Are we a Biodiversity-Smart nation?

1. How Biodiversity-Smart are we? 2. Why should we be Biodiversity-Smart? 3. What keeps us from being Biodiversity-Smart(er)...

1. How Biodiversity-Smart are we? TaxonNumber of species, fauna/flora known? Fauna/Flora identifiable? Natural History? Research needs Vascular Plants 4180 spp. (ca. 50% native) ; yesfairly wellvariesvaries widely

1. How Biodiversity-Smart are we? TaxonNumber of species, fauna/flora known? Fauna/Flora identifiable? Natural History? Research needs Vascular Plants 4180 spp. (ca. 50% native) ; yesfairly wellvariesvaries widely Vertebrates < 1000 spp.; yesyesMostly fairly well Ecology, species interactions

1. How Biodiversity-Smart are we? TaxonNumber of species, fauna/flora known? Fauna/Flora identifiable? Natural History? Research needs Vascular Plants 4180 spp. (ca. 50% native) ; yesfairly wellvariesvaries widely Vertebrates < 1000 spp.; yesyesMostly fairly well Ecology, species interactions Butterflies spp; yesyesFairly wellEcology, species interactions Dragon- and Damselflies ca. 120 spp. yesyesMediumEcology of nymphs

1. How Biodiversity-Smart are we? TaxonNumber of species, fauna/flora known? Fauna/Flora identifiable? Natural History? Research needs Vascular Plants 4180 spp. (ca. 50% native) ; yesfairly wellvariesvaries widely Vertebrates < 1000 spp.; yesyesMostly fairly well Ecology, species interactions Odonates < 120 spp. yesyesMediumEcology of nymphs Butterflies spp; yesyesFairly wellEcology, species interactions Misc. invertebrates: Spiders, stick insects, crabs, mosquitoes, snails, etc. < 2000 spp.; fairly wellfairly wellMediumEcology, identification tools for non-experts

1. How Biodiversity-Smart are we? TaxonNumber of species, fauna/flora known? Fauna/Flora identifiable? Natural History? Research needs Vascular Plants 4180 spp. (ca. 50% native) ; yesfairly wellvariesvaries widely Vertebrates < 1000 spp.; yesyesMostly fairly well Ecology, species interactions Odonates < 120 spp. yesyesMediumEcology of nymphs Butterflies spp; yesyesFairly wellEcology, species interactions Misc. invertebrates: Spiders, stick insects, crabs, mosquitoes, snails, etc. < 2000 spp.; fairly wellfairly wellMediumEcology, identification tools for non-experts Most invertebrates: “The other 90%” 50, ,000 spp?; most species unknown and many new to science NoUnknownEverything

50,000 spp. 100,000 spp. Estimated proportion of unknown species in Singapore! 1. How Biodiversity-Smart are we?

1. How Biodiversity-Smart are we? Not particularly Why should we be Biodiversity-Smart? 3. What keeps us from being Biodiversity-Smart(er)...

2. Why should we be Biodiversity-Smart? Singapore’s Rich Natural Heritage: The sustainability challenge It doesn’t matter whether man, animal, or plant... Homo singaporiensis: mio - widely distributed (red area) The other K species: - most are squeezed into the green spaces Our ranking: more than just vulnerable - we need to be Biodiversity- Smart to halt extinction SG Government: vulnerable Populations are only stable if each female produces on average two fertile offspring over her lifetime

Female produces fewer than 2 offspring: Population decline => eventually leads to extinction Lack of biodiversity smartness: lots of problems with - overlooked population declines - hidden extinctions - pseudo-extinctions

Female produces more than 2 offspring: Population expansion => human-biodiversity conflicts => unhappiness and real economic damage Lack of biodiversity smartness: Whenever population expansions happen: - we scramble to find (expensive) solutions - usually have to rely on foreign help If we were Biodiversity-Smart we would be more self-sufficient and anticipate/resolve problems

- not enough trees => hot - all the trees look the same => probably clonal from same supplier => insects and fungi are getting ready... Why should we be Biodiversity-Smart? It makes economic sense NParks pays contractor to remove/trim trees Contractor employs 5 foreign workers => money wasted and nation’s productivity takes a hit

- too much grass! lots of grass cutting needed => more foreign workers needed => nation’s productivity takes another hit Why should we be Biodiversity-Smart? It makes economic sense

Smart Singapore: - not enough trees => hot - too much grass! Javan mynas saying “thank you” Why should we be Biodiversity-Smart? It makes economic sense

Smart Singapore: - not enough trees => hot - too much grass! Stomp and ST Forum heat up AVA starts getting phone calls... Why should we be Biodiversity-Smart? It makes economic sense

Good for another low-productivity industry...

Why should we be Biodiversity-Smart? (1) Conserve Rich Natural Heritage (2) It makes economic sense (3) Good for Singapore’s reputation Must try!

1. How Biodiversity-Smart are we? Not particularly Why should we be Biodiversity-Smart? It makes perfect sense! 3. What keeps us from being Biodiversity-Smart(er)...

In order to become Biodiversity-Smart, we need: passionate people tools money Passionate people? no problem: 250 participants of BOSS got up before 7am on a Saturday to attend a symposium and paid for it! Tools? we have wonderful new tools to complement field work: camera traps, audio traps, drones, DNA sequences Money? money no enough: - no dedicated research fund => much of the research presented today will be lost/never published

Let’s dream for a moment 10% of the budget => 136 million/year => cannot! Don’t know what to do with so much money! 1% of the budget => 13.6 million => can be pretty biodiversity-smart within 10 years Knowledge generated would retain its relevance for decades Action: Let’s get out of the self-exploitation mode and start asking for the funding that is needed to get the job done

Summary 1. How Biodiversity-Smart are we? Not particularly Why should we be Biodiversity-Smart? It makes perfect sense! 3. What keeps us from being Biodiversity-Smart(er): Funding