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The last place I saw fireflies here was at a kampung at Marsiling, where my relatives used to live. It's no longer present. After the kampung was torn down, the fireflies left.
Talking about light, it reminds me of those days when people can often see small groups of blinking lights (fireflies) in the night. Today, these are also as rare as 'big bad boons', lol.
LIFE IS UNBEARABLE WITHOUT A FISH TANK!!!
The last place I saw fireflies here was at a kampung at Marsiling, where my relatives used to live. It's no longer present. After the kampung was torn down, the fireflies left.
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Probably fireflies, 'big bad boons' and such rarities can still be found in our nature reserves? Other than that, I suppose the hobbyist friends in Johore may be able to help find a source?
I've seen fireflies in the forests of the Central Catchment Area (Venus Drive), the Western Catchment Area and on Pulau Tekong (during reservist training, of course).
There's also a report on fireflies in Sungei Buloh. This species of firefly (Pteroptyx valida) lives in mangroves, and my guess is that they can be found in small numbers in coastal areas with mangroves - they're likely to be present in Kranji, Woodlands (Mandai mangroves), and Admiralty Park, and I've definitely seen fireflies in the mangroves at Pasir Ris Park.
This species of firefly was also the subject of some controversy last year, when Wildlife Reserves Singapore released some of them at Upper Seletar Reservoir (wrong habitat!) - it was framed as a "reintroduction" effort, when it was more of a PR exercise by the then-CEO simply because our President was the Guest of Honour at the event.
Anyway, I was wondering if some of the ponds at the small illegal vegetable gardens along the old Jurong Line (the old railway line that stretches between Teban Gardens and Clementi) might have populations of water fleas. Although these "farms" don't raise fishes, there are a number of ponds, drains, and other permanent waterbodies; I did recall seeing small apple snails in there when I walked along the old railway tracks early last year, so I guess that these small waterbodies last for some time. However, with the removal of the tracks last year, the upcoming eviction of these gardens, and possibly fears of mosquito breeding, I fear that we might not have much time left to explore this possibility.
Did the "re-introduction" at Upper Seletar work?
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No idea; my guess is that even if the adult fireflies survived, they wouldn't have been able to reproduce successfully due to it being the wrong habitat.
So much for trying to promote conservation, while releasing animals into the wrong habitat. Sigh. I know WRS is a for-profit organisation, but it seems like that former CEO (Isabella Loh, infamous for cancelling the Halloween Horrors event at the Night Safari) screwed things up really badly.
Misguided attempt but hopefully some of the adults managed to find their way to the right habitat.
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Please, do not engage in any poaching activities from our Nature RESERVES. Our limited biodiversity is very badly damaged as it is.Originally Posted by tetrakid
My guess is that they probably weren't able to make their way down to the appropriate habitats... Unfortunately.
What poaching are you talking about? Who says anything about poaching? I didn't even think of going to that Sungei Pandan Canal mentioned by others here. Please don't jump to wrong conclusions without verifying.
Chill out people. Cladocerans may be present all over the island, but in pockets like the spot along the Pandan Canal. Any permanent water body should have these critters, with the exception of tidal canals close to the coast.
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I was wondering if there's a chance that we might find cladocerans in ponds on Pulau Ubin. It's been a while since the villagers were allowed to raise poultry, but perhaps some of the ponds might still have booming populations of water fleas due to all the accumulated chicken and duck droppings over the years.
Another factor is the large population of wild boar there. As wild boar wallow in the mud, they create holes and depressions that soon fill up with water. I won't be surprised if some of these wallows, possibly being enriched by wild boar droppings from time to time, might contain the right conditions for water fleas to grow.
Of course, with wild boar recolonising mainland Singapore, maybe some of the wallows they've created on mainland Singapore might harbour water fleas. Their stronghold is still in the Western Catchment and Central Catchment areas, though they are apparently spreading and popping up in quite a number of places.
Woah chill out man. Just a friendly reminder, as you mentioned nature reserves and the boon. I never said there's anything wrong about Pandan Canal.
Pseudo, the family of wild boar spotted near where I live are no longer to be seen. Much of Ubin is still the same. I believe these Cladocerans should be easily found there.
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Anyway Pseudo, have you had any encounters with it on our mainland?
Draka: With wild boar? Only in the Western Catchment area during reservist training, although others have reported signs of wild boar or even encountered them in many other areas.
Stormhawk: Maybe we need to launch an Ubin expedition.
Who knows what we'll find in those streams, disused aquaculture ponds and wild boar wallows? Of course, there's always the chance that many of them are under tidal influence and we won't find any water fleas, but it's still worth a look.
Hmm if I recall correctly from my last trip to a OBS camp, a portion of the island around the centre breadth-wise is submerged at high tide almost daily. As this was almost 5 years ago I believe it's reasonable to assume its daily, since the tides seem to have grown higher. The OBS portion isn't really accessible to us public, is it? The first place I'd think of is the prawn ponds that have recently been cleared of their lotus plants though.
Anyway pseudo, was wondering if you saw any waterfleas on the mainland...
Draka: Oops, my bad. No, I haven't encountered water fleas on the mainland. I have found ostracods (seed shrimps) and conchostracans (clam shrimps) in some samples we've taken from various waterbodies around Singapore (can't reveal further due to workplace confidentiality issues).
And yes, the OBS is out of bounds to the public. The centre portion of the island (Sungei Jelutong) is basically a river that bisects the two halves of Pulau Ubin, and has strong marine influence. Good if you're thinking of collecting mangrove saplings or going after brackish water fishes, but not good for our purposes. The eastern half of Ubin is our best shot, particularly the ponds and drains. Some of them are likely to be brackish, but there's a chance that we might find some freshwater drains and ponds.
Omg conchostracans?! That's so cool, to me its an even greater prize than daphnia (sorry OT). They're temperature requirements are quite strict too I remember. Thanks for all the info, its great to know a researcher ^^
The problem with Ubin is that part of the island were prawn farms in the past, so the soil may have already been damaged by the saltwater that these ponds commonly use. Finding an untouched stream or pond may be really difficult, even though most of the island is reverting back to the wild. I feel, the only place where nature has not been thoroughly disturbed is Pulau Tekong. On my last visit to Tanjung Chek Jawa, I didn't see any small streams or rivers exiting out to the sea. Only a brackish stream that flows along and under the boardwalk on one part of the park. You can see mud lobster mounds there. I saw a huge Mudskipper there near the watchtower, but never saw any freshwater streams.
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