WETlands
a publication of Sungei Buloh Nature Park
Vol 7 No 3
Dec 2000

Traditional uses
of mangroves

Reflections of a Rhizophora Seedling

Pink-necked
Green Pigeon

BotanicalReveries
about the common names of plants

Cymbly Great
rediscovery of
an extinct Cymbidium
at the Park

Rediscovered Palm at the Park: Nibong

Deborah Yeo shares her volunteer experience

The value of trees by Julian

Nick's encounter with Smooth Otters at the Park

About the signboards
at the Park

Up & Coming Boardwalks
and Tower Hide		   Ng Sock Ling Senior Education Officer, brings the Great Mangroves to life.
Reflections of
a Rhizophora Seedling

This morning, I was jolted awake by a loud splash nearby. I looked, just in time to see a flash of turquoise disappearing into the treetops. It was Mr Collared Kingfisher, who had just grabbed breakfast on the wing. I yawned and quivered in my mother's hold. I live on the fringes between the land and the sea.

Rhizophora sp.
Where I live, fresh and sea water mingle, and salinity rises and ebbs with the tide. The soft mud makes for a slippery foothold, and its low oxygen content a barrier to many who try to establish themselves here. It was in this inhospitable habitat that the first of my kind set forth their roots. I live in the special habitat called the mangroves.

My mother tells me that the the Great Mangroves once covered almost the whole of Singapore's coastline. These forests were tasked by Mother Nature to reclaim from the sea, as mangrove trees have special roots to hold down shifting mud. When tropical thunderstorms lashed their fury on the island, the Great Mangroves soaked up the rainfall like sponges, and kept the island from flooding. In this rich ecosystem, early settlers hunted for fish, crabs, mussels and shellfish, spiders and collected medicinal plants. Later, as the city Singapore grew, the mangroves provided much of the charcoal and firewood needed for fuel, and timber for building. Sadly for these great forests, their very usefulness proved to be their downfall. By the time Man extended his protection to the Great Mangroves in the 1800's, most of our habitat was already degraded by over-exploitation

I am lucky to be among the very few survivors of this very special type of forest. My mother stands among others of my kind along the banks of Sungei Buloh Besar. We are Rhizophoras, recognisable by our stilt roots. Our old neighbours, the Avicennia and Brugueira stand alongside us, with their pencil roots and kneed roots. Together, we provide food and shelter to numerous mangrove creatures: crabs and shellfish, spiders and insects, reptiles and birds, local and foreign.

Tree-Climbing crabs

You are the not likely to spot our tenants though, unless you know what to look out for! For our tenants are very shy creatures that blend into the landscape, a very necessary feature if they want the to avoid being someone else's dinner. But they always leave some tell tale signs behind: tracks in the mud, some speckled egg shells, a discarded pupa case neatly split down the back... And open your ears - for even if you can't see them, you can hear them: the drone of the cicadas in the trees, the splash of a sea bass as it spurts through the water; the noisy rustling of undergrowth as the resident monitor lizard takes off. And the bird calls—the loud chuckle of the kingfisher contrasting with the melodious song of the magpie robin and the soft cooing of doves.

Oops, I am falling! This is the day Mother has prepared me for—the day when I will begin my own journey of discovery. "Goodbye, Mother!" I call out as I fall through the air and land with a little splash in the waters below.

As I bob upright in the water, I am amazed to see tiny fish and prawn fry flitting all about me. This must be the nursery my mother told me about. I can see why prawn and fish mothers would choose the mangroves to raise their precious young, for here among the mangrove tree roots, their young can easily hide from predators. The waters here are teeming with microscopic plant and animal life, which provide abundant food for the juveniles.

Mudskipper
It must have been this richness of fish and prawn fry that attracted man to the Sungei Buloh mangroves. For here are several prawn and fish ponds that used to supply man with quality protein for his diet. The ponds are now part of Sungei Buloh Nature Park, and the fish and prawns have also naturally become a part of the food chain in the mangrove ecosystem.

As I bob along, I think about how great a loss it would be, if all the mangroves disappeared. For along with us would go the buffering effect on our climate, the rich diversity of life and the many secrets still locked within us.

Fortunately for me, I have Sungei Buloh Nature Park a place conserved for me and my fellow inhabitants of this unique habitat. Here, I can grow to be as sturdy and majestic as my mother is, and harbour among my roots and branches, the next generation of crabs and shellfish, spiders and insects, reptiles and birds, local and foreign.
   
© Sungei Buloh Nature Park