Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Part E: Credits and Acknowledgements

Resources and Websites


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurong_lake

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fern

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixora

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oreodoxa_regia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pondskater

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snail

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadpole

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterpillar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungi

Title of book: A Guide to the Wayside Trees of Singapore

  • Ong Lei Ting(14)- In charge of write up in part A
  • Tan Mei Xuan(18)- Photographer and in charge of write up in part B and E

  • Zeng Guang Lin(39)- In charge of write up in Part C

  • Hoo Zheng Feng(25)- In charge of write up in Part D

Part D: Conclusion

The park is important for the residents as the people can breath in fresh air like oxygen. They also can take a walk in the park or take a rest in the park. They can take a stroll in the park, to let them decrease their stress.

The park visitors can do to protect the natural environment and make their visit more meaningful by not to throw litter onto the ground and in the lake. If they saw any people littering, they could go forward and stop them from littering. They should throw the litter into the dustbin, if they do not see one nearby, they should keep the litter till they find a dustbin, not just throw anywhere else.

Biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem.
Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems. The biodiversity found on Earth today consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The year 2010 has been declared as the International Year of Biodiversity. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth, but is consistently rich in the tropics and in specific localized regions such as the Cape Floristic Province; it is less rich in polar regions where fewer species are found. It means that biodiversity is part of ecosystem. If biodiversity is destroyed, it will harm the environment or even make the Earth in critical.

The natural environment, encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species. Protecting the natural environment is also protecting the Earth. If Earth is destroyed, human beings also cannot live in Earth. Consequences will be very bad. People will because of their actions and will pay a big consequences for it.

Part C: Impact of Man on Jurong Lake Park

The Jurong Lake park is a mini reservoir, it was supposed to have clean water, but instead of keeping it clean, some people have abused it. They threw rubbish into it and even spat into the river, this caused pollution and a lot of animals have died. The construction have also caused the lake to become polluted, it was because the oil that comes from the machines may have leaked, the dirt that dropped into the lake. There may also be chemical that may have accidentally leaked and when fish drink them, the fish may be caught by some people and caused food poisoning or simply just kill the fish.
The park officials have tried their best to make sure that the construction does not affect the water quality and the health of the living things in the lake. But some people because of their convenience just throw the litter everywhere they like. Those people are too self-centered. No matter how hard the park officials tried, it will not solve the problem.

Here are some evidences:


Monday, August 23, 2010

Part B: Diversity of Flora and Fauna

Pong Pong (Cerbera Odollam)
Pong Pong is commonly known as Cerbera Odollam,Suicide Tree and Othalanga. It is a species of tree native to India and other parts of Southern Asia. It grows preferentially in coastal salt swamps and in marshy areas. It grows wild along the coast in many parts of Kerala, India and has been grown as a hedge between home compounds. It yields a potent poison, often used for suicide or murder.
Ixora (Ixora coccinea)
Ixora is a genus of 529 species in the family Rubiaceae, consisting of tropical evergreen trees and shrubs. Though native to the tropical and subtropical areas throughout the world, its centre of diversity is in tropical areas in Asia, especially India, Ixora now grows commonly in subtropical climates in the United States, such as Florida. Ixora is also commonly known as West Indian Jasmine. Other common names include rangan, kheme, ponna, chann tanea, techi, pan, santan. jarum-jarum, jungle flame, jungle geranium, and many more. Plants possess leathery leaves, ranging from 3 to 6 inches in length, and produce large clusters of tiny flowers in the summer. Members of Ixora prefer acidic soil, and are suitable choices for bonsai.
Coconut Tree

The coconut (Cocos nucifera) is an important member of the family Arecaceae (palm family). It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos, and is a large palm, growing up to 30 m tall, with pinnate leaves 4–6 m long, and pinnae 60–90 cm long; old leaves break away cleanly, leaving the trunk smooth. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word.

Sealing Wax Palm (Cyrtostachys Renda) This is an attractive palm coming from peat swamps of Malaysia and Indonesia. It grows in clumps, the younger palms developing from the base of the older ones. The attractiveness of the palm is in the bright scarlet leaf sheaths.

Royal Palm (Oreodoxa Regia)
It is commonly known as the Cuban Royal Palm, Florida Royal Palm, Roystonea Regia and Oreadoxa Regia. Royal palm is a species of palm which is native to Southern Florida, Mexico and parts of Central America and the Northern Carribean. It ranged into central Florida in the eighteenth century but in modern times it is only known from tropical parts of south Florida. A large and attractive palm, it has been planted throughout the tropics and subtropics as an ornamental tree. Although is is sometimes called R.elata,the conserved name R.regia is now the correct name for the species. Populations in Cuba and Florida were long seen as separate species, but are now considered to belong to a single species.

Pond skater
Pond skater is from the family Gerridae and it contains insects commonly known as water striders, water bugs, magic bugs, skaters, skimmers, water scooters, water skaters, water skeeters, water skimmers, water skippers or Jesus bugs. There are around 500 known species, commonly placed in around 60 genera
Snail
Snail is a common name for almost all members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in a general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails, and freshwater snails. Otherwise snail-like creatures that lack a shell (or have only a very small one) are called slugs.
Snails can be found in a very wide range of environments including ditches
, deserts, and the abyssal depths of the sea. Although many people are familiar with terrestrail snails, land snails are in the minority. Marine snails constitute the majority of snail species, and have much greater diversity and a greater biomass. Numerous kinds of snail can also be found in fresh waters. Many snails are herbivorous, though a few land species and many marine species are omnivorous or predatory carnivours. Snails that respire using a lung belong to the group Pulmonata, while those with gills form a paraphyletic group; in other words, snails with gills are divided into a number of taxonomic groups that are not very closely related. Snails with lungs and with gills have diversified widely enough over geological time that a few species with gills can be found on land, numerous species with a lung can be found in freshwater, and a few species with a lung can be found in the sea.
Caterpillar Caterpillars are the larval form of a member of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, with some species being insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered pests in agriculture. Many moth species are better known in their caterpillar stages because of the damage they cause to fruits and other agricultural produce.
Bird Species not known due to distance of animal from photographer.
Tadpole Please look carefully at the picture and you will see a tadpole swimming. A tadpole, polliwog (also pollywog, polliwig, polwig, or purwiggy), or pollywiggle (also polliwiggle, polwiggle, or porwiggle) is the wholly aquatic larval stage in the life cycle of an amphibian, particularly of a frog or toad.

Fern A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem (making them vascular plants). They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants. Ferns do not have either seeds or flowers (they reproduce via spores).
By far the largest group of ferns are the leptosporangiate ferns
, but ferns as defined here (also called monilophytes) include horsetails, whisk ferns, marattiod ferns, and ophioglossoid ferns. The term pteridophyte also refers to ferns.

AlgaeAlgae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multi-cellular forms. The largest and most complex marine forms are called seaweeds. They are photosynthetic, like plants, and "simple" because they lack the many distinct organs found in land plants.
FungusFungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom. It is separate from plants, animals and bacteria. One major difference is that fungal cells have cell walls that contain chitin, unlike the cell walls of plants, which contain cellulose. These and other differences show that the fungi form a single group of related organisms, named the Eumycota.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Part A: Introduction Jurong Lake Park

Jurong Lake is a freshwater lake and reservoir located in the western region of Singapore formed with the damming of Sungei Jurong further downstream. The lake serves as a reservoir contributing to the water supply of the country. It lies next to the Lakeside MRT station, which seems as a recreational ground for nearby resident in Jurong East and Jurong West New Towns.

Jurong Lake Park was built around the perimeter of the lake and work was completed in January 2006. Also, a 2.8 kilometer water promenade along Jurong Lake Park would allow residents to participate in water sports.

As is the case for most other reservoirs in Singapore, fishing and swimming are currently illegal in the lake, although this may change in line with the Singapore government's liberalization of the use of bodies of water in the republic. However, the water is noted to be green in colour during dry weather and a murky brown after a downpour, the likely result of runoff from its urban catchment area.

The lake came into prominence in 2002 when a boy fell into a drain which led to Sungei Lanchar during a thunderstorm. His lifeless body was subsequently found in the lake after a search operation two days after the incident.

Reflection: When we reached the park, we felt the peacefulness of the surroundings. Although it was just opposite my school, we did not know that it was such a nice place. But there is litter. Those litters would ruin the surroundings. We hoped that the people going there would not do anything that harm to the environment. It is our responsible to keep the park clean. We should think of others who went to Jurong Lake Park. They went there due to some reason but we should not destroy their feeling and ideas when they went there. We should let them think that Jurong Lake Park is a nice place to visit and they are willing to come the next time.