Cyrene Reef (27 May 09)

It's another early departure for a tiny band of Seagrassers. We depart from the very swank Marina at Keppel Bay and were nearly turned away by the super tight security folks.
Fortunately, we managed to convince them that we were genuine customers and soon we were off in a brand new boat arrangement with Thye and Jumari. Here we are passing Labrador, with the park lights still on.
But it's lights out for Mei Lin, who snuggles up in such a cute curl for a nap as we head off for Cyrene Reef. She reminds me of a hermit crab in its shell.
We approach our favourite submerged reef from another angle at first light through the hazy cloudy sky.
And here is Thye helping Siti off into the dinghy that takes us out to the reef.
Jumari takes us swiftly to the shore. Another change as you can see, we all have to wear spiffy life vests. I had to let mine out a lot along the sides to be able to get into it. Sigh.
We land on another part of the reef which doesn't have any sand bars. So we set up on the sandiest portion we could find. We also de-vest quite rapidly.
The team is very lean today, so most of us did a transect alone. Here is Andy hard at work on his. Thanks to Andy for helping us straighten up our lines, and taking the GPS points for Site 2!
There are MANY species of seagrasses on Cyrene so it's quite tricky to do the monitoring.
Fortunately, my transect was rather sparse so I didn't have to struggle too hard. Unlike the stalwarts who did Site 1. The tide window is very short today! We had only about 20 minutes after finishing the monitoring to get back to the departure point. But still I managed to see quite a lot of marinelife on the short and quick walk.
I was the first to get there, and already the tide was coming in and our gear was starting to float away!
A quick rescue of gear, we put on the vests and make the long scary trek to the edge of the reef to get on the dinghy. After Chay Hoon's very traumatic encounter with a stingray yesterday, we were all praying very hard, as we waded through high water, not to step on a stingray or a stonefish!!
By the time the second batch was waiting to get on the dinghy, the water was already quite high. Fortunately, everyone made it safely back and we had an injury-free trip.

Thanks to all who came for the trip: Nor Aishah, Andy, Kenerf, Michelle, Mei Lin. And also Collin and Robin for coming along to help with the gear. And to Wei Ling for arranging stuff even though she couldn't make it for the trip. We sure missed Wei Ling and Shufen.

More blog posts about this trip

• 20 minutes on Cyrene Reef on the wild shores of singapore blog.

TeamSeagrass at Envirofest 2009 - Day 1

TeamSeagrass had lots of work to do at Envirofest 2009! The booth was always crowded with people wanting to learn more about seagrasses.

Labrador Angels off to a flying start!

The new teams of Labrador Angels have accomplished so much in just their first visit!

The teams will not only monitor the seagrasses at Labrador, but also look after the overall health of the shore and engage in clean up on the shore! Fantastic!

There are two teams of Angels now:
First team: Grace Cheong, Jin Yifeng and Zenia Quek.
Second team: Goh Hua Zhen, Regina Lau and Tan Li Ying.

Last week, the new teams got their new booties wet. They got an introduction to the shores from Mr Lim, and also picked up 3kg of rubbish which consisted of styrofoam, plastic bottles and other non-biodegradable materials. Unfortunately, they also saw some pollution.

Read more about their work on their Labrador blog.

Unfortunately, there were no photos of the new teams.
So here's an old photo of Mr Lim, their intrepid leader, with Len from SeagrassWatch HQ when they were recently on Labrador.

We're looking forward to hearing more about the adventures of the new Labrador Angels!

Seagrass Watch at Labrador

Len and Rudi are back from Bali! They stopped over for a while and Siti kidnapped Len to show him Labrador. Unfortunately, Rudi wasn't feeling too well this morning. We hope he's feeling better now.
Also with us today was Cheng Puay aka Mr Lim who has been valiantly leading his young ladies from RGS in monitoring and learning about this special mainland seagrass meadow. And Ben joined us later.

Labrador has our only large meadows of Sickle seagrass (Thalassia hemprichii) on the mainland. In the photo above, Len, Cheng Puay and Siti are standing in the middle of the meadow of this seagrass. There is also a smaller patch further along the shore.Len says our Sickle seagrasses are looking good and in fact have more blades that usual. Wow! That's good to know!
Various animals are found growing in the meadows, such as these colonial anemones or zoanthids.
And this encrusting blue sponge that has flat spatula-like flaps.
We also take a look at some of the other species of seagrasses on this shore. Like the very long Tape seagrass (Enhalus acoroides).
Len points out how Tape seagrass sometimes grows in a circle like the one above. He's not sure why they do this. He also tells us that the male flowers only 'bloom', i.e. the bracts release the tiny male flowers, when the water level is low enough that the temperate is just right.
There's also lots of Spoon seagrasses (Halophila ovalis) on the higher shores, here in the foreground of the above photo.They are mostly doing quite nicely, with fresh green leaves.
But I came across some that look like this. Len says this is probably because they were heat stressed, which causes them to lose their chlorophyll and thus to eventually die. Oh dear.
There's also lots of seaweeds on the shores today. Len also takes a closer look at them. And we discuss the difference between these two seaweeds that are naughty and sometimes make us think they are seagrasses. Siti will be very quick to scold and tell us they are NOT grass!

These two kinds of seaweeds are often confused for one another:
On the left is Caulerpa taxifolia, while on the right is Caulerpa sertularioides. They are quite easily distinguished if you can look at both at the same time.
Caulerpa taxifolia has a very flat central 'stem' and flat 'branches'. The branch narrows where it joins the central stem creating a tiny gap. While Caulerpa sertularioides has a cylindrical central 'stem' and cylindrical 'branches'.

But both are NOT seagrasses!!

Len also shared some ideas for monitoring Labrador with Mr Lim taking lots of notes.
We are looking forward to more exciting happenings in monitoring of Labrador, involving light and temperature loggers and other cool gadgets. You can read all about their adventures on their Labrador blog.

Thank you Len once again for being so patient and sharing so much for our shores!

I came a little earlier to check up on the state of Labrador. More of what I saw on the wild shores of singapore blog.

Seagrasses in Tampa Bay bouncing back, partly thanks to drought

Craig Pittman, St. Petersburgh Times 11 May 09;

The leading indicator of Tampa Bay's health is the size of its sea grass beds — and the latest figures, released Monday, show they are now covering more of the bay than any time since the 1950s.

One big reason: the drought that's been going on for the past three years, which has led to the tightest lawn-sprinkling restrictions in history.

Less rainfall and less lawn-watering means less polluted stormwater runoff flowing into the bay and killing sea grass beds, explained Kris Kaufman, the state scientist in charge of the seagrass study.

"Less runoff is great for the bay," said Kaufman, who works for the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

Tampa Bay now has about 29,647 acres of sea grass, which is 1,300 acres more than the last time the scientists checked two years ago.

Hillsborough Bay, traditionally the most polluted area of Tampa Bay, nearly doubled its sea grass coverage, from 415 to 810 acres in the two-year period. The biggest increases were documented in Middle Tampa Bay , which extends from the Gandy Bridge to the Manatee County line, where sea grasses expanded by 31 percent.

Tampa Bay is Florida's largest open-water estuary, covering 398 square miles at high tide.

Sea grasses are crucial to the bay's health because they provide food and shelter for a wide variety of fish and other marine species. They filter impurities in the water and stabilize the bay bottom's shifting sands. To thrive, sea grass needs water clear enough to admit a lot of light.

In the 1950s and '60s, dredging created land for development around the bay but wiped out much of its sea grass, hurting commercial and recreational fishing. Polluted runoff killed even more sea grass. By the early '90s, the bay had lost 80 percent of its sea grass, more than anywhere else in Florida.

The Tampa Bay Estuary Program, created by Congress in 1991, wants to build the bay back up to its 1950s level of 38,000 acres of sea grass. The latest findings by the agency commonly known as Swiftmud mark the highest amount so far.

In addition to the drought, estuary program director Holly Greening attributed the sea grass increase to efforts to cut back on fertilizer use among homeowners, thus curtailing the amount of nitrogen pollution flowing into area waterways.

Greening also pointed out that the region's utilities have cut the amount of nitrogen oxide pollution pouring out of their power plant smokestacks, to settle into the bay. And as more and more homeowners use reclaimed water for their lawns, sewer plants dump less treated sewage directly into the bay, which also cuts the amount of nitrogen, she said.

All told, the estuary program estimates that over the past decade Tampa Bay businesses and residents have reduced the nitrogen flowing into the bay by more than 400 tons, even as the region's population grew by nearly a million people.

A few places in the bay still showed declines in sea grass coverage during the past two years — Boca Ciega Bay, Terra Ceia Bay and the Manatee River. But all three are places where sea grass had been on the rebound previously, so scientists are not all that worried about them at this point.

Both Kaufman and Greening said they hope that, once rainfall returns to a more normal level, the gains the bay has seen in sea grass will not be wiped out.

"I think we'll continue to map increases," Kaufman said.

Seahorses tagged in Britain for the first time

Louise Gray, The Telegraph 10 May 09;

Seahorses in Britain have been tagged for the first time in an effort to find out more about the elusive creatures.

Divers managed to capture one of the spiny seahorses, six or seven inches long, in Studland Bay, Dorset.

Little is known about Britain's two native species, the spiny and short-snouted seahorses, which are found around the south coast of England.

The largest population in the UK of around 40 seahorses, including pregnant males, was discovered in Studland Bay last summer. However there are already concerns that the species may be at threat from boats in the area ripping up eelgrass which the seahorses rely on.

The tagging project by the Seahorse Trust, supported by Natural England and funded by the National Lottery, is an effort to find out how endangered the marine animals are. It could also shed light on some of the mysteries surrounding the species, such as where they go during the winter months and whether they mate for life

Steve Trewalla, of the Seahorse Trust, who is recording the project, said the seahorses were easy to tag, even twirling a tail around the handler's finger.
"Studland Bay is a living lab for seahorses and it is very exciting for us to be able to go and study these exceptionally rare animals," he said. "We want to learn as much as possible about these animals so we can protect them."

The Seahorse Trust wants further protection for seahorses in Studland Bay. But Natural England point out boats cannot be banned without demonstrating a problem and are currently undertaking a survey into how damaging the boats are to the eelgrass meadows.

Divers managed to capture one of the spiny seahorses, six or seven inches long, in Studland Bay, Dorset.

The largest population in the UK of around 40 seahorses, including pregnant males, was discovered in Studland Bay last summer. However there are already concerns that the species may be at threat from boats in the area ripping up eelgrass which the seahorses rely on.

The tagging project by the Seahorse Trust, supported by Natural England and funded by the National Lottery, is an effort to find out how endangered the marine animals are. It could also shed light on some of the mysteries surrounding the species, such as where they go during the winter months and whether they mate for life

Steve Trewalla, of the Seahorse Trust, who is recording the project, said the seahorses were easy to tag, even twirling a tail around the handler's finger.

"Studland Bay is a living lab for seahorses and it is very exciting for us to be able to go and study these exceptionally rare animals," he said. "We want to learn as much as possible about these animals so we can protect them."

The Seahorse Trust wants further protection for seahorses in Studland Bay. But Natural England point out boats cannot be banned without demonstrating a problem and are currently undertaking a survey into how damaging the boats are to the eelgrass meadows.

TeamSeagrass on Nature Blog Network

"What is it about that tiny island in the Southeast Asia? That a small island, only 274 square miles, could be a nature blogging juggernaut seems odd." asks Nature Blog Network "But there are a few clues here and there. 23% of the nation consists of forests and nature preserves. The wetlands surround the main island and the 60 odd other islands are famous for their marine diversity. So the nature is there, even if intuitively it doesn’t seem possible for a city famous for both its size and density." they continue.

"And, importantly, there’s a nascent environmental movement that seeks to use new media to get information out to like-minded people with an interest to conserve those unique places."

And in their second feature on Singapore blogs, they have kindly highlighted the TeamSeagrass blog and our work for our seagrasses. Thank you!

Go check out their blog entry and visit the Nature Blog Network for lots of nature blogs from Singapore and around the world!

Seagrasses and upstanding seahorses

Why do seahorses have an upright posture? A recent study suggests it has to do with seagrasses!

Seahorses like this one photographed in Changi last month, are common in our seagrass meadows on our Northern shores.

Seagrass link to seahorse upright posture
Anna Salleh ABC News 6 May 09;

Seahorses evolved their upright posture some 25 million years ago, thanks in part to an expansion of vertical seagrass habitat, Australian researchers have found.

Associate Professor Luciano Beheregaray of Flinders University and Dr Peter Teske of Macquarie University report their findings in the journal Biology Letters today.

Seahorses are unique fish with a horse-shaped head and a habit of swimming upright.

Beheregaray says it has been hard for scientists to work out when exactly seahorses evolved to swim upright.

This is because there are only two known fossils of seahorses - the oldest dating back to 13 million years - and no link between these and horizontally-swimming fish had been found.

"When you look back in time, you don't see intermediate seahorse-like fish," says Beheregaray.

But, he says, there are fish alive today that look like horizontally-swimming seahorses and these could provide clues as to when seahorses evolved to be upright.
Pygmy pipehorses

Beheregaray and Teske compared the DNA of seahorses and other species from the same family to find out which was the closest living relative to seahorses.

"The pygmy pipehorses are by far the most seahorse-like fish on earth. They do look like the seahorses, but they swim horizontally," says Beheregaray.

He and Teske used molecular dating techniques, which relies on the accumulation of differences in the DNA between the two species to work out when they diverged.

The researchers used the two existing fossil seahorses to calibrate the rate of evolution of DNA in their molecular clock.

And they discovered that the last common ancestor of seahorses and pygmy pipehorses lived around 25 to 28 million years ago.

Seagrass habitat

Beheregaray says at the time that seahorses arose during the Oligocene epoch coincided with the formation of vast areas of shallow water and expansion of seagrass in Australasia - where Teske has previously showed seahorses first evolved.

Seagrass was the perfect habitat for an upright-swimming seahorse, which could camouflage itself in the vertical seagrass blades, he says.

The horizontal-swimming pygmy pipehorses, by contrast, thrived in large algae on reefs and didn't have the need to evolve the upright posture.

"The two groups split in a period when there were conditions favouring that split," says Beheregaray.

"It's like us. We started walking upright when we moved to the savannahs. On the other hand, the seahorses invaded the new vast areas of seagrass."

More about a recent report on fossil seahorses on the wild shores of singapore blog.

Seagrass Watch workshop: Level 2 classroom session (3 May 09)

Another morning start for the Team, this time for the Level 2 classroom session of the Seagrass Watch workshop.Siti, Wei Ling, Shufen and I get to be classroom participants too!Hassan is all ready for the session, with detailed notes penned in from the previous classroom session!

Today, Len covers a refresher on seagrasses.
Including the sexy bits about seagrasses! I didn't know that for some seagrasses their pollen travels beneath the water surface.And that for some seagrasses, male and female flowers appear in different plants.We also learn some new Big Words such as 'meristem'.We had tests in between the sessions!

Then it was off to do plant ID and pressing!
It's not easy counting them veins.
Siti takes on the manly task of pressing the humungous Tape seagrass (Enhalus acoroides).
Len gives us marks on how well we do the labelling. Not many of us got full marks. Oops.
Meanwhile, Hassan and Hannah have snuck off to get Other Plants from the sale of orchids and plants downstairs.

We also had a session on checking data sheets for errors. It sure made us appreciate how important it is to be careful and correct and complete when filling up the data sheets.
Then it was time for a scumptious lunch organised by Wei Ling. Thanks Wei Ling!

After the good break, Len shared with us lots of stuff about GPS.
All of it is totally new to me. I'm quite impressed with all those satellites whizzing about and giving us free information that we can use to learn more about our natural heritage and protect them.We have a hands on session to try out using a GPS. And Len and Rudi have set up a treasure hunt using the GPS. They snuck off during lunch to set it up! In my team, we didn't manage to find any points. Alas. We blamed it on a technical error. But everyone else had success and found the secret alphabets at eight locations and worked out the secret seagrass word. That was a really fun session.

Then Siti conducted a discussion of our monitoring work during which reviewed some of our work, and we decided on some new directions.
All too soon, it was time to end.
On behalf of the Team, Siti presented Len and Rudi a small token of our appreciation for their patience and sharing. It's a copy of the Red Data book, that participants today inscribed with their comments as well.
Len and Rudi are off to Indonesia to conduct another workshop! They make a brief stop over in Singapore on their way back and we hope to show them Labrador then.

Thank you Len and Rudi for a most enjoyable and enlightening workshop!

Thanks also to everyone for helping out: Kevin and Shufen for rushing to get laptops, Wei Ling for the splendid lunch and all the logisitical arrangements for the room and transport, and Siti for preparing all the presentations too.

And everyone for coming today! Chay Hoon, Hannah, Kah Ming, Cheng Puay, Marcus Tay, Marcus Ng, Jocelyne, Andy, Helen, Adelle, Michell, Nor Aishah, Gaytri, Richard, Sheryl, Mohd Rozaimi, Chun Fong, Kevin, Hassan, Anuj.

Seagrass Watch workshop: Level 1 field session (2 May 09)

We're back bright and early on Pulau Ubin for the field session of level 1 of the Seagrass Watch workshop!
And the Ubin jetty is colourful with banners put up for Vesak Day! Here's Rudi and Len with the Team in front as we head out for Chek Jawa.Today, Len shows us how a monitoring session is set up and prepared. To begin, there is a serious risk assessment briefing, outlining the many risks that we should be aware of and take steps to avoid. I think even Max the CJ Dog is also paying attention.Then we're off to the Chek Jawa seagrass meadows. Siti shows Len the beautiful growth of Smooth ribbon seagrass (Cymodocea rotundata) which grows in abundance on Chek Jawa.Then Rudi and Len set up a small demonstration site to show us how to select a site and set it up. This is done away from our usual monitoring site. We thought it useful to set it up near the boardwalk so that visitors can also learn about how monitoring is being done. This area also has firmer ground so that less damage is done to the seagrasses.Len briefs everyone thoroughly on the steps taken to conduct monitoring.Among the most important steps is proper recording. It's quite straightforward, but good to understand why and how to fill up the sheet properly.Then it's time to actually set up the transects. Here Siti is showing us how to get the tape aligned properly with the compass readings through simple arm signals. This is very useful in windy conditions where yelling doesn't quite help.It was then time to start monitoring! The first team shows how it's done.Then everyone gets started!It does take careful attention to note down all the important details.Here's the last transect near the boardwalk. Later, Siti shared how she explained the processes to some visitors on the boardwalk.Meanwhile the Chek Jawa public walk was being set up. This approach means visitors get to see lots of marine life without having to trample all over the shores.Some of the Chek Jawa volunteers come a little earlier to find stuff and place them in natural pools and in small containers.Siti takes the opportunity to brief some of the first visitors about TeamSeagrass and our work.Some of the more experienced Team members also share interesting marine life that can be found on Chek Jawa, even on the pontoon legs!

After the first batch of new Team volunteers finished their monitoring, I had a quick look at the mangroves on the boardwalk, and then the special Beccarii's seagrass (Halophila beccarii) on another side of Chek Jawa. While some of the other more experienced Team members did other monitoring work on the shores. Kok Sheng spotted lots of colourful crabs on the mangrove boardwalk!

Thus unfortunately, I missed the final briefing at the end of the session. I heard Len and Rudi presented the best volunteer prizes to Nor Aishah and Anuj!
Before we left Ubin, we had a funky group photo! Thanks to Kevin for sharing the photo.

Thank you once again to Len and Rudi for patiently sharing with us how to do monitoring effectively.

Thanks also to everyone for coming for today's session!

Team members who came for the field session were: Jerome, Hannah, Edwin, Kah Ming, Sean, Suryati, Jinwen, Cheng Puay, Andy, Helen, Liu Jia, Saurabh, Nor Aishah, Cornie, Jeremy, Sunshine, Joo Yong, Hassan, Mohammad Rozaimi, Ben, Yuet Hsin, Anuj, Kok Sheng, Jocelyne, Marcus Ng, Vyna. And it was great to have Mr Wong join us too!