Marine diversity and ecology

The seas of Southeast Asia play an important role in the economy of the surrounding countries. The region's constantly expanding coastal population and development has made great demands on marine resources, with growing evidence seen in the further degradation of the marine environment and continued exploitation of living as well as non-living resources. Scientists are thus in race for time to uncover the myriad of secrets of Southeast Asian diversity and its mechanisms.

Singapore's rapid development is an example, with estuarine and coastal habitats lost to the construction of reservoirs and land reclamation since the 19th century. Original land area has increased by one-tenth by reclamation but mangrove cover has been reduced from an estimated 13% to 0.5% of land area. Coral reefs, impacted by land reclamation, intensive coastal development, un-regulated collection of reef organisms, dredging and shipping have been reduced to a live coral cover of 69% in the early 90's. With an estimated population of 5.5 million people n Singapore in years to come, greater pressure will come to bear on natural environments. This is symptomatic of events occurring in the rest of Southeast Asia, whose population has increased by 140% since the 1950's and is expected to grow a further 63%.

It is surprising that even in the small area of Singapore's remaining mangroves, recent collections have led to the description of many new species: insects, spiders, prawns, lobsters, crabs, molluscs and fish. D. H. Murphy's studies on local mangroves resulting in an inventory of all mangrove organisms has been enhanced by selected studies on insects, plants, molluscs and crabs. While research on coral reefs has progressed to ecological aspects, inventories of other marine organisms are far from complete and are still being addressed. Recently, the inventories for polychaete and nudibranch groups were completed.

Strengths

The Raffles Museum is host to the a large collection of marine organisms in the Zoological Reference Collection. Over the last 10 years, the ZRC has also obtained large collections from all over South and Southeast Asia, making it an excellent centre for comparative studies. The mangrove plant collection, part of the Flora of Singapore, is housed at the Herbarium (SINU).  

The strength in coastal and marine studies arises from the following staff and their strong cohort of local and international graduate students:

Prof LM Chou - Marine invertebrate biology

A/Prof Peter KL Ng - Fish and crustacean taxonomy, ecology

A/Prof Hugh TW Tan - Mangrove plant species inventory

Top

Research Areas

Currently there are several ongoing projects looking into the diversity and the ecology of various aspects of the coastal and marine ecosystems of Singapore.

Systematics of the mangrove plants of Singapore

Coastal fish inventory of Singapore

Marine crab fauna of South East Asia

Inventory of the marine fauna of South China Sea (with various ASEAN and international bodies)

Diversity of hard and soft corals in Singapore (with various international bodies)

Diversity of Singapore nudibranchs and polychaetes

Ecology and diversity of mangrove crabs

Management of coastal ecosystems

Nutrient and biotic fluxes in relation to dispersal of pollutants in estuaries

Community structure and dynamics of fish in impacted coastal habitats

Chemical defences in Grogonians

Sedimentation effects on coral growth and recruitment

Reproduction in corals

Identifying suitable bioremediators to remediate marine environments

Awards & Publications

The various staff involved in this research have also won national and regional recognition for their scientific work, notably the Singapore National Youth Award (Excellence in Science and Technology) (1993), National Science Award, (1995), and ASEAN Young Science and Technologist Award (1995). One student has also won the inaugural Nature Society Prize (Singapore) (1997) for writing the top thesis in conservation matters, while five others have won prestigious short-term research fellowships from the Smithsonian Institution and Paris Museum over the last 5 years. Staff are also serving in various regional committees under the United Nations Environment Program and Food and Agricultural Organisation. Staff are also members of the Otter Specialist Groups of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) (Geneva, Switzerland) (selected by the IUCN on the basis of their international professional expertise) which serve to advise on key international conservation issues involving these animals. Currently, these staff serve on the editorial boards or are regional governors of no fewer than 12 regional and international journals, including the top ones in their respective fields! Publication wise, these staff and their students have been very productive, releasing over 50 publications in regional and international peer-reviewed journals between 1996 and 1997 alone.

Public education has not been neglected in the midst of all this research activity and the staff are prolific authors of guidebooks on a variety of marine organism and ecosystems, and have led public education projects such as the International Coastal Cleanup.

Facilities

To support the biodiversity program, the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity has modern and extensive plant and animal collections, a boat (The Mudskipper), complete electron microscope facilities, radiograph machines and processors, a modern photographic laboratory, fully equipped computer rooms etc. These facilities are supported by some dozen technical staff. The marine program is also augmented by some 20 postgraduate students involved in various associated research projects, both local and international.