HOME - Yann Arthus-Bertrand

HOME is a beautiful documentary by Yanns Arthus-Bertrand. Narrated by Glen Close, the story of how life began and how humans changed the environment as civilisation progress is beautifully told.

Ecological Corridor for Bukit Timah and Central Catchment Nature Reserve, Singapore

Finally there are plans for an ecolink connecting Bukit Timah and Central Catchment Nature Reserve.

This conservation corridor will offset the impact of fragmentation caused by the Bukit Timah Expressway which dissected the original continuous forest area into 2. Built over the Bukit Timah Expressway, the Ecolink is hourglass shaped and will be 50m at its narrowest point.

Some readings on conservation corridors

Simberloff, D. & J. Cox, 1987. Consequences and Costs of Conservation Corridors. Conservation Biology, 1(1): 63-71.

Fleury, A. M. & R. D. Brown, 1997. A framework for the design of wildlife conservation corridors with specific application to southwestern Ontario. Landscape and Urban Planning, 37(3-4): 163-186.

Article in The Straits Times 6 Sept 2009 by Grace Chua.

Bridge to link two nature reserves by 2013
By 2013, there will be a new green link between the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and Central Catchment Area.

Conservationists had long bemoaned the separation of the two reserves by the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) since its construction in 1986.

The road prevented plant and animal species from moving between the two forest tracts.

The new eco-passage will arch over the 50m-wide BKE and be sited at a suitable narrow point between the reserves. Its construction was announced yesterday at the opening of the National Parks Board's Dairy Farm Nature Park.

A tender will be called at the end of this year and construction will start next year.

The bridge, 50m wide at its narrowest point and planted with dense trees resembling a forest habitat, could help populations of animals like the critically-endangered banded leaf monkey to recover.

Four to six years ago, there were thought to be fewer than 20 of the small dark-furred monkeys - a number too small to be sustainable - but now there are about 30 living around the Central Catchment Area.

The eco-link could help them migrate to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to find other food sources.

A hiking trail at one edge will also enable humans to move between the reserves.

National University of Singapore conservation biologist Navjot Sodhi said of the bridge: 'Every plan to connect habitats is a good plan but how it pans out - only time will tell.'

'I hope NParks will do surveys to see how species are moving between the reserves,' he added.

Also launched yesterday was a national document which outlines Singapore's strategy for protecting its plants, animals and ecosystems.

The eco-link and Dairy Farm Nature Park are key components of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, which describes five strategies:

- Safeguarding biodiversity.
- Taking biodiversity into account in policy-making.
- Improving knowledge of the natural environment.
- Raising public awareness of biodiversity.
- Strengthening local and international partnerships.

'It's not just scientists and government. Every individual plays a part in making conservation work in Singapore,' said Dr Lena Chan of NParks' conservation division.

Marine biologist Chou Loke Ming of the National University of Singapore said the plan recognises the importance of biodiversity and sets up a framework to protect it.

The plan is available online at www.nparks.gov.sg/nbsap.

Grace Chua

Switching to biologyrefugia.blogspot.com

The Biology Refugia began in May 2004 as a group blog by a few biologists. Then hosted at the National University of Singapore's Faculty of Science server, the URL bore my name. As a result, this had the unfortunate effect of incorrect citations by sloppy users who incorrectly attributed the authorship of a few posts by my blog-buddies to me instead.

This irked me to no end so shifting the site to blogspot (http://biologyrefugia.blogspot.com/) will solve this. It will also allow the use of widgets that will help tidy up the archival listing. The transition was smooth, just requiring a change in the settings and the old site will remain online for old links.

Meanwhile, blog on!

More creationism in schools?

Two articles on creationism in schools have been making their rounds of Singaporean student mailing lists recently.

The first is a report from the Guardian newspaper in the UK that the government agency Naric, which gives information on the standards of 'lesser-known qualifications', has ruled that the International Certificate of Christian Education is equivalent to the A-levels. Seems like a routine piece of news until one reads that:

One of the textbooks tells pupils: "Have you heard of the 'Loch Ness Monster' in Scotland? 'Nessie,' for short has been recorded on sonar from a small submarine, described by eyewitnesses, and photographed by others. Nessie appears to be a plesiosaur."

And this anecdote is supposed to be an item of proof for the falsehood of evolution.

In Singapore, The Online Citizen, a news and opinion website, has run an article raising concerns about creationist viewpoints being 'sneaked' into secular classrooms, both by teachers and by supplementary books which creationist content.

Unfortunately the biologist quoted in the article gives his opinion under a pseudonym. I'm sure that there are practicing scientists out there who would be willing to state their views plainly under their real names. While I agree with his standpoint (i.e. opposed to creationism and anti-evolutionism), I was disappointed in some places by how it was put across.

Referring to a children's encyclopedia that touts the 'Theory of Creation', he says that it is "Rubbish... Stupid", and that: "For this reason alone, this book would be outlawed in a heartbeat and taken off the shelves in the U.S. and in Europe."

Someone familiar with the diffusion of creationist and anti-evolutionist ideas would recognize that the origin of modern creationism is precisely in the United States, and this is where the public debate on the place of creationism in public schools is the strongest. Furthermore, belittling the opposing camp may feel satisfying and win approval from like-minded peers, it does not help in convincing those who espouse creationist ideas that evolution is 'more than a theory' and is based on solid, rational facts and principles.

Creationism's popularity lies in the feeling of embattlement that many religious people feel when they engage with the secular world. As biologists and educators (at least I imagine that is the audience of this blog) we should take care not to escalate the tension. Our frame of mind should be that of persuasion, regardless of how strongly-held our views are, because it is very hard to convince someone in a hostile mood.

NY Times feature on whales and us

"Human-whale relations have long been defined by this stark dualism: manic swings between mythologizing and massacre; between sublime awe and assiduous annihilation, the testimonies of their slayers often permeated with a deep sense of both remorse and respect for the victims."

In between these extremes, the relationship between humans and whales turns out to be social and complex. Among themselves, whales have languages, communities, and actually resemble us more than we would care to admit. So given our history of hunting whales and driving them to suicide by the cacophony of underwater sonar, could they find it in their hearts to forgive us?

Towards its conclusion, this article by Charles Siebert raises the issue of anthropomorphism. Because of the close parallels in their behavior and sociality to that of our own species, it is tempting to suppose that whales and other cetaceans have feelings and motivations like we do, that they feel sadness or gladness when they display aversion or preference.

Anthropomorphism has long been the big taboo in the field of ethology, because of the concern that it is unscientific and sentimental, so generations of behaviorists have been taught to refer to their animal subjects by numbers rather than names, and to carefully suppress their instinct to ascribe human-like motivations and feelings to them. The scientist that the author quotes, Toni Frohoff, is quick to say: "I don't anthropomorphize", but also that "those who would reject out of hand the idea that whales are intelligent enough to consciously interact with us haven’t spent enough time around whales."

The intuition of a seasoned and experienced observer encodes subtle nuances and detail that the hypothesis-testing model of science can be blind to. The question, of course, is how to translate the ineffable quality of a humpback gently nudging a dive team that had recently freed it from a tangle of rope into some convincingly systematic scheme of explanation. It would be very satisfying if the rigorous study of cetaceans can give us insight into whether these animals, like us, are able to lead rich and interesting internal lives.

Creationism in Hong Kong schools?

Earlier in the year, a number of scientists in Hong Kong complained to the territory's Education Bureau about the new biology syllabus for schools, which included a clause stating that "in addition to Darwin's theory, students are encouraged to explore other explanations for evolution and the origins of life, to help illustrate the dynamic nature of scientific knowledge" (the latest version of the document on the bureau's website lacks this statement). Such wording has been used by advocates of creationism and Intelligent Design (ID) in the United States to legitimate the teaching of these so-called 'alternatives' to evolutionary theory in classrooms.

In May, a group of 62 people including education professionals replied to this criticism saying that there was no problem with the above wording and continued to impute that ID was a valid alternative to evolution. As a result, a group called the Concern Group for Hong Kong Science Education has set up an online petition calling on the Education Bureau to clarify its position on the teaching of evolution and to refute the claims of ID supporters in Hong Kong.

It's interesting how these hot-ticket issues have somehow become transplanted wholesale into a society which until lately has not seen such a polarized opposition between the secular and religious. Lacking the social and historical context (or baggage) of the ID debate in the US, the position of the pro-ID supporters in Hong Kong would seem very mild and entirely reasonable to an unsuspecting public. After all, what's wrong with teaching 'both sides' of the issue? To those who are aware of former creationist arguments against evolution, however, the sort of evidence and explanation used by the pro-ID camp seem uncannily familiar. They are not so much in favor of scientific even-handedness (suppose one wanted to teach 'both sides' of the Newtonian theory of gravitation...) but specifically wish to discredit evolution. As such it is quite disingenuous for the issue to be framed as merely giving voice to 'alternatives'.

As a social phenomenon, I'm quite curious to see how this plays out. Why is it that the ID or creationist movement has only started gaining prominence beyond the US around this decade? Reports have surfaced in the news about similar problems plaguing science educators in the UK and other European countries. In Turkey, the creationist movement is largely driven by one man, who goes by the pen name Harun Yahya, who although framing his opposition to evolution from an Islamic perspective, simply reuses the arguments of the Christian anti-evolutionists. So, future intellectual historians of our times: why is this happening now? And why simultaneously in societies so different from each other and from the US, where all this started?

Update: Simon Singh libel case

Nature magazine has just published an editorial calling for libel laws in Britain to be changed.

The editor observes that it is not that science should be given a position of privilege within the law, but that the law itself is wrong-minded.