“Wishing upon a star”

A special talk to be held at the Reef Celebrations!

by Tan Sijie & Chim Chee Kong
Star Trackers

The Knobbly seastar (Protoreaster nodosus) is perhaps one of the most charismatic features of our shores. However, sightings of this endangered species were rare and hence our understandings of local populations were poor. Recently, there was a widespread emergence of recruits at various shores and a discovery of a large population at Cyrene Reef. These findings rekindled our hopes in the future of this species in our waters. The Star Trackers grabbed this opportunity to collect scientific data, in the hope that they will be useful for the better management of the remaining populations in Singapore.

About the speakers: In 2008, Chim Chee Kong and Tan Sijie founded The Star Trackers, which has a blog to share knowledge and create public awareness regarding the knobbly seastar populations in Singapore.

Chee Kong is currently a Research Assistant with the Tropical Marine Science Institute, and has worked with various types of marine animals such as snails, seastars and snakes. He is obsessed with local nature and loves to share this passion with other people.

Sijie is the Education and Public Relations Officer for Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, NUS. His past research areas include water snakes and environmental conditions of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. With an immense interest in nature and research, he is often involved in public outreach and education.

Date: 9 Aug (Sat)
Time: 11.30am
Venue: Function Hall, Botany Centre, Singapore Botanic Gardens (above Taman Serasi foodcourt), more about getting there.
Contact: iyor08singapore@gmail.com

To learn more about Knobbly sea stars see the Star Tracker blog.

Andy has uploaded a videoclip of this talk on his sgbeachbum blog. Also on our blog.

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