galore

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more seagrass
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somehow halimedas never fail to amuse me.

its just so... calcified. hahaha. if i make any sense

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can u spot the two crabs?

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Yes Labrador is the ONLY rocky shore left on mainland Singapore. And it is SUPPOSEDLY gazetted as a nature reserve.. and yet.. we see all this...

an abandoned motor, tyres, fish traps, a failed artificial reef project, neglect of construction near the cofferdam, an idol found floating on the shore, more rubbish.. sigh. depressing.

doesn't it make you think that we're not doing enough for this 'nature reserve'? why make it a reserve in the first place if its not going to receive any proper protection?

Re: Large Debris on Labrador

having not visited Labrador in a looong time, I was appalled to read this entry on the wildfilms blog. Perfect example of a project gone wrong. Looking forward to seeing what Singapore Poly has to say about this.

Effects of shore height and visitor pressure at Labrador Beach

"Effects of shore height and visitor pressure on the diversity and distribution of four intertidal taxa at Labrador beach, Singapore." By Danwei Huang, Peter A. Todd, Loke Ming Chou, Kheng Hui Ang, Pei Ya Boon, Liyan Cheng, Han Ling & Wan-Jean Lee, 2006. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 54(2): 477-484. [pdf available]

Abstract - To date, the majority of research on the rocky intertidal has focused on temperate rocky shore communities whereas study sites in the tropics have been relatively distant from the equator. We examined four key groups of marine organisms, i.e. macroalgae, anthozoans, decapods and gastropods, in relation to shore height and visitor pressure, at Labrador beach, Singapore (just 1°16.0'N).

To reveal any vertical zonation the shore was divided into four 10m-wide zones, parallel to shore, approximately spanning high to low spring tide marks. To determine the effects of visitor pressure, the shore was also divided horizontally into three 60m long sectors; representing a gradient in distance from the public entrance to the beach. Sampling data from quadrats positioned randomly within these zones and sectors were converted into Shannon-Wiener and Margalef diversity index scores.

The number of visitors to each horizontal sector was monitored, and the substrate composition in the sampled areas was assessed using point intercept transects. A total of 28 genera of macroalgae, 14 genera of anthozoans, 20 genera of decapods and 25 genera of gastropods were identified.

Diversity scores for macroalgae, anthozoans and decapods were highly significantly different among the different shore heights, with the highest diversity found in the lower shore zones. Anthozoan diversity in the sector closest to the entrance of the beach, where the highest numbers of visitors were recorded, was significantly lower than the sectors further away. It requires further work, however, to identify the extent to which visitor pressure may affect marine organism diversity and distribution in the intertidal zone at Labrador Park.

This was published last year but we forgot to highlight it here. I met Danwei in the corridor yesterday and we talked about the blog and it came up, so here it is!

Labrador revisited

Went to explore Labrador on Tuesday and Thursday this week, and it was the first time I'd been there in eons! The last time I was there was definitely before the work on the coffer dam started.

From the lookout point, although the menacing presence of the dredging equipment loomed on the landscape accompanied by the ugly brown fence slicing across Labrador, things actually looked pretty good, as the receeding tide revealed pretty much the usual stuff still around.


View from the lookout point. Dredging platforms now line the coast, and the coffer dam can be seen sticking out on the right of the picture.


Close up of dredging. The huge clampy thing sure looks nasty. It must be as big as a bus!

On the shore, all the usual suspects were out... sea spiders, snapping shrimp, the hairy crabs, juvenile catfish, the snails and hermit crabs, Copper-banded butterfly fish, filefish, loads of zoanthids, all hanging out amidst the rocks and the green stuff. Also quite a number of slugs and slimy things - Elysia, a big Discodoris boholiensis, Pteraeolidia ianthina, the blue dragon, and Acanthozoon, the spotted flatworm. It was good to see them still in action, especially with all the construction going on. And it's good that so far there doesn't seem to have been any increase in the silt, from just looking at it.


Sea spider!


Somehow at the end of the year we always see the Bryopsis blooming on some of the Southern shores, and with it comes my favourite nudibranchs! This is Elysia ornata, one of the green leafy sap-suckers.


Just before the sun set and we were about to call it a day, Ria's sharp eyes spotted this adorable pair moving amongst the Thalassia.

For photos of the other marine critters we saw, view Budak's blog.

Just before we left, we chanced upon one of Labrador's spectacular sunsets, blocked by the ominous construction works! It's all well and good to consider economic development, but sometimes you really have to ask yourself, at what price this development? I suppose it's all a matter of weighing the benefits against the disadvantages. Hopefully one day the benefits of preserving local habitats and biodiversity will become more important than the benefits gained from any further economic development.



Many thanks to Ria for providing the photos of the dredging!

Special crabs at Labrador

It was crabs galore at Labrador's rocky shore today. First spotted, by sharp-eyed Ria Tan of Wild Singapore, was a rarely seen moon crab, which are far more common on the Northern shores. It was swimming into a patch of seaweed when spotted. We placed it on the sand, where it promptly buried itself completely, presumably a way of hiding from both predators and potential prey.


The moon crab Matuta lunaris has legs which are flattened into paddles. They use their legs to dig themselves efficiently into the sand.

Next, someone else spotted a leaf moving amidst a clump of immobile leaves. Curious, she flipped it over to find a leaf porter crab hiding underneath! It did not seem to appreciate its sudden change in spatial orientation, however, and quickly flipped itself back under the leaf using its long spindly legs. We quickly placed it back into the pool of water, where it resumed floating around, looking like just another leaf.


Neodorippe callida, the leaf porter crab.

The most exciting find of the day was a pair of coastal horseshoe crabs, another rarely-seen animal in our Southern Shores. Horseshoe crabs are fascinating creatures, which I find really awe-inspiring to observe. They are known as living fossils because they have been around for a really long time (even before the dinosaurs!), and actually are more closely related to spiders than the true crabs of today. This is obvious when you look at their body plan, which is kind of alien to anything else I've ever seen. For example, they have pairs of walking legs sticking out at both sides underneath their helmet-like shells. These legs are used to grind up food as they walk, after which the food is passed into the mouth, located between the second pair of legs. The coolest fact about the horseshoe crab (for me) is that such an ancient creature has such an important and unique use in today's advanced medical industry. The blood of a horseshoe crab contains a medically important substance that is vital in testing iv drugs and medical equipment for bacterial contaminations, without which there would be no easy way of determining if something is sterile. For more information about these truly amazing animals, see Ria's horseshoe crab factsheet.


The pair of horseshoe crabs (Tachypleus gigas), one of 2 species in Singapore. They were spotted behind a pile of boulders on Labrador - the female was trying to crawl out over it with the male firmly attached on her back with his claspers, and may have gotten stranded there as the tide went out.


Here they are again, after we carried them out to the sand. The male is still tightly hanging on, on the back of the female. Horseshoe crabs are harmless, their tails are used for steering and helping them right themselves.


The alien-looking underside of a horseshoe crab - the mouth is located between the legs (see the hairy area?).

Many thanks to Ria for the photographs!