Semakau (27 Feb 10)

It's time to monitor Pulau Semakau once again! Here's the team gathered to board our transport...
No, we didn't take the ornate junk. We went in our usual sturdy orange ferry for the long slow ride out.

Halophila beccarii: IUCN's Species of the Day!

Yesterday, our very own H. beccarii was featured as Species of the Day, part the IUCN's Red List celebration of International Year of Biodiversity 2010.

According to the write up on it, the distribution of this seagrass is "fragmented in southern China, Southeast Asia, India and Madagascar" and it is globally listed as "Vulnerable".

It's amazing that Singapore's shores is home to this rare and endangered seagrass. It can be found on Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin and at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. More about this seagrass on Singapore's shores. It is listed as "Critically Endangered" on the Singapore Red List.

This tiny seagrass has striped leaves, so Siti also calls it the Tiger seagrass! What a coincidence that the seagrass is featured on the first day of the Year of the Tiger.

Thanks to Ivan Kwan for the heads up on the feature on this seagrass.

Seagrass-Watch Magazine Issue 39 December 2009 now out!

The lead article of this issue features the important role of seagrasses in giving early warning of dangers to the shores. "Like the canaries that were used to detect deadly gases in the coal mines, seagrasses are our 'coastal canaries' detecting environmental degradation in coastal and reef ecosystems." The articles shares how intertidal seagrasses in the Great Barrier Reefs are monitored by Seagrass-Watch as part of the Reef Rescue Marine Monitoring Program to track trends in sediments, nutrients and other pollutants in the waters there.
An exciting new monitoring Mangrove Watch programme is also featured!