Visit to HortPark on 22 May 2013

Our group, group 2--Jonathan Lim, Jarrett Tan, Sean Leong and Divye Baid journeyed to Alexandra, in order to fully experience the amazing, breathtaking nature of HortPark. Features of the park included many plants we had never seen, not to mention interesting animals too. 

A Caterpillar on a Banana Leaf

Brightly coloured Christ plant(euphorbia milii)

A shelter made by growing creepers on a wooden structure. Our guide showing us a frangipani flower(plumeria alba).

A beautiful hundred-petaled rose(rosa centifolia) Although it is unlikely that it actually has exactly 100 petals, the hundred-petalled rose does have many petals, and was probably called that by a few lazy biologists.

It was an enriching time at HortPark and we learnt a lot about nature. We also learnt how to protect the environment and what we can do to help the environment.

The features of an ecosystem are biotic and abiotic factors.  Biotic means related to life, so they are living factors.  Plants, animals, fungi, etc. are biotic.  Abiotic means not alive, so they are non-living factors affecting the living organisms and other abiotic factors.  Abiotic factors include humidity, temperature, and amount of sunlight recieved.  Natural disasters, rain, snow, etc. are also abiotic factors.  

All of these factors, biotic and abiotic, are interrelated.  As a result, if one factor is changed, it impacts the availability of other resources within the system, and therefore the biotic factors in the system as well, although there is not much change in the abiotic factors if a biotic factor is changed.

At present, Singapore has successfully managed to keep environmental issues and threats to the ecosystem at bay. These include climate change, which can severely affect the ecosystem with its temperature changes, damage due to forest fires or wildfires, natural disturbances, and the worst--threat of being exploited by humans.

Although Singapore might not be able to play a direct part in the conservation of the ecosystem, Singaporeans can also help to spread the message of environmental awareness to foreigners or businesses which can play a more active role for them to bring their knowledge to other countries in order to maintain the natural balance of the ecosystem.