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Pasir Ris, Singapore  Developed on reclaimed land, Pasir Ris coastal park is a 70.5 hectare urban park dominated by open lawns, walkways, and ornamental landscape plantings. The park is cut into three sections by the Api Api and Tampines rivers. Most of the coastal forest was destroyed during a reclamation process, but a five-hectare patch of mature mangrove was preserved and developed into a nature walk beginning in 1988. The Pasir Ris mangrove forest supports a rich community of at least 12 species of mangrove trees and four species of homalopsine snakes. High diversity of decapod crustaceans occurs in the Pasir Ris Park mangrove forest with burrowing and herbivorous sesarmine crabs (Grapsidae) being the most conspicuous crab group. In addition, mud lobsters (Thalassina anomala and T. gracilis) have built many large mounds (up to 3m in diameter, reaching 2m in height) along the landward edge of the mangrove forest.  Of the four species of water snakes studied in Singapore, three were previously regarded as rare to very rare. We encountered these rare species more frequently than expected; our observations suggest that these species, although secretive with highly specialized habits, may be more common than previously thought. While land snakes favor small animals such as mice and lizards, these water snakes tend to prefer fish, crabs, and crustaceans.Two species (Fordonia leucobalia and Gerarda prevostiana) feed only on crabs, while one, Cantoria violacea, seems to be a dedicated snapping shrimp feeder. The very common species, Cerberus rynchops, feeds on small intertidal fishes. The rich biodiversity of the Pasir Ris Park area indicates that even small patches of mangrove forests are worth saving. Some of the results of this work appear in the following publication: Karns, D. R.; Voris, H. K.; Goodwin, T. G. 2002. Ecology of Oriental-Australian rear-fanged water snakes (Colubridae: Homalopsinae) in the Pasir Ris Park Mangrove Forest, Singapore. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 50(2): 487-498. To request a paper reprint or downloadable PDF version of this document, please visit our Reprint Request Form Website.
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