|
Anker,
Authur
Victor
R. Alekseev
Bahir,
Mohomed
Benayahu,
Yehuda
Chen
Hui-Lian
Corlett,
Richard
Das,
Indraneil
de
Pinna, M
Fernando,
C.H.
Guinot,
Daniele
Jayne,
Bruce
Karns,
Daryl
Kottelat,
Maurice
Larson,
Helen
Lheknim,
Vachira
Liao,
Lawrence
Liu
Riu-Yu
Panha,
Somsak
Rachmatika,
Ike
Rahayu,
Dwi Listyo
Schubart,
Christoph
Siebert,
Darrell
Song
Daxiong
Voris,
Harold
Wu
Sugong
Zettel,
Herbert
Visit: Sep 3 to 30, 2001
Mr. Mohomed Bahir, a research associate from
the Wildlife Heritage Trust of Sri Lanka, was invited to visit
the museum from 3 Sep to 30 Sep 2001. Hosted by Dr. Peter Ng of
the RMBR, he collaborated on research projects principally involving
the study of Sri Lankan freshwater decapod crustaceans, i.e. crabs
and prawns.
Bahiršs main collaborators on syetematics and taxonomy during
this visit were Dr. Darren Yeo of the RMBR (Sri Lankan and southern
Indian freshwater crabs) and Mr. Cai Yixiong of the Department
of Biological Sciences (DBS) (Sri Lankan atyiid shrimps). The
intention for this visit was the co-preparation over technical
papers on these two groups of animals.
Having previously published on Sri Lankan freshwater crabs, and
having made numerous collections and field observations of these
animals, Bahir is well versed with the taxonomy of the group.
The freshwater crab study with Darren is a follow-up of
a joint study trip the two made earlier in the year to the Zoological
Survey of India, Calcutta, to re-examine the historically significant
collections there.
Yixiong, an experienced atyiid prawn taxonomist, familiarised
Bahir with the group, and together, they discovered new genera
related to the Caridina.
Both papers are now in preparation and preliminary findings appear
to suggest that the freshwater crab and prawn fauna of Sri Lanka
and southern India is far more diverse than previously believed.
Bahir, who studies herptiles as well, went on field trips to Bukit
Timah Nature Reserve and Johor with RMBR and DBS staff and students
to make field observations of herptiles. During these field trips,
he shared his experience and techniques on field studies on the
biology of various herptiles, in particular, caecilians, which
are very poorly understood in this region, and difficult to find!
[top]
Visit: Aug-Sep 2001
Dr. Lawrence Liao, a phycologist from University
of San Carlos, Cebu, Philippines, whose area of expertise is marine
flora, obtained his PhD from University of North Carolina, USA,
working on the taxonomy of red algae Rhodophyta. He was invited
to visit the museum on a short-term fellowship from 16 Aug to
15 Sep 2001 to study the marine flora of Singapore, and was hosted
by Dr. Benito Tan of the RMBR. Emphasis was on seaweed (macroalgae),
especially red algae. Sea grass (spermatophytes) diversity was
also looked at in some detail. The main objective of this study
was to produce a checklist of marine flora of Singapore.
In addition to studying historical and recent
collections of marine flora in our herbarium, Lawrence also made
several field trips to various sites all around Singapore to collect
fresh material for study. The sites visited were chosen to represent
as broad a spectrum of habitats and area in Singapore as possible,
such as rocky shore at Labrador Beach in the south, and Chek Jawa
on Pulau Ubin in the north; mangroves in Pandan river in the south,
Jalan Bahtera in the west, and Sungei Buloh and Pasir Ris in the
north; sandy beaches at Changi in the east; coral reefs at Raffles
Lighthouse and Pulau Hantu in the south. Diving, low-tide intertidal
walks and even leaning over precariously to collect from the underside
of floating wharves were some of the ways in which he collected
his samples.
Preliminary findings from his study, indicate
that despite the degraded state of some of the sites visited,
there appears to be a remarkable diversity of marine algae and
sea grasses, yielding new species records for Singapore, as well
as species considered endangered or even extinct in some Southeast
Asian localities, and species deemed economically and biologically
important.
In addition to the primary objective of preparing
a technical publication on local marine flora, Lawrence also contributed
to other related projects. Lawrence’s identification of
healthy populations of rare sea grasses, Halophila spinulosa
and H. beccarii, and macroalgae, Caulerpaspp.,at
Chek Jawa in Pulau Ubin, contributed to raising overall awareness
of the value of that area as one of the last remaining extensive
sea grass and mud flat areas in Singapore.
Collaboration was also initiated between Lawrence
and Dr. Hugh Tan of the RMBR on the possible production of a popular
guidebook in the Science Centre/BP series on the marine flora
of Singapore, which they hope to complete this by 2002. Lawrence
also began collaborating with Dr. Shawn Lum of the NTU on publishing
a technical checklist of the marine algae of the South China Sea.
Despite his packed field and lab schedule, Lawrence
still found time to conduct a seminar at a session of the Biodiversity
and Ecology Journal Club of the Department of Biological Sciences
(DBS). The seminar, entitled “A re-acquaintance with the
seaweeds of Singapore, including notes on some interesting elements
of the local marine flora”, and held on 12 Sep 2001 at the
DBS Conference Room, gave Lawrence the opportunity to present
his preliminary results, as well as to impart some basics of field
identification and preservation techniques of seaweed.
[top]
Harold
Voris (Chicago Field Museum)
Daryl
Karns (Hanover College)
Bruce
Jayne (University of Cincinnati)
Ecology of mangrove homalopsine snakes
Visit: February-May 2001
These three scientists were hosted by Dr Peter
Ng and Mr Kelvin Lim of the museum, with permission from the National
Parks Board to work on the mangrove homalopsine snakes of Singapore.
Aided by local volunteers, they were tracking the snakes with
radio transmitters to ascertain their movements and ecology; as
well as determining their diets and habitat preferences. In addition
to the common dog-faced water snake, Cerberus, the scientists
also worked on three rare species, Fordonia, Gerardia and Cantoria.
The study is a milestone as these snakes are poorly known and
the latter three genera, at least until this study, were regarded
as rare to very rare! They will be returning in September 2001
to carry out the second phase of their study!
***To see video clips of vertebrate movement,
visit Professor
Bruce Jayne's website
[top]
|
