Ecosystem - Coastal Forest of Chek Jawa

Naked Facts:

Interactive Question:
Question: Now let's observe, can you find any differences between the coastal forest and mangrove forest?

Possible Answers:
1) The mangrove forest is sometimes submerged in seawater while the coastal forest is not submerged in water.
2) The roots of the mangrove trees have weird roots (you can talk more about them at the mangrove forest) while the trees at the coastal forests do not.

NF#1: Source of Nutrient AKA Food for marine life at the shore
a) When it rains, nutrients from the soil, fallen leaves etc and minerals from the rocks are washed down the slopes of the coastal forest
b) These are in fact considered ‘food’ for many marine flora and fauna living in the inter-tidal zone.

NF#2: Natural wind buffer
a) Imagine a natural wall which is steep and built up of rocks and vegetation.
b) It helps to lessen the impact of strong winds from storms, hurricanes etc.

NF#3: Place to find rare and unique plants + jungle fowl
a) The plants you find at coastal forests can be given the titles of ‘survivors’, as they are constantly exposed to strong dry winds, salt sprays, the hot temperature.
b) Due to development, we do not have a lot of places left in Singapore with coastal forests now, think Labrador Park, Sentosa and Chek Jawa.
c) Native Jungle fowls are also known to live the coastal forest of Chek Jawa.
d) Some rare/unique plants found at the coastal forest include the Seashore Nutmeg, Pong pong tree and Delek air tree etc. Read more about them here.

More reading:
To read on showy and interesting plants found at the Coastal forest, click here.

Simple Drawing on coastal forest ecosystem, worth a look!
http://www.eart-h.com/text/hillpix.htm

Reference:
http://www.eart-h.com/text/sea4rest.htm