Organisms in Jurong Lake Park

Apple snail (Ampullariidae)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Apple snails is a family of large freshwater snails , it has both a lung and a gill.

Dragonfly (Anisoptera)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
A dragonfly is a double-winged insect, it has large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body.

the cockroach can be found near the leaf stalk

Cockroach (Blattaria)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Blattodea
Cockroach has spines on its legs to help in locomotion on difficult terrain, the egg capsule of a cockroach contains around 40 eggs.

Fruitfly (Drosophila melanogaster)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Drosophilidae
Genus: Drosophila
Fruit flies have brick red eyes, are yellow-brown in color, and have transverse black rings across their abdomen.

Black Ant (Camponotus pennsylvanicus)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Genus: Lasius
Species: Lasius niger
Lasius niger colonies can reach in size up to around 15,000 workers but 4,000–7,000 is around average. A Lasius niger queen can live for around 12 years.

Grasshopper (Caelifera)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Grasshoppers have antennae that are generally shorter than their body and short ovipositors. They also have pinchers or mandibles that cut and tear off food.Grasshoppers prefer to eat grasses, leaves and cereal crops

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Bird Nest Fern (Asplenium nidus)
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Pteridophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order: Polypodiales
Family: Aspleniaceae
Genus: Asplenium
Species: Nidus
The fronds of the bird nest fern grows up to 50-150 cm long and 10-20 cm broad. They are light green, often crinkled, with a black midrib, and exhibit circinate vernation. The spores develop in sori on the underside of the fronds.

Heliconia (Heliconia Inflorescences)
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Heliconiaceae
Genus: Heliconia
Heliconia range from 0.5 to nearly 4.5 meters (1.5–15 feet) tall depending on the species. The simple leaves of these plants are 15–300 cm (6 in-10 ft). They are characteristically long, oblong, alternate, or growing opposite one another on non-woody petioles often longer than the leaf, often forming large clumps with age. Their flowers are produced on long, erect or drooping panicles, and consist of brightly colored waxy bracts, with small true flowers peeping out from the bracts.

Pong pong (Cerbera odollam)
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Gentianales
Family: Apocynaceae
Genus: Cerbera
Species: Cerbera odollam
The cerbera odollam is commonly known as the suicide tree as it yields a potent poison, often used for suicide or murder. The fruit, when still green, looks like a small mango, with a green fibrous shell enclosing an ovoid kernel measuring approximately 2 cm × 1.5 cm and consisting of two cross-matching white fleshy halves.

Ixora
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Angiosperma
Class: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Genus: Ixora
Species: Coccinea
Ixora prefer acidic soil, in tropical climates they flower year round. It has leathery leaves, ranging from 3 to 6 inches in length, and produce large clusters of tiny flowers in the summer.

Impact of Man on Jurong Lake Park

Jurong Lake Park is home to many species of wildlife. Many of these wildlife are in danger of disappearing from Jurong Lake Park due to the impacts of Man visiting and upgrading the park to attract more people and tourist .

Some of the impact of Man is littering in waters and on land. The litters on land causes land animals to die when they eat it thinking that the litters are food. Small land animals will also die when they get trap in litters like plastics and when they cannot find a way out, they struggle to escape and eventually die due to lack of oxygen. The litters on the water will cause the aquatic animal to die as the aquatic animals might swallow the litters thinking it is food and get choked. The litters may also clog up drains causing the water to become stagnant and the stagnant water becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes which may cause diseases to the animals there.

Due to the construction work at Jurong Lake Park, a layer of oil could be found on some area of the lake probably because of oil spills from the machines. Also, due to litters clogging up some of the drain connected to the lake, the water becomes more polluted as the oil gathers at a certain area of the lake and this causes the layer of oil to get thicker. This is very bad for the aquatic animals as the oil prevents sunlight to enter the water thus the aquatic plants cannot photosynthesise. This means that there will be lesser oxygen for the animals to breathe in and they eventually die. The land animals will also be affected as they drink water from the lake and if the water is polluted, they will die due to toxic materials in the water.

Many trees have also been cut down to get more resources or to get more space to build structures. This is a problem to the animals as there will be lesser oxygen produced. If the rate at which the trees are being cut down is faster than the time for the tree to grow, there will be a major problem as lesser trees means lesser oxygen and lesser oxygen would mean more death of the animals.

Conservation efforts at Jurong Lake Park

I think the authorities made an effort to prevent park users from littering, disturbing habitats and abusing/killing wildlife.They put up signs warning and posters to remind visitors not to disturb the organisms.For example, they came up with fining park users if they litter.

I do not think these efforts are very effective as tree stumps and litter-especially plastic bags-are found lying around.I think the authorities can place recycling bins around the park.The places with no rubbish bins appear more littered.They can put the bins in places that are more crowded or in regular intervals so that people will find  it more convenient to clear their waste and therefore won't litter.This will help keep the park litter-free.A litter-free park will be beneficial for both humans and other organisms in the park,like plants and animals .

Introduction to Jurong Lake Park

Jurong Lake Park is a reservoir that was completed in January 2006. It is a park that is full of life and activities. As time passes, fewer and fewer people went to the park , although it is still a favorite haunt for nature lovers and joggers. After a few years , the park then transformed into a scenic get-away. The park now has a lot of activities and sports that can be carried out there for example, dragon-boating,jogging and skate boarding which could be done at several places in the park.

As we walked into the park, we could see lots of different species of beautiful fauna and flora. When we walked deeper into the wilder part of the park, we discovered more interesting flora and fauna. Although we were excited and happy to see it, there were also things that we were unhappy and furious about.Many human activities has caused the park to be polluted such as land,air and water pollutions. People who visited the park had not appreciated the value of the flora and fauna that make up the park's natural ecosystem. Human activities such as littering and chopping down of trees for resources had caused the ecosystem at the park to decrease.