Southern+Ridges+Group+10

Page for Southern Ridges Group 10, consisting of Shuo Ling, Sarah, Ying Qi and Jaime.

__**Some plants and animals**__ . Source: http://www.foodrepublic.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/enlarge/Figs1.jpg **Singapore Rhododemdrom--** Singapore's most commonly seen wildflower. Not native, thus its name is a bit misleading. The fruits when ripe, can be used to make poh chye kim, a type of traditional herbal medicine that is still commonly used today.
 * Wild pepper plant--**holds ground firmly, prevents soil erosion, can be decorative and requires minimal maintenence
 * A mile a minute/ smilex--**A nuisance. Suffocates trees and takes in nutrients from the plant. Grows extremely fast.
 * Ordeal tree--** Sap is poisonous. Used in the olden days to poison people. Not native
 * Saga tree--** Also known as food tree as the red seeds have protein in them.
 * Costus--** One of the plants in the 1500 species in the ginger order. Flowers sticks out from bright red decorative part. It can be used as a decorative item. Leaves are arranged in a spiralling manner. It has no true stem, only a fake stem. Grows well where there is abundant sunlight.
 * Rain Tree**-- Not native. Imported more than a 100 years ago.
 * Cicadas--** A insect similar to the cricket. However, there are no crickets in Singapore. Gives off chirping noise similar to a cricket by rubbing a thin membrane on its abdomen. Lives only for two weeks.
 * Hairy Clydenia--** Not native. Very destructive as well as a nuisance. Similar to a mile a minute/smilex. Brought in by accident. It blocks space needed for the growth of other plants.
 * Wild cinnamon--** Very mild cinnamon taste. The bark is commonly used to make joss sticks.
 * Gelutong tree--** Native tree, used in the past to make chewing gum.
 * Fig tree-- ** What is known as 'fig' is not its fruit. It is a covering of hundreds of tiny flowers.

__** Three features of the ecosystem **__ 1. Bees help to pollinate flowers, to ensure the continuity of the flowers' own kind. In return, the bees get nectar from most flowers for food. 2. The dead leaves from plants fall to the moist soil and decompose as nutrients for the plants in a type of cycle as shown below.

Sources: http://images.colourbox.com/thumb_COLOURBOX2129600.jpg, 3. The food chain. Herbivorous animals feed on plants, and in turn, carnivorous animals feed on these herbivorous animals. __**Threat that the ecosystem faces**__ Humans are destroying and clearing forests to build houses and recreational places. Many animals will then lose their homes and will die eventually, due to the lack of food and shelter. Humans are also killing both rare and common species for food and money. They even go against the law by killing rare and endangered species and exporting them illegally. If they kill too many of a species and the entire species goes extinct, this will affect the food chain. For example, if an anteater eats ants, which go extinct, the anteater will go hungry and die. If a certain carnivorous animal eats anteaters, which had already died out, the carnivorous animal will also go hungry and die. There is also environmental pollution, which decreases the survival of plants. This in turn, also affects the food chain.

__**How Singaporeans can remove or minimise threat**__ Singaporeans can be more integrated with nature by planting trees around our neighbourhoods and roads. We can also set-up nature reserves to preserve certain endangered species of plants and animals. Singaporeans must avoid littering, smoking and driving too many cars. We should also avoid buying products that are being tested on animals. Not only that, we can protect the environment by incorporating the urban lifestyle into wildlife WITHOUT destroying anything (that includes the ecosystem, food chain, etc.) We should also conserve as much electricity as we can as our supply of fossil fuels, that we burn for energy, dwindles because of over-usage. Not only because there is a limited supply of fossil fuels, burning them releases greenhouse gases which cause the earth to heat up and results in global warming or climate change, and our environment is changing because of us. There are more unpredictable weathers, a higher sea level, a hotter atmosphere... the list goes on. If this continues, the human race stands to be wiped out just because of our selfishness and greediness for a luxurious lifestyle.