Sunday, 24 April 2011
PASIR RIS MANGROVE
FILED TRIP
Pasir Ris park is located in the north-eastern part of Singapore, which is separated into 3 parts, namely the Sungei Api Api, Sungei Tampines and the river itself. This area was a reclaimed during the 1978 to 1979 and the land encompasses a total area of 70.52 hectares, of which, only 5 ha of matured mangroves were preserved during the process. Currently, the mangroves is maintained by the National Parks (NParks) and has served its purpose as recreation site for families during the weekends, and as well as, for educational purposes, which was our motive for this trip.
The structure of the mangroves if you realise is drastically different from the structures of the forest in the previous field trip to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Firstly, the trees in mangroves are not as tall as the ones in the forest due to the unstable soil and waterlogged condition that hinder its growth. Secondly, unlike the forest, which has several distinct vertical layers, the mangroves have 3 distinct horizontal zones instead - Coastal, Middle and Inland zone.
- Coastal Zone, which is near to the river -
- Inland zone, where it is drier -
The trees in the mangroves have also adapted well to its surrounding of waterlogged and unstable soil. This could be evident from the roots at different zone and it has helped us to differentiate one zone from the other when we are in there.
- Pencil-liked roots, which is considered as "breathing
roots" near to the coastal zones to maximise intake of oxygen from the atmosphere through its roots as the place is submerged in water at times -
- Prop roots in the middle zone to anchor the plant firmly into the loose soil-
Besides, the fruits of the Rhizophora is so well adapted that it start to grow into a seedling on the parent plant, so that it shape can pierce into the ground and immediately start growing, thus reducing the time needed to anchor itself to the soil.
- An example of the seedling of the Rhizophora -
Here are some of the other organisms we saw as well.
1- Sea holly that interestingly has leaves of both kinds of shape -
2- Sea hibiscus, which resembles the shape of a heart -
3 - Giant mudskipper, that is capable of surviving both on land and in water-
4 - Nipah Palm, which is a commonly used ingredient in our desserts in Singapore, such as ice kachang -
5-Holes made by crabs -
During the entire 1 and a half hours boardwalk, the stench coming from the mangroves was detestable because of the anaerobic respiration carried out by the bacteria decomposing in the soil. However, it made me realise the importance of mangroves. Not only does it merely provide a habitat for organisms, it actually has may other vital functions as well. It provides a source of food for human, traps and removes unwanted waste in the water using the roots, a site of stopover for many migratory birds, such as egrets, herons and kingfisher, and last but not least, a place for human to enjoy the serenity and beauty of nature and its little creature hiding in there.
THE ONLY ONE cut the sentence at 5:45 am
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