Porcupine! NUMBER 25

Newsletter of the Department of Ecology & Biodiversity, The University of Hong Kong

The empty forest

MAY 2002

In Hong Kong’s climate, forest is the natural vegetation everywhere. It can be suppressed by regular cutting or burning, but the harvesting of biomass for fuel ended decades ago and fires, although still common, are less often started and more rapidly controlled near urban areas than next to rural villages. An increase in the area of forest is therefore an inevitable, if paradoxical, consequence of the increasing urbanisation of the New Territories. Hong Kong Island, where the last grassland is disappearing under a tidal wave of shrubs and trees, illustrates the future for the whole territory. Within fifty years, forest will cover most of Hong Kong. Good news for native biodiversity, surely? Well…yes… partly. It is true that many of our most diverse inland sites are in forest, but these are areas that have had continuous tree cover for centuries, as a result of inaccessibility or the protection of feng shui. The much larger areas of young secondary forest are a lot less diverse. Even at the best sites, the diversity is in the plants and invertebrates – organisms that can persist in the tiniest of forest patches. Vertebrates do not survive in such situations so Hong Kong has lost most species that require forest. The new forests are therefore empty in comparison with the larger, older forest areas in Guangdong, and even more so if compared with what must have been here a thousand years ago. There are no reliable records for Hong Kong from before the nineteenth century, when the vertebrate fauna was already impoverished. To get an idea of what has been lost, we must therefore extrapolate from recent and historical records for the South China region. These records suggest the local extinction, by the nineteenth century, of at least the following families of forest vertebrates: monkeys, gibbons, elephants, rhinoceroses, squirrels, flying squirrels, bamboo rats, pheasants, woodpeckers and trogons (Corlett, 2002). A species list would be much longer, since several major vertebrate groups, such as the babblers, cats, mustelids and rodents, are represented by just a few survivors of the original diversity. But Hong Kong today does have squirrels and monkeys, and babbler list increases year by year. Doesn’t this suggest that forest vertebrate diversity will recover of its own accord? Unfortunately, the presence of these species is as much bad news as good. Almost all the increase in diversity over the past century was the result of the deliberate release of captive animals: the first monkeys in 1913, the squirrels around 1970, and most babblers within the last 20 years. Motivations have varied but few, if any, of the releasers have been concerned with the ecological consequences of their actions. The released species have been a random selection from those imported into Hong Kong, usually for sale as pets. Our monkeys are a hybrid mix, our squirrels are from Thailand and Shanghai, and while some of our new babblers were probably present in the region before deforestation, others are from Southwest China (Carey et al., 2001). A few bird species have made it to Hong Kong of their own accord, but the non-forest areas north of the border are an impenetrable barrier to most forest specialists. Neither letting the new forests remain empty, nor filling them with exotic species released by kind-hearted Buddhists, makes any ecological sense. Only a program of planned reintroductions of species that used to be here in the past can restore a diverse, functioning forest ecosystem (see p.16). Such a program would have multiple benefits: it would restore ecological processes, such as seed dispersal, that have been truncated by local extinctions; it would enhance public awareness and support for conservation; and it would increase the security of the species concerned, by providing additional wild populations. Reintroduction of ecologically appropriate species would also reduce the risk that invasive exotics will fill the many vacant niches in our empty forests.

Richard T. Corlett (For bibliography see back page.)

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Porcupine!

NUMBER 25 May 2002

Newsletter of the Department of Ecology & Biodiversity, The University of Hong Kong

The empty forest 1 DEB news 2

Feedback 3 Introducing Kenneth Mei-yee Leung 5 Invertebrates 6 Vertebrates 8 Flora 14 Miscellany 16 Book Review 24 Wild Corner 24 Recent publications 27 2001 Postgraduate degrees from DEB 32

Editorial 2

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

News from DEB It is always good to start on a positive note. Accordingly, as promised in my last Porcupine! missive, I am going to report some good news from the Department of Ecology & Biodiversity. Firstly, recruitment of ‘new blood’. DEB has added not one, but two new members of staff to the ranks this year. Both have been appointed as Research Assistant Professors (more or less equivalent to a junior lecturer), and will have some teaching duties in addition to the responsibility (as the title suggests) of undertaking lots of research. Dr Kenny Leung joined us in January from Royal Holloway College in London; a profile is included elsewhere in this issue (p. 5). Dr Benny Chan was formerly a postdoctoral fellow in DEB and, for the tenure of his RAP post, will be based at SWIMS. An account of his ongoing activities will appear in the next issue of Porcupine! What else is new? Version 3.0 of the Biodiversity Survey database has been completed, and was passed to Government in February. Those of you with long memories may recall that the Survey was underwritten by the Environment and Conservation Fund of Government, and that much of the fieldwork was undertaken in 1996 and 1997. Version 1.0 of the database was made available in 1999. Version 3.0 is more comprehensive and includes over 5,000 species and around 100,000 records. The biodiversity data have been complied and can be analysed using Geographic Information System software so that spatial patterns in the occurrence of plants and animals across Hong Kong can be examined. In short, the database shows what species occur where, and thus it can be interrogated and used as a starting point for finding out whether or not planned developments and designated projects are likely to have an impact on biodiversity. That information can then be taken into account when a thorough environmental impact assessment is undertaken and decisions about compensation, mitigation or avoidance of impacts need to be taken. Of less import to Hong Kong, but of concern to DEB, is a third matter. The University of Hong Kong is to undergo a Teaching and Learning Quality Process Review in June that will be undertaken by a panel of overseas experts appointed by the University Grants Committee. The focus of the review is quality assurance mechanisms and processes, and the results will “inform funding decisions” in the long term. Given the size of HKU, it isn’t possible to review all teaching departments so a handful have been selected for special attention and site visits from the panel. DEB is one of the departments chosen to represent the University: whether that is an honour or a curse will become clearer as June nears. We shall see. David Dudgeon

Editorial As we move from child- to adulthood, one thing we learn is that the world is often not as it might seem, or, indeed, as it should be. In the area of conservation and resource management, this is particularly apparent when the perspectives or objectives of the public, government and/or big business are at odds, which they often are. It is therefore important to recognize the effects that such differences can have on legislation, and on the ways in which our interests or concerns are actually being addressed. Examples emerge from among this issue's articles of Porcupine! that illustrate how alert we need to be. Reintroductions might appear to be good in general but it is the types of reintroductions and the way(s) they are conducted that are critically important (p.1). As biologists, we might reasonably expect that fishes and marine invertebrates are considered part of the animal kingdom and therefore receive protection under the Wild Animals Protection Ordinance; surprisingly they are not and hence do not receive protection (p.13). We might predict that the high economic value of our natural resources is factored into long-term development plans (p.17) but in reality short-term business interests generally override such potential benefits. Clearly we need to be aware about what 'is', rather than what 'appears to be' in the latest sound-bite or public relations hyperbole. Thanks to many of our contributors for opening our eyes.

YS

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FeedbackDear Feedback,

I refer to the front-page article in the last issue of Porcupine!(issue 24), entitled, “Irresponsible Fishery” by Dr. YvonneSadovy. Yvonne states, “the principle (sic) recommendationfrom top fishery experts of the University of British Colombia(UBC) to address overfishing in Hong Kong was a substantialreduction in fishing effort.” Yvonne goes on to criticiseAgriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD)for not heeding this advice and instead implementing costlyartificial reef (AR) and restocking programmes. Thesecomments are misleading and do not reflect therecommendations of the UBC consultants. In the fisheriesconsultancy study conducted by ERM-HK, with UBC actingas a subconsultant (ERM-HK, 1998), six high priorityrecommendations were made. These recommendations aresummarised below: -

(i) Establish a fishing licence programme;(ii) Limit new entrants to the fishery (i.e. reduce fishing

pressure);(iii) Establish nursery and spawning ground protection areas

(i.e. Fisheries Protection Areas, Marine Parks andReserves);

(iv) Enhance habitat;(v) Restore habitat;(vi) Conduct fish restocking trials.

The first two recommendations do indeed relate directly toreduction in fishing effort but recommendations (iv) and (vi)also relate directly to the AR programme and the fishrestocking trials. These were both high priorityrecommendations made by ERM and UBC in favour of theseprogrammes. UBC’s position on AR was made very clear in arecent ‘Ghoti’* paper (Pitcher & Seaman, 2000). Interestinglythey invoke Petrarch's principle i.e. “to know things unseen,yet to ignore things seen”. Pitcher and Seaman conclude, “thatwe should act to use common sense methods to restore andprotect today's depleted ecosystems even when we do not yethave definitive scientific evaluation”. It is clear from thispaper that Pitcher is in favour of well-planned ARprogrammes, provided they are managed effectively and sitedin hard bottom, habitat limited areas. Since January 1993, DrTony Pitcher, has been Professor of Fisheries and the firstDirector of the Fisheries Centre, at UBC.

AFCD is pursuing all the high priority recommendations ofthe ERM/UBC consultancy. However, the speed ofimplementation is largely dictated by the lengthy consultationprocess necessary to address all stakeholders legitimateconcerns. A Working Group on Fisheries Management was setup in mid-1999 to advise AFCD on matters relating to

fisheries resources conservation and management strategies.Fisheries management proposals supported by the workinggroup include a territorial-wide fishing licence system, theestablishment of Fisheries Protection Areas (FPAs) at ToloChannel and Port Shelter waters, the deployment of ARs andrestocking of fish fry.

ARs are one of the cheapest anti-trawl enforcement measuresavailable and undoubtedly represent one of the simplest andmost pragmatic ways of protecting important spawning andnursery areas subjected to heavy bottom trawling pressure.Our experience with AR to date demonstrates they are veryeffective at preventing bottom trawling and have been heavilyused by commercial fishes for shelter and feeding. Manyspecies of snapper, bream, grunt, sweetlip and grouper havealso made extensive use of AR for nursery and spawningpurposes. Over 150 species have been recorded on ARs inHong Kong as part of AFCD’s post deployment monitoringprogramme.

AFCD sponsored UBC to forecast potential benefits and toconduct a cost benefit analysis of the use of ARs in fisheriesprotection areas, using sophisticated ecosystem simulationtechniques and bioeconomic analysis. The results werepublished in the Bulletin of Marine Science (Pitcher et al.,2000). Pitcher and his team concluded that a successfulimplementation of AFCD’s fisheries protection area proposals,protected and enhanced by AR, could provide significantbenefits within 10 years, with shifts to a low-value pelagic fishreversed and an additional 50% discounted profit over 30years.

The proposed Fisheries Protection Areas (FPA), which aremuch larger in extent than existing and proposed MarineParks, are expressly designed to manage fisheries. Thisapproach greatly simplifies the necessary consultationprocedures and potential sources of objection, which beset theestablishment of Marine Parks and Marine Reserves, which inaddition to fisheries also involve management of recreationaland commercial activities including navigation, mooring andanchoring etc. The implementation of extensive FPA, linkedto an AR programme with appropriate fisheries managementcontrols of Hong Kong waters, will help to ensure thedevelopment of sustainable fisheries in Hong Kong waters. Thisstrategy was discussed in a paper presented at an InternationalConference on Artificial Reefs, Sanremo, Liguria, Italy in1999 (Wilson et al., in press) and the advantages of usingFPAs protected with AR were detailed in a paper presented atthe World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) East AsiaConference (Wilson & Leung, 2001).

Bibliography

Environmental Resources Management Consultants Hong Kong Ltd. (ERM-HK). (1998). Fisheries Resources and Fishing Operations in Hong KongWaters. Final Report. Agriculture and Fisheries Department, Hong KongGovernment.

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Pitcher, T.J., R. Watson, N. Haggan, S. Guénette, R. Kennish, R. Sumaila, D.Cook, K.D.P. Wilson & Leung, A. (2001). Marine reserves and the restorationof fisheries and marine ecosystems in the South China Sea. Bull. Mar. Sci.66(3): 543-566.

Pitcher, T.J. & Seaman W. Jr. (2000). Petrarch's Principle: how protectedhuman-made reefs can help the reconstruction of fisheries and marineecosystems. Fish & Fisheries 1: 73-81.

Wilson, K.D.P. & Leung, A.Y.W. (2001). Role of Artificial Reefs in MarineProtected Areas. Presented at the World Commission on Protected Areas(WCPA) East Asia Conference, “Challenges of Nature Conservation in theFace of Development Pressure”, June 2001.

Wilson, K.D.P., Leung, A.Y.W. & Kennish, R. (2002 in press). Restoration offisheries through deployment of artificial reefs in marine protected areas.Presented at the Seventh International Conference on Artificial Reefs andRelated Aquatic Habitats (7th CARAH), October, 1999, Sanremo, Liguria,Italy, to be publ in ICES JMS.

*‘Ghoti’ is another way of spelling fish (‘gh’ sound from rough, ‘o’from women, and ‘ti’ from palatial).

Keith DP Wilsonwilsonhk@hk.super.net

Editor’s note: the original article in Porcupine! 24 referred to the expert sub-consultant’s report. The report referred to in this letter was prepared by theconsultant in collaboration with AFCD and includes severalrecommendations (including iv – vi above) not made by the sub-consultant. Itwas these additional recommendations that were addressed in Porcupine! 24.

Dear Feedback,

In a recent issue (No. 35) of the Bulletin of the Institute ofEcology & Environmental Management, the editorialidentified gaps in the skills possessed by ecology graduates,and those demanded by the commercial and statutory sectorsin the UK. I was surprised to read that, in a countrypioneering the studies of natural history, ‘very few graduatesare able to identify taxa to a level which would make themproficient as a practicing ecologist’. It also specified that‘plant identification skills are often very poor’, even amongbotany graduates. This sounds surprisingly similar to thesituation in Hong Kong. In the consultancy sector that Ipreviously worked in, well-qualified ecologists who can dodecent fieldwork and correctly identify the organisms arealways lacking. The shortage of expertise was highlighted in asurvey of Environmental Impact Assessments in a past issueof Porcupine! 16.

Many of the best field ecologists I know started studying theorganisms when they were teenagers. Is it reasonable toexpect ecology graduates to acquire such skills during theirthree years in university? Has our curriculum given enoughopportunities for them to explore and develop these skills?Having graduated so long ago, I am not the best person toanswer this. From my personal experience, however, I believethat the ability to identify a group of organisms is essential forecological professionals, whether in consultancy, government,

or NGOs, and I am now trying to make up for lost time.

Jackie YipDear Feedback,

One of many responses to my article on Irresponsible Fishingin the last issue of Porcupine! was to ask what consumersthemselves can do if they want to contribute to sustainablefisheries, not only in Hong Kong waters (which only supplies10% of our seafood anyway), but in general. It is an excellentquestion (thanks SM), for although many of us care very muchabout questionable fishing practices, both locally and globally,few have enough information to make even simple day-to-daydecisions that could contribute to positive change.

With increasing concern about overfishing, there is also agrowing recognition that consumers can (should?) effectchange through their actions (the tuna/dolphin case is a goodexample). When choosing what seafood to eat, here are somegood and not so good choices, as recommended by the LivingOceans Program of The National Audubon Society,(http://magazine.audubon.org/seafood/guide/), and OceanConservation Seafood Watch (Monterey Bay Aquarium)(http://www.mbayaq.org/efc/efc_oc/dngr_food_watch.asp).The following is a brief summary of these lists. Best seafoodchoices likely to be available in local outlets are Pacificalbacore tuna, Pacific squid, farmed clams, mussels, oysters,rainbow trout, striped bass and tilapia, wild-caught Alaskansalmon, mahi-mahi (or dolphinfish), and New Zealand Hoki.

On the lists of seafood to be avoided are bluefin tuna, caviarfrom wild-caught sturgeon, Patagonian toothfish, Atlantic cod,orange roughy, rockfish, farmed and Atlantic salmon, allsharks, most wild-caught and farmed prawns or shrimp,swordfish, and grouper (the implication being wild-caughtgrouper). It is interesting to note that among the listed species,wild-caught sources are not always ‘bad’, nor mariculturesources always ‘good’. Please remember that the above is justa summary of species on the two lists so do check thewebsites. There is also an ‘in-between’ list. If you are not sureof the source of seafood you want to buy or order, it may wellbe worth asking in the restaurant, market or shop. You may ormay not receive an informed answer but you will at least drawattention to the fact that the source might matter.

For local recommendations of seafood 'does and don'ts' seehttp://www.wwf.org.hk/eng/conservation/wl_trade/reef_fish/consumer_education.htm. [Note, however, that since thiscampaign was launched it has become possible to hatchery-rear giant grouper.] The humphead wrasse (locally known asSo Mei) should always be avoided - it is listed as 'vulnerable'on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Yvonne Sadovy

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Introducing Kenneth Mei-yeeLeungI very much enjoy remembering my childhood - everyday wasfun and exciting with so many undiscovered things ahead. Infact, I never dreamed of becoming a scientist – a researchassistant professor in DEB. Why did I end up as an aquatictoxicologist/ marine ecologist? I suspect that my past mightprovide some cues. My father was a marine engineer of theHong Kong government’s Marine Department and he oftentook me to work when I was a kid. I have fallen in love withthe sea since then, and not just because of the taste of seafood.

Interestingly, I didn’t do well in school or open exams. I putthat down to having too many extra-curricular activities, suchas serving as a cadet for the Civil Aid Services. At eighteen,my exam results were not good enough to be accepted by theUniversity and I had to decide whether to repeat one moreyear at school, with a view to re-sitting exams, or to dosomething different. Then I asked myself what I would like tobe in the future. It was a tough question. I wanted to dosomething meaningful and good for society. Finally, I madeup my mind and took a new post-secondary course Diploma inEnvironmental Studies at Chai Wan Technical Institute, whereI learned up-to-date environmental technologies for pollutionmonitoring and control. During this study, I turned into aproactive student as I wanted to help to improve ourenvironment for the future. This was one of the mostimportant milestones of my life.

After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Applied EnvironmentalSciences at the University of Portsmouth in England, Ireturned to Hong Kong and took up a lecturer position at theDepartment of Applied Sciences of Shatin Technical Institute.I realised that I would like to do research as well as teachingand decided to quit my job to do a Master’s degree inmariculture at City University of Hong Kong. I spent over 26months investigating the nitrogen metabolism in twocommonly cultured fish species, the areolated grouper,Epinephelus areolatus, and mangrove snapper, Lutjanusargentimaculatus, and estimating the nitrogen pollutionloading from fish farming activities in Hong Kong. I had avery bad time because of a massive fish kill event that killedmy study fish, but, in general, it was a good project in which Ilearnt a lot about scientific research. After completion of myMaster’s project, I spent a brief period as a research assistantat CityUHK and at SWIMS, studying the eco-physiology ofthe threatened local seagrass, Zostera japonica, with the hopeof conserving this rare marine plant in Hong Kong.

During 1996-1999, I received a James Henry Scholarship fromJohn Swire & Sons (HK) Ltd to undertake a PhD programmein marine science and technology at the University of Glasgowin Scotland where I met some of the best ornithologists in the

world. I was amazed that these bird guys were endlesslyenergetic and enthusiastic about their research. They alsotaught me a lot about biometrics. My doctoral study wasconcerned with the use of metallothioneins in marinegastropods as biological markers for metal contamination andtoxicity. This involved extensive field work in the freezingcold of the western coast of Scotland. To be honest, it is muchmore enjoyable doing fieldwork in HK. In late 1999, I spentthree even more freezing months in Iceland, investigatingmetal contamination profiles on Icelandic coasts throughbiomonitoring.

Upon completion of my doctorate, I took up a CroucherFoundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at RoyalHolloway College, University of London, in England. Mypostdoctoral research centred on the development of aprobabilistic and realistic approach to assessing ecologicalrisks of industrial chemicals on aquatic environments. In theUK, we often had very productive and fruitful discussionsabout sciences over beer or ale. Interestingly, my colleagueswere able to count how many pints I had by just looking at thedegree of redness of my face. I miss these ‘healthy drinks’very much. In mid-January 2002, I took up the currentposition in DEB and currently teach ‘Biometrics andComputing’ to undergraduate students. My research interestsinclude mariculture, ecophysiology of marine organisms,biomonitoring, aquatic toxicology and ecological riskassessment. You may visit my web page to find out moreabout me (http://www.hku.hk/ecology/kenny.html).

In some ways I wish I could return to my childhood. Sir IsaacNewton (1642-1727) said “I don’t know what I may seem tothe world, but, as to myself, I seem to have been only like aboy playing on the sea shore, and diverting myself in now andthen finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell thanordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscoveredbefore me” [source: Carey, J. (1995) The Faber Book ofScience, London. pp. 30-34].

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Scale insects on wild fruits

by Alvin M. C. TangOn the morning of the 15th December, at the peak of thefruiting season, I was walking up Hatton Road. Half way up, Iwas fascinated by clusters of downy holly (Ilex pubescens)hanging from the slope. Unfortunately, the whole plant wascovered by some white scales that made it look scary. Thescales looked just like flecks of white paint on the fruits! Oncloser examination, the scale insect was pear-shaped, about 2-3 mm long, and covered both sides of the leaves and fruits. Itwas identified as the Cockerell Scale Pseudaulacaspiscockerelli Cooley (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Diaspididae) byMr. Clive Lau (Senior Agricultural Officer, AFCD). The fruitswere also infected by a fungus. Under the microscope, thismicrofungus has a very long stalk, which expands slightly inthe middle part and tapers at the apex. It was identified asConidioxyphium sp. (Coelomycete). A few days later, I alsonoticed the same kind of scale insect on fruits of Psychotriaasiatica and Ilex cinerea.

The Cockerell Scale is believed to have originated from Asia,and was first described in 1897 from California quarantinespecimens from China. Established infestations were laterfound in Florida and Georgia (Reinert, 1974). It is known toinfest over 100 plant species, including Magnolia grandiflora,M. virginiana, Aucuba japonica, Strelitzia spp., Hedera helix,Cornus florida, Taxus spp., Nerium oleander, Michelia figo,Elaeagus spp., Sabal mexicana, and Mangifera indica(Merrill, 1953; Johnson & Lyon, 1991; Crane & Campbell,1994).

The Cockerell Scale is very difficult to control because it isdispersed rapidly by various means, including people,mammals, birds, ants and wind currents. It feeds on plant andfruit juices and also opens the way to infection by fungi.Depending on the severity of the infestation, the plant maylose its vigour, spots may appear due to toxins in the scalesaliva, and deformation, leaf loss, and even death of the plantmay occur (Beardsley & Gonzalez, 1975). Such damage canbe significant to the plants in the wild and at the same timeaffects the possibility of seed dispersal because of the laterfungal infection of the fruits.

(For photos see Porcupine! 25 website.)

Bibliography

Beardsley, J.W.Jr. & Gonzalez, R.H. (1975). The biology and ecology ofarmored scales. Annual Review of Entomology 20: 47-73.

Crane, J.H. & Campbell, C.W. (1994). The mango. UF/IFAS Fact Sheet HS-2.Johnson, W.T. & Lyon, H.H. (1991). Insects that feed on trees and shrubs. 2nd

ed., rev. Comstock Publishing Associates.

Merrill, G.B. (1953). A revision of the scale insects of Florida. Plant Board ofFlorida. Bull. 1: 1-143.

Reinert, J.A. (1974). Management of the false oleander scale.Pseudaulacaspis cockerelli (Cooley). Proc. Fla. State Hortic. Soc. 87: 518-520.

Where are Hong Kong’s forestants?

by John FellowesYou might think that most of the Hong Kong ant species are inyour kitchen, but with over 170 recorded species in the SAR,the commensal species make up a small fraction of the whole.While Hong Kong is host to many wide-ranging tramp andinvasive ants (Fellowes, 1999), and many that thrive indisturbed or exposed conditions, it also supports a largenumber of native forest-dwelling species that are not soadaptable. Many of these cannot be reliably assigned to adescribed species. They are confined mainly to slopes whereremnants of natural forest have survived, in ravines and fengshui woods, or in some cases where forest has been restored.They include sites in the central Tai Mo Shan range: Tai PoKau, Shing Mun Wood, Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden,Tai Mo Shan itself and Ng Tung Chai. They also include thePeak and Nam Fung Wood on Hong Kong Island; Sunset Peakand Pak Ngan Heung on Lantau; several sites on Ma On Shanand its foothills; Tit Kim Hang in the eastern New Territories;and Sheung Wo Hang in the northeast.

In general these forests are of known conservation importanceto flora and other fauna (e.g. Corlett et al., 2000; Yip, 2000),and certain ant taxa probably depend on them for survival.Examples include arboreal genera (e.g. Gesomyrmex andDilobocondyla) and species (Dolichoderus (thoracicuscomplex) sp. 3, Camponotus (nr. nipponicus) sp. 25,Camponotus (nr. humerus) sp. 31, Crematogaster (cf.ebenina) sp. 19 and Tetraponera nitida), as well as groundlitter- or wood-nesting genera (Cerapachys, Acanthomyrmex,Aphaenogaster, Calyptomyrmex, Myrmecina, Rhopalomastix,Amblyopone, Centromyrmex, Discothyrea, Ponera andProbolomyrmex) and species (Aenictus (aratus group) sp. 5,Aenictus (dentatus group) sp. 4, Paratrechina (cf. opaca) sp.26, Polyrhachis (mucronata group) sp. 13, Pheidologeton (cf.melasolenus) sp. 8, Pristomyrmex brevispinosus, Solenopsissp. 7, Tetramorium (cf. curtulum) sp. 9, Leptogenys (cf.kraepelini) sp. 7, Leptogenys diminuta, Leptogenys (cf.

INVERTEBRATES

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emiliae) sp. 8, Leptogenys (cf. lucidula) sp. 10, Odontomachus(cf. silvestrii) sp. 3, Pachycondyla amblyops andPachycondyla (cf. annamita) sp. 11). In all, some 65 (almost40%) of Hong Kong’s recorded ant species might be describedas forest specialists, apparently unable to survive in more openhabitats. It is likely that more remain to be discovered.

Among larger vertebrates at least, forest specialists apparentlydid not survive past deforestation in Hong Kong (Corlett &Turner, 1997). Ant populations probably require smaller forestpatches to persist, and Hong Kong’s forest fragments appearto have succeeded, among them, in retaining many of theforest specialists. Longer-term impacts of fragmentation,including those of invasive species in the degraded matrix,may have yet to kick in, but perhaps natural forest will bemajestically restored before they do.

Bibliography

Corlett, R.T. & Turner, I.M. (1997). Long-term survival in tropical forestremnants in Singapore and Hong Kong. In: Tropical Forest Remnants:Ecology, Management, and Conservation of Fragmented Communities (eds.Laurance, W.F. & Bierregaard, R.O.). University of Chicago Press, Chicago,333-345.

Corlett, R.T., Xing, F., Ng. S.C., Chau, L.K.C. & Wong, L.M.Y. (eds.)(2000). Hong Kong vascular plants: distribution and status. Memoirs of theHong Kong Natural History Society 23: 1-157.

Fellowes, J.R. (1999). Exotic ants in Asia: is the mainland at risk? The case ofHong Kong. Aliens 9: 5-6.

Yip, J.Y. (2000). Conserving Biodiversity in Protected Areas:Recommendations for the Extension of Protected Areas in Hong Kong.Unpublished Report, Department of Ecology & Biodiversity, The Universityof Hong Kong, 14 + xxvii pp.

A deep dark discovery

by Brian DarvellFaculty of Dentistry

Snails come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and haveoccupied many niches: grazer, scavenger, hunter; terrestrial,ocean surface to burrowing; free, commensal, parasitic;mobile and immobile; shelled and unshelled - mostimpressively the nudibranchs. However, the animal I collectedsome years ago was not recognizable to me as a snail: about100 mm long, 6 mm across and worm-like, dark red withyellow spots. Not exactly lively, and I could find nothing at allin the picture books to identify it. Brian Morton knew what itwas - a Solenogaster, an aplacophoran (no shell) mollusc.Apparently, it was thought to be a gorgonian mimic, living insea-fans, but this was found on an overgrown rock with no fanin sight. Some years later, at Waterwitch Rock, Mirs Bay, Ifound another pair in a similar situation at about 18 m – again,no fans, but the appearance was strikingly like a sponge. Isthat what they mimic?

So, they are not a well-known group to divers or field guide-compilers, and apparently quite uncommon: 3 in twenty yearsis not exactly a superabundance. True, they might be fairlycryptic, but I am used to crawling about on hands and knees,looking closely . . . which is how I found rather a lot more inearly April this year. Off the north shore of Beaufort Island,where it is always pitch black, subject to strong currents andvery low visibility (not a novice dive, by any means), between13 and 23 m (at least) there were hundreds! Same species, ingroups of 2s and 3s - even a dozen in an interwined mass, inclusters on some rocks, none on others. All were associatedwith a bright orange soft coral (which is abundant there), withsome actively feeding by engulfing the unexpanded branches,swelling the head end to twice the usual diameter. There musthave been a minimum of about 5 per square metre over a widearea, although the distribution was very clumpy - evidently agregarious little beast.

Back in a tank, individuals in a small group did not show agreat deal of activity, but occasionally one would rear upslowly, searching. There is a barely detectable groove alongthe belly - the pedal groove, and it seems that they aresupposed to move by ciliary action of the small foot along amucous strand secreted within the pedal groove; the footremaining within the groove. What was observed, however,was slightly different: immediately under the head, the groovewould be opened and the inner surfaces would be pressed tothe tank wall to adhere quite firmly. This would then moveover the surface, but the rest of the groove remained closed.

New records for Hong Kong? Probably. But a good exampleof how amateur sports divers can make useful observationsunderwater: the accumulated time, variety of sites dived andgeneral enthusiasm can be harnessed to augment theprofessionals' scope. Now, is there a second species to befound...?

A solenogaster

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A view to a kill - themythologisation process inaction

by Jonathan Downesjon@eclipse.co.uk

“It seems rather pretty`, she said when she had finished it, `butit's rather hard to understand`!` (You see she didn`t like toconfess even to herself that she couldn`t make it out at all).`Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas - only I don`texactly know what they are! However SOMEBODY killedSOMETHING - that`s clear at any rate!”

Charles Dodgson a.k.a Lewis Carroll “Alice Through theLooking Glass” (1872)

The phenomenon known as `Alien Big Cats` (ABC) whilstsometimes being used to describe cryptids such as the hithertoundescribed maned mystery cats of parts of North America, orthe putative sabre toothed cats of Chad, and more commonlyused to describe `pseudocryptids` like `The Beast of Bodmin`is more truly used to describe creatures whose true nature isfar less certain. In my book “The Rising of the Moon”(Domra, 1999) I discuss the true nature of such zooformapparitions and suggest a possible paradigm to explain theircontinued existence.

However, in most cases, what are described as ABC reportsare in reality nothing of the sort. In the United Kingdom, atleast, the vast majority of `big cat` reports that are notexplainable by a misinterpretation of a known member of thezoofauna of the region, or by a deliberate hoax, areattributable to sightings of an introduced wild animal. It is anopen secret that in the wake of the 1976 dangerous WildAnimals Act, many people who kept exotic species of animalas pet were forced to release them into the wild, where theyhave stayed ever since.

The important issue at stake is NOT whether pumas, and otherspecies of exotic felid are at large in the English countryside.They are. I`ve seen one. No, the really interesting thing aboutthe whole episode of British Big Cats is the way that they are aperfect indication of what I have dubbed the MythologisationProcess - the way that a known animal `becomes` a monster.

The way that a small but viable population of pumas hasbecome known as “The Beast of Exmoor” and “The Beast ofBodmin” - appelations more usually given by the popularpress to wanted war criminals or particularly brutal rapists. Inshort, the process by which hard science becomes a legend.

It is a paradigm that one encounters again and again withincryptozoology and its allied disciplines, and although it is bothannoying and frustrating when one encounters it - it seems tobe an important part of the human condition to subject one`sexperiences to this Mythologisation Process.

In order to examine the process further, I would like to take anin depth look at an event which happened over eighty yearsago in what was then the British Crown Colony of HongKong.

In July 1965 a senior girl at the Diocesan Girls` School wasenjoying a picnic with classmates in the foothills of Tai MoShan, when, according to John Luff, she saw:

"...a tiger stalking through the nearby undergrowth.

The hue and cry was sounded, and immediately a party armedwith heavy sporting rifles, led by Inspector Luk Hung-Kuen,searched the slopes of the mountain Tai Mo Shan. In thefoothills the going was easy over well trodden footpaths, buthigher up rough, coarse grass slowed their progressconsiderably. Their frustration changed to excitement aswithin a well shaded spot the grass was flattened, as if thetiger had been resting there. But no tiger was seen, and theonly evidence of wildlife the tired party could show was someangry looking mosquito bites.

Three weeks passed, and the shouts of `tiger!` had sunk towhispers of contempt, and then .... three different groups fromthree different villages reported having seen a tiger.

Such evidence could not be overlooked. The tiger was given acode name, and his existence was taken seriously. From nowon, he would receive the dignity of being acknowledged inprint as `The Shing Mun Tiger`, named after the valley that hewas reported to be raiding. Further respect was paid to him inthat a European Superintendant of Police, Mr C Shields, ledthe party that would dispose of the tiger.

But no tiger was seen, although the party searched the hillsfor two days.

During August, September, and October, the `Shing MunTiger` was hunted. Rumour grew upon rumour. Doubtless thiswas a charmed tiger, a spirit tiger, sent to punish some wickedvillage for misdeeds unknown to the Hong Kong Government,but doubtless known to the ethereal courts. The folklore is richwith such anecdotes.

VERTEBRATES

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But the Hong Kong Police have insufficient time to chase fleshand blood beasts, to say nothing of phantoms. So the news ofthe tiger disappeared from the newspapers, although thevillagers kept a watchful eye open, knowing they were notmistaken".

The scenario described above is a familiar one to any forteanzoologist who has `wasted` (if that is the right term) months ofhis life chasing (in a metaphorical sense) nebulous big catsthrough the columns of newspapers and the archives ofregional libraries, only to have them discorporate in front ofhim in a miasma of lies, hoaxes, half-truths and mistakenidentities.

The Chinese Tiger, (P. tigris amoyensis), is arguably one ofthe most spectacular denizens of the cryptofauna of HongKong.

This magnificent animal is now nearly extinct in the wild. InFebruary 1996, the World Wide Fund for Nature confirmedthat there are only between 30 and 80 South China Tigers, stillin the wild. Well within living memory, however it was farmore widespread, and there have been many well documentedaccounts of visits by tigers to Hong Kong. One line in KarlShuker`s account of the `Shing Mun Tiger` episode, from his1989 book “Mystery cats of the World” is particularlypoignant:

"She was quite naturally alarmed but also very surprised, astigers are not supposed to exist here".

Dr Shuker was right. Tigers aren`t supposed to exist within theborders of Hong Kong, even the most eminent of the colony`szoologists have got their facts wrong on this matter. In 1981Dennis Hill and Karen Phillips wrote that:

"Unfortunately, the two most spectacular cats that used to beregular visitors to Hong Kong are no longer seen here. Theseare the South China Tiger (P. t. amoyensis) and the Leopard(P .pardus). The last recorded tiger was shot in the NewTerritories in 1915, and the last Leopard in 1931".

Hill and Phillips may well have been correct when they saidthat by 1981 the creatures had ceased to visit the territory, butin both cases they were spectacularly wrong with their dates ofthe most recent records.

In 1975 Guggisberg wrote:

"The Chinese Tiger used to be found in large parts of EasternChina, especially in Fukien (now FUJIAN) and Chekiang(now ZHEJIANG), from where it went North to about 38° or40° latitude and penetrated into Central China along thevalley of the Yang-Tze". (p. 191)

Although its range has contracted dramatically within recentyears, at the times the eyewitness claims recounted belowwere made, Hong Kong was well within the range of thisspecies, and its arrival in the colony poses no theoreticalproblem for the zoologist. Even now, large areas of HongKong - both the mainland and on the Islands of Hong Kongand Lantau, are eminently suitable to support tigers, albeit fora short time. Guggisberg`s description of the habitat needs ofP.t.amoyensis will be instantly recognisable to anyone familiarwith the topography of the wilder parts of the territory:

"Chinese Tigers mainly lived in grass thickets, oak and poplarforests, but they were also encountered in bare, rockymountain areas especially on the coast opposite to the islandof Amoy (now XIAMEN), where they often took shelter incaves" (p.195).

G.A.K.Herklots was probably the greatest single naturalistever to work with the wildlife of Hong Kong. In 1951 hewrote:

"Nearly every winter one or more tigers visit the NewTerritories; often the visitor is a tigress with or without cubs.The visit rarely lasts more than two or three days. A tigerthinks nothing of a 40 mile walk and in a couple of nightscould walk from the wild country behind Bias Bay to Tai MoShan or the Kowloon Hills. Because their visits are usually ofsuch short duration and because most people exaggerate, littlecredence is given to tiger rumours. Most that I haveinvestigated have been founded on fact!"

In `The Hong Kong Countryside`. (1951) Herklots wrote:

“In 1915, a tiger was shot by Mr. Burlingham A.S.P. in theNew Territories, but only after it had killed SergeantGroucher, and I believe it was reported to have visited bothHong Kong and Lan Tau island (sic) in its wanderings."

`The Hong Kong book of Records` (1979), an amusingmiscellany of facts and figures, compiled by someone usingthe pen name `Thagorus`, also contains an account of the 1915incident:

"Tigers are great wanderers and have visited Hong Kong on anumber of occasions. The first recorded incident of a tigerbeing killed in the territory occurred on the 8th March 1915.the animal concerned was reported to have visited Hong KongIsland and Lantau island in its roamings. Early in 1915, thespoor of the tiger was seen in that stretch of country betweenFanling and Sheung Shui. After reporting that the animal hadattacked two Chinese villagers, Sergeant Goucher andConstable Hollands set out to track down the beast. However,the tiger sprung upon Sergeant Goucher who suffered injuriesfrom which he died three days later. During the affray anotherpolice party under the Assistant Superintendant of Police MrBurlingham, came to deal with the matter. The beast

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responded by attacking and fatally mauling an IndianConstable, Rutton Singh. Eventually the tiger was dispatchedafter being repeatedly shot.

The animal measured eight feet, six inches from tip to tip, wasthree feet, four inches high, had a girth of three feet and seveninches and weighed 289 pounds. Its tail was three feet, oneinch long.

The head of the beast was mounted and is now to be foundabove the main archway in the entrance lobby of the CentralPolice Station".

These dimensions are well within those given by Guggisberg(1975), for the Chinese Tiger:

"Of Chinese Tigers, only very few reliable measurements areavailable. Swinhoe reported a specimen with a head and bodylength of 1.62 m (5 feet), a tail of 76.2 cm (30 inches), and aweight of 149.6 kg (329 lbs). Pocock examined a number ofskins exported from Shanghai and found the largest - whichhas obviously been stretched considerably in pegging out - tomeasure 2.97 m (10 feet). An American sportsman, J.C.Grew,shot a tiger on the mainland opposite Amoy, (now XIAMEN)the fresh skin of which measured 3.20 m (10 feet). (The actuallength of the animal may have been 30 cms (18 inches) less,but from what the locals had to say, it was a big specimen forthe area)".

Comparing the surviving photograph of the dead beast withcurrent descriptions of P.t.amoyensis is a little moreproblematical. The description given by Guggisberg isstraightforward enough:

"The eastern Chinese sub-species (of the Tiger) is smallerthan the Bengal Tiger, with the white areas less extensive andthe black stripes broad, short, less numerous and more widelyspaced ...". (p.184)

The morphology of the 1915 specimen does not appear to beany different from photographs of Bengal Tigers in severalpublications that I consulted, and therefore, whereas, itsgeographical position implies that the 1915 animal was of thesubspecies amoyensis I can find no reason within its apparentmorphology to support or disprove this claim.

A third account of the 1915 incident was written by Sayer(1975):

"For some weeks reports of strange pug marks, both on themainland and even on the island were the talk of the town, andthese reports were followed by accounts of eye-witnesses(including some of impeccable respectability), who claim tohave seen a great striped body. The town remained scepticaland incredulous, for even allowing the possibility of theneighbouring province nourishing an odd example, the Colonywas surely hardly large enough to swing a cat, let alone atiger! But early in the month of March came the unexpectednews from Sheung Shui in the New Territories that a tiger hadindeed been located and had already killed a Chinese anddealt a fatal blow at a European Police Sergeant. All doubtsand alarms were finally set at rest when, at the cost of yetanother policeman`s life, the great body, shot by a hastilyorganised party, was brought in triumph to the City Hall".

There are a number of discrepancies between these threeaccounts. Although all three sources agree on the date andlocation, and it is perhaps unrealistic to expect zoologicaldetails to have survived for nearly a century, the third item ofhuman interest; the number of people killed by the beastdiffers from account to account.

Herklots lists the fatalities as Sgt. GROUCHER, and two un-named Indian Constables. `Thagorus`, lists Sgt. GOUCHER,(a small, but possibly significant difference in name), and oneIndian Constable, the unfortunate Rutton Singh. This accountmentions that two unnamed Chinese villagers were attacked,but presumably if they had been killed by the tiger, `Thagorus'would have mentioned the fact. Sayer, whose book is by farthe most scholarly of the three, and on first impressionsprovides the most impressive item on presentation value atleast, presents yet another story. His fatalities are twounnamed policemen, presumably GOUCHER/GROUCHERand Singh and an unnamed Chinese person. It is the first wehave heard of this fatality. It may seem that we are beingoverly zealous in our investigation of this incident, but as willbe seen shortly, the veracity of at least one of these threewriters has to be considered in some depth.

A fourth account of this incident is found in a reprint of anarticle from The Hongkong Telegraph, dated March 8th 1915.This time, the accounts are significantly different:

"In Sheung Shui, this morning, the villagers havingcomplained to the police of the presence of a tiger in the

“Sheung Shui Tiger” shot by Donald Burlingham in 1915

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locality, P.C.Croucher and the constable .... went out toinvestigate the complaint ... A coolie standing close bycarelessly threw a stone into the bush .... a monster tiger,likened to the size of a pony, sprang from the bush, caughtP.C.Croucher in his claws, and though the constable is somesix foot in height, and turns the scale at fifteen stone - it tossedhim about like a shuttlecock. His friend went to his assistanceand .... fired two shots .... One of the shots is supposed to havestruck the tiger and he dashed back into the bush, but notbefore he had torn four holes in the back and one in theshoulder of the constable, severely lacerating his body alldown one side".

Window magazine on June 7th 1996, who reprinted this articlewent on to note:

"No longer a rumour but a most unpleasant encounter.Constable Croucher survived. An armed party took up thechase the following morning and killed the tiger, but notbefore it had succeeded in killing an Indian Constable..."

A fifth account of the incident apeared in the Hong KongPolice Magazine for March 1952. This quotes the South ChinaMorning Post for the 9th March 1915. The account issubstantially the same as that given by `Thagorus` and againcalls the Sergeat GOUCHER. Unlike `Thagorus` it makes nomention of him having been killed, and even claims that Singhand GOUCHER/CROUCHER/GROUCHER were attacked intwo different incidents.

So. Where does one go from here. We have five differentaccounts of the incident, each telling a significantly differentstory. The English policeman has three different names andtwo different ranks. Some accounts claim that he eventuallydied of his wounds and others claim that he survived. Oneaccount claims that two unnamed coolies were also killed, butother accounts ignore them completely. As "Alice" is said tohave said after first hearing the poem "Jabberwocky", it isclear that someone killed something, (or in this case the otherway around) but the details remain obscure. When oneconsiders that this incident has, in recent years at least, beenthe most well documented of the Hong Kong tiger incidentsthen one begins to realise that researching this book was not aseasy as it might at first have appeared.

A sixth account of the 1915 incident appears in the articleabout the 1966 Shing Mun Tiger `flap`, which I quoted at thebeginning of this article:

"Tigers are always appearing in Hong Kong, writes John Luff.Never a year passes but at some time a posse of policemenaugmented by a troop of soldiers makes for the hills of theNew Territories, urged on by the vague instructions of avillager who is certain he saw `one piece plenty big tiger`.

The fact that the tiger hunt turns out almost always to be awild goose chase is beside the point. For exactly fifty yearsago a villager reported to the police station saying that a hugetiger was lurking in a patch of scrub. So, the police went tosee, arming themselves with only light revolvers. And whenthey asked where the tiger was, the villager said `over there`,and threw a stone into a clump of bushes. At which a veryangry tiger hurled himself upon a police sergeant, and whenan Indian constable went to help the sergeant the tiger stuckhim down too. It started as a joke and ended in tragedy. Thehead of the tiger, moth eaten and toothless, ornaments theCentral Police Station in the capital Victoria.

So, for obvious reasons the reports of the villagers in thecolony`s New Territory`s have to be taken seriously"...

This account contains more detail than the other ones quotedabove and it is tempting to speculate, either that theanonymous author, (the mysterious John Luff?), had access tosource material that we have not yet been able to identify,possibly even an interview with one of the survivingprincipals, or he made the extra details up in the interests of agood story. Either is possible, and at the time of writing thejury is still out on the matter.

A 1925 account of the incident which appeared in TheOverland China Mail shows that the confusion about theincident existed even seventy two years before this presentvolume was written, and even casts doubt upon theprovenance of the head which for so many years was exhibitedabove the door of the Central Police Station, and which evenas recently as 1993 resided in the Police Museum on StubbsRd. (The head is still in the Police Museum, ed.)

`Hong Kong and Macao - the rough guide` by Jules Brownand Helen Lee (Rough Guides, London 1993) p.82

"There is nothing improbable in the story of its presence therefor those residents who were in the colony a few years agowill remember the body of the tiger shot by Mr D Burlinghamin the New Territories, being carried in the streets. A cast ofthe impression of another tiger`s `pugs` was also exhibited inthe window of Messrs Lane, Crawford Ltd. There wouldappear to be a good deal of haziness in the minds of those whoremember seeing the tiger which was actually shot in the NewTerritories as to what happened to it. Several statements weremade most definitely to a China Mail representative thismorning by people who should have known. "It`s in themuseum here" was one. "It was skinned and made into a rugand was either given to Sir Henry May who was Governor atthe time, or is in the museum", said another. "The skin wastaken off badly and had to be thrown away" was a thirdversion. From an official source The China Mail learns thatwhat actually happened was that the skin was sent home to bestuffed, the object being to have it placed in the museum here.On it`s way out in stuffed form, on a Japanese boat it was

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torpedoed and although all the passengers were saved, no-oneseems to have remembered or cared enough about the tiger torescue it from a watery grave.

If the above account is true, it means that all the other acountsaren`t, and it begs the question; Where, exactly, did the tigerhead (still presumably) in Stubbs Road Police Museum comefrom?

At the beginning of the second world war, Winston Churchilldescribed the Soviet Union as “A riddle wrapped in a mysteryinside an enigma.” Churchill could equally well have beendescribing an investigation into the accounts of tigers andother mystery cats from Hong Kong.

In my records I have well over a dozen fully documentedaccounts of tigers visiting Hong Kong and several other lesstangible ones. The earliest reports are from the nineteenthcentury and the latest are several years later than theappearance of the Shing Mun beast (which seems, on the basisof the available evidence) to have been more akin to theclassic zooform ABC sighting than anything else.

So where is the problem? How and why did the Fanlingepisode of the 8th March 1915 become so confused?

I believe that mankind needs monsters - they fulfill a primalpurpose deep within the human psyche. However, when it isactually confronted with one it does not know how to dealwith it. Even in 1915 when Hong Kong was far from being theurbanised centre of commerce that it is today, it considereditself to be a sophisticated metropolitan centre. The idea that itcould harbour dangerous wild animals capable of killinganyone - let alone a respected member of His Majesty`s forceswas too much to deal with and so the whole affair was slowlyconsigned to legend and the unfortunate sergeantGoucher/Groucher or whatever his name was, achieved adegree of immortality that he would undoubtedly never haveachieved if he had lived to a ripe old age, and died inretirement somewhere on the south coast of England.

Strange old world isn`t it?

Wildlife around the HKUcampus?

by Elsa LeeMany people are unaware of the rich mammal diversityaround the main campus of HKU. During the mammal surveywhich formed my final year undergraduate project, startinglast September, I found that there are many exciting mammalsliving around the crowded campus where we go every day.

The mammal survey was conducted both within the campusand on the hill (Lung Fu Shan) behind University Drive. Thestudy aimed at recording the mammalian fauna of this urbanfringe site, which is sandwiched between a highly urbanizedarea (Shek Tong Tsui) and the Lung Fu Shan Country Park.Both live-trapping and camera-trapping methods were used.Two types of traps were selected for live-trapping, plasticTrip-Trips baited with mealworms and modified metal traps,developed by Kylie Chung, baited with fried bread. The trapswere placed within forest patches on the campus and in themore extensive forest above University Drive. Two types ofcamera were used for camera-trapping, the TrailMaster unitand the Wildlife Two set. These camera-traps were onlyplaced in the uphill region, and they took photographswhenever the sensors detected movements in front of them.

After more than a month of surveys, the live and cameratrapping recorded a total of nine species of mammals. Smallmammals, especially rodents, dominated the fauna within thebuilt-up region of the campus, including the characteristicurban species, the Roof Rat (Rattus rattus), the House Shrew(Suncus murinus), Pallas’s Squirrel (Callosciurus erythraeusthai), and feral cat (Felis catus), as well as the non-urbanSikkim Rat (R. sikkimensis). In the uphill region, within 100 mof University Drive, there were more large mammals,including at least three different individual Masked PalmCivets (Paguma larvata), a Ferret Badger (Melogalemoschata), feral cats (Felis catus), and feral dogs (Canisfamiliaris), along with the Chestnut Spiny Rat (Niviventerfulvescens), Sikkim Rat, House Shrew and Pallas’s Squirrel. Atenth mammal species, the Grey Shrew (Crociduraattentuata), has previously been recorded at this site.

Many of the mammals are nocturnal and have a secretivelifestyle. However, if you know the place and how to look forthem, these amazing animals can be found surrounding us.

a b

c

Fig. a. A feral cat, Fig. b. Feral dogs & Fig. c. A Ferret Badger

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A Sikkim Rat ‘caught’ by a camera trap after taking bait.

An Ardeid population ofregional importance

by Leung Va and Kwok Hon KaiThe shallow water between Taipa and Coloane, Macau, wasonce covered by extensive mangroves. These are now muchreduced. At least since 1990, Little Egrets Egretta garzetta,Chinese Pond Herons Ardeola bacchus and Night HeronsNycticorax nycticorax have nested on the mangroves at thesoutheast of Taipa. This is the only egretry ever reported fromMacau. The mangroves on the southeast of Taipa were clearedin 1998, and the ardeids moved to nest in a Casuarinaplantation near the Taipa House Museum in 1999. Apart fromduring the breeding season (March to June), ardeids also roostin this plantation during winter. Hundreds of egrets and heronsusually roost in this plantation, and the maximum count was1,400 birds in January 2002. Almost all roosting birds areLittle Egrets. Night Herons are also found roosting on thestumps of cut mangroves in the lagoon. Ardeids that roost inthis plantation come from various directions, and possiblytravel long distances. This may suggest that other locations inwestern Ningdingyang may no longer be suitable for roosting.Ardeids, particularly white egrets, are hunted or trapped in thePearl River Delta (Young & Cha, 1995, Lansdown et al.,2000). The number of ardeids in this roost is indeed ofregional importance. The average peak number of Little Egretsin the Deep Bay area, a site of recognized internationalconservation importance, during the 1990s, was 1,478 (Carey& Young, 1999). The plantation is owned by a privatedeveloper and may be removed for a housing development.The egretry could be saved by a land exchange between theprivate developer and Macau’s SAR government.

Bibliography

Carey, G.J. & Young, L. (1999). The importance to waterfowl of the Mai PoMarshes and Inner Deep Bay Ramsar Site. Hong Kong Bird Report 1997:141-149.

Landsdown, R.V., Mundkur, T. & Young, L. (2000). Herons in East andSouth-east Asia. In: (Kushlan, J.A. and Hafner, H.). Heron Conservation, pp73-98, Academic Press, Great Britain.

Should Hong Kong’s freshwaterfishes be protected by law?

by Bosco P. L. ChanThe Country Parks Ordinance (Cap. 208) affords fullprotection to terrestrial wildlife living in our protected-areasystem. The Wild Animals Protection Ordinance (WAPO,Cap. 170), which is intended to “make provision for theconservation of wild animals (of Hong Kong), and forpurposes connected therewith” (Cap. 170, Section: Long title),lists over 500 species of wild animals, some aliens included,living in Hong Kong. WAPO covers all birds, all mammalsexcept rodents (but including the porcupine), shrews, and wildboar, some reptiles and amphibians, which cannot be killed orwilfully disturbed anywhere in the SAR. Surprisingly, WAPOdoes not include any of Hong Kong’s native fishes. In actualfact "animal" in this particular ordinance means any form ofanimal life except fish and marine invertebrates (Amended 58of 1980 s. 2). Since the enactment of the EnvironmentalImpact Assessment Ordinance (EIAO, Cap. 499) in 1997, andunder the evaluation criteria of the EIA TechnicalMemorandum (EIATM, Cap. 499, s. 16), the WAPO alsoserves as an important reference in evaluating a study site’secological value; i.e. if a species is found by the ecologicalconsultant, then the ecological importance of the study site isassessed, amongst other criteria, by whether the speciesconcerned is listed in local protected species law. From time totime, local conservationists call for the amendment of WAPOto include certain taxa believed to be threatened with localextinction, due to the inadequate coverage of WAPO. But upuntil now no concrete action has been taken by relevantgovernment departments.

From direct and indirect sources, I was told that WAPO aimsto list local species that are believed to be threatened by activetrapping and/or collecting pressure, and that rare specieswhich are endangered by other means of threats are notincluded. During the last few years, I have spent aconsiderable amount of time wandering around Tung ChoiStreet in Mong Kok, which because of its booming pet marketis better known as ‘Goldfish Street’ by locals. During thisperiod I have seen a slow increase in the trade of native, orlocally-collected freshwater fishes. For instance in 1997-1998,only a small amount of the common hillstream species, suchas Parazacco spilurus, Liniparhomaloptera disparis disparis,and Rhinogobius duospilus were offered for sale. Recently,however, both the number of species and quantity of fishcollected from Hong Kong seem to have escalated. Below is alist of native fish species which I observed for sale in TungChoi Street in 2001. Those marked with an asterisk were seenregularly and in relatively large number (i.e. over 50individuals per visit). In addition, the native snakeheadChanna asiatica is also offered regularly. The small size and

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small trade quantity makes importation very uneconomical,and these individuals are believed to be caught locally.1. *Parazacco spilurus2. Nicholsicypris normalis3. *Puntius semifasciolata (not to be confused with the

captive-bred variety)4. Acrossocheilus hemispinus5. *Pseudogastromyzon myersi6. *Liniparhomaloptera disparis disparis7. *Schistura fasciolata8. Pseudobagrus trilineatus9. *Rhinogobius duospilus10. Stiphodon atropurpureus11. Macropodus concolor (not to be confused with the

captive-bred variety)12. *Macropodus opercularis

The most worrying is the appearance of some highly restrictedand recently reported species, in particular since 2000. Themost astonishing of all is doubtless the beautiful neon gobyStiphodon atropurpureus, first reported in Hong Kong asStiphodon sp. (Chan, 1999). Four pairs of this beautiful andlocally rare goby were seen for sale in a shop, which has aregular supply of locally collected fish and other aquaticanimals (including metamorphosing Hong Kong NewtParamesotriton hongkongensis). This tiny animal, measuringno more than 5 cm in total length and 5 grams in weight, waspriced at $550 Hong Kong Dollar for a pair! Therefore there isa very good reason for a schoolboy or retired hobbyist tocollect every single one they manage to find, and thecollecting pressure is probably as high as any wildlife speciesyou can imagine living in Hong Kong. Three other nativespecies of particular conservation concern were observed also;the markedly-striped catfish Pseudobagrus trilineatus was $88dollar each, and it is known from three tiny sites in HongKong. The barb Acrossocheilus hemispinus, known from afew valleys locally, was selling for $40 per fish. The globallyrestricted Black Paradise Fish Macropodus concolor sells for$40 each. The Paradise Fish Macropodus opercularis is a lotcheaper; each adult only costs $10. This is no surprise becauseI personally witnessed two very hard-working gentlemenscooping up well over 80 M. opercularis out of the Pui OMarsh last year. Even the established exotic species, such asPlaty Xiphophorus variatus, Molly Poecilia sphenops andsnakehead Channa striata, are for sale from time to time.

With the frequency of occurrence in trade and the high pricesthey can fetch, it is highly recommended that AFCD shouldconsider listing native freshwater fishes in the WAPO. In factthe WAPO itself should be revised to provide total protectionto the listed animals; the ordinance specifies, for example, thatonly when a protected animal offered for sale is taken inHong Kong is it considered an offence. The sale ofmetamorphosing Hong Kong Newts, as an example, isdifficult to regulate because the shop owner can always claimthese animals are from outside Hong Kong so long as the

species is not CITES-listed and requires no export/importpermits. If nothing else, at least their habitats can besafeguarded when our EIA consultants reference the revisedWAPO if some of these species are listed.

Bibliography

Chan, B. (1999). Hong Kong’s Freshwater Fish: Who Cares?!? Porcupine!19: 15-16.

Getting ahead by falling down:the strange case ofChoerospondias axillaris

by Richard T. CorlettThe Hog Plum, Choerospondias axillaris (Anacardiaceae), is alarge, deciduous tree whose natural distribution in Hong Konghas been obscured by widespread planting. It has large (c. 30mm x 25 mm x 25 mm), yellow, fleshy fruits, each with asingle large (20 mm x 15 mm x 15 mm) and very woodystone. Uniquely in the Hong Kong flora, these fruits aredropped to the ground as soon as they are ripe. The fruit fleshis watery and has a high sucrose content, suggesting that it istargeted at mammals, rather than birds (Corlett, 1996; Ko etal., 1998). I have seen macaques eating Choerospondias, but itmakes no sense to present fruits to an arboreal primate on theground. We have also occasionally found the distinctive stonesin civet scats, which makes a bit more sense, although civetsclimb well and obtain most of the other tree fruits they eatdirect from the canopy. Neither civets nor macaques, however,explain the occurrence of small groups of cleaned stonesdeposited in forest patches on Ma On Shan and elsewhere,often with no Choerospondias tree in sight.

The name "Hog Plum" suggests pigs as possible dispersalagents, and this cannot be ruled out, but a more likelyexplanation is provided by a recent paper in Biotropica (Chenet al., 2001). Jin Chen and his colleagues at theXishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden in Yunnan haveshown that, in the Mengla National Nature Reserve,Choerospondias axillaris is dispersed by the Indian Muntjac,Muntiacus muntjak – the same muntjac (barking deer) as wehave in Hong Kong. The fruits are apparently swallowedwhole and then the seeds are regurgitated undamaged after

FLORA

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several hours of rumination. The authors suggest that therelatively high protein and calcium content of the pulp maymake these fruits an important part of the muntjac’sherbivorous diet. Chen et al. say that the muntjac is also animportant dispersal agent for several other large-seeded woodyplants in the same area. The only one of those mentioned thatgrows in Hong Kong is Phyllanthus emblica (Euphorbiaceae),which has spherical, pale green fruits around 18 mm indiameter, with a single hard stone.

Bibliography

Chen, J., Deng, X.B., Bai, Z.L., Yang, Q., Chen, G.Q., Liu, Y. and Liu, Z.Q.(2002). Fruit characteristics and Muntiacus muntjac vaginalis (Muntjac) visitsto individual plants of Choerospondias axillaris. Biotropica 33: 718-722.

Corlett, R.T. (1996). Characteristics of vertebrate-dispersed fruits in HongKong. Journal of Tropical Ecology 12: 819-833.

Ko, I.W.P., Corlett, R.T. and Xu, R.J. (1998). Sugar composition of wild fruitsin Hong Kong, China. Journal of Tropical Ecology 14: 381-387.

Wind pollination in Hong Kong

by Richard T. CorlettThe possibility that wind pollination is important in the tropicshas been generally neglected. In the understorey of tropicalevergreen rain forests, low wind speed, dense evergreen foliageand regular rainfall must all reduce the effectiveness of aerialpollen transport, and the low density and thus wide spacing ofconspecifics in most plant species must strongly favour thedirected movement of pollen by the animal vectors that areabundantly available year-round. However, the rain forestunderstorey is an extreme situation and open sites, seasonalrainfall and dominance by a single species, are all widespread inthe tropics. Hong Kong is near the northern edge of the tropicsand has many non-tropical taxa in its flora. How important iswind pollination here?

If a species is pollinated by wind, its pollen must be present inthe air during the flowering season. Sampling of pollensuspended in the air, mostly in urban areas, and of the “pollenrain” preserved in surface samples, lake sediments and pollentraps, can give a general picture of aerial pollen transport.Although there are very few data from Hong Kong itself, severalHong Kong taxa are consistently represented in such samplesfrom elsewhere in the region, including: the conifers,Amaranthaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Cyperaceae, Elaeocarpus,Engelhardtia, Euphorbiaceae (particularly Acalypha, Bischofia,Macaranga and Mallotus), Hamamelidaceae (Altingia), Ilex,Moraceae (Artocarpus, Broussonetia, Morus), Myrica,Myrsinaceae (mostly Myrsine), Myrtaceae (Syzygium andunidentified taxa), Palmae, Pandanus, Poaceae, Ulmaceae(Celtis, Trema) and Urticaceae (Boehmeria) (Corlett,unpublished review).

Pollen in the air comes not only from wind-pollinated plants, butalso from some animal-pollinated taxa, particularly if they haveopen flower structures or "buzz-pollinated" flowers. In somecases, floral morphology, pollen characteristics and a tendency togregariousness support the idea that the taxa listed above arewind-pollinated. Thus the conifers appear to be wind-pollinatedeven when they occur as subcanopy components of lowlandrainforest. The grasses and sedges also seem to be consistentlypollinated by wind, except, possibly, some rainforest understoreygenera. Bees collect pollen from several species of Quercus(including Cyclobalanopsis) in Hong Kong, but the pendulousmale inflorescences, which release clouds of pollen whentouched, support the widespread assumption that this genus iswind-pollinated At the other extreme, both floral morphologyand visits by potential pollinators make it very unlikely that windpollination is significant for Elaeocarpus or Ilex.

Between these extremes are many species with small, ofteninconspicuous, flowers, for which the relative importance ofwind and insects in pollination is unclear. Corlett (2001)considered that the common dioecious tree, Myrsine seguinii,was pollinated by Apis cerana in Hong Kong, although bee visitswere overwhelmingly to male plants, while Yumoto (1987)reported that flies were the major flower visitors on YakushimaIsland. However, Kato (2000) considered the same species to bewind pollinated in the Amami Islands. Flowering male plants ofthis species release clouds of pollen when shaken, so I now thinkKato is probably right and that the few bee visits I have observedto female plants are accidental.

A similar situation occurs with the pioneer trees Aporosachinensis and Mallotus paniculatus (both Euphorbiaceae) inHong Kong, with only the male plants visited by pollen-collecting bees, suggesting that pollen transfer must be by wind(Corlett, 2001). However, species of the same genera in therainforest understorey in Sarawak appear to be pollinated byinsects (Momose et al., 1998), as does Mallotus albus insouthern India (Krishnan & Davidar, 1993). Staying with theeuphorbs, I have never seen insect visitors to Macaranga flowersin Hong Kong and have always assumed that the whole genuswas pollinated by wind. Recently, however, Moog et al. (2002)have shown that several Macaranga species are pollinated bythrips in the Malaysian rainforest. Thrips are tiny and easilyoverlooked, so the Hong Kong species need further study.

Spontaneous, ballistic release of pollen into the air, by stamensheld under tension until anthesis, occurs in the Urticaceae and inone tribe of the closely related Moraceae, which includes theHong Kong genera Morus, Broussonetia and Maclura. Althoughbees occasionally visit the flowers of many of these species, theautomatic release of clouds of tiny pollen grains makes mostsense as an aid to wind pollination. Both floral morphology andthe aerial pollen count also suggest that at least some tropicalmembers of the related family Ulmaceae may be wind-pollinated. This has been proposed for Gironniera spp. inSarawak (Momose et al., 1998), although the same authors

16

considered that bees pollinated Trema tomentosa. In Hong Kong,Celtis sinensis flowers while leafless and releases pollen whentouched, but it is also visited by bees that sometimes contact bothanthers and stigmas.

Coastal habitats, with their strong air movements, relativeopenness and tendency to single-species dominance, would beexpected to favour wind-pollination more than inland areas. Infact, even here, most species have animal vectors, but Cox(1990) considered that the coastal pandan, Pandanus tectorius,was wind-pollinated, with the staminate inflorescencesproducing copious amounts of loose, dry pollen and the pistillateinflorescences acting as highly efficient pollen receivers. Kato(2000), however, considered that beetles (mostly Nitidulidae)were the main pollinators in the Amami Islands.

The degree of ignorance and uncertainty surrounding thisapparently straightforward issue may be surprising, but therelative importance of wind and insects as pollinators is stilldebated for many well-studied temperate zone taxa. Provingpollination by wind is a lot more difficult than one might think.The traditional test has been to exclude insects with a mesh bag,but a mesh fine enough to keep out thrips and other very smallinsects will also greatly reduce air movements. A combination ofmesh bags and insecticide might be worth trying. There is afuture PhD in this for someone!

Bibliography

Corlett, R.T. (2001). Pollination in a degraded tropical Landscape: a HongKong case study. Journal of Tropical Ecology 17: 155-161.

Cox, P.A. (1990). Pollination and the evolution of breeding systems inPandanaceae. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 77: 816-840.

Kato, M. (2000). Anthophilous insect community and plant-pollinatorinteractions on Amami Islands in the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan.Contributions from the Biological Laboratory Kyoto University 29: 157-252.

Krishnan, R.M. and Davidar, P. (1993). Nectar secretion and pollinatorvisitation patterns in Mallotus albus. In Pollination in the tropics (eds. G.K.Veeresh, R.U. Shaankar and K.N. Ganeshaiah), International Union for theStudy of Social Insects, Bangalore, pp. 157-158.

Momose, K., Yumoto, T., Nagamitsu, T., Kato, M., Nagamasu, H., Sakai, S.,Harrison, R.D., Itioka, T., Hamid, A.A. and Inoue, T. (1998). Pollinationbiology in a lowland dipterocarp forest in Sarawak, Malaysia. I.Characteristics of the plant-pollinator community in a lowland dipterocarpforest. American Journal of Botany 85: 1477-1501.

Moog, U., Fiala, B., Federle, W. and Maschwitz, U. (2002). Thrips pollinationof the dioecious ant plant Macaranga hullettii (Euphorbiaceae) in SoutheastAsia. American Journal of Botany 89: 50-59.

Yumoto, T. (1987). Pollination systems in a warm temperate evergreen broad-leaved forest on Yaku Island. Ecological Research 2: 133-145.

Reintroduction: setting the ballrolling…

by Richard T. CorlettI have been asked to provide examples of species that I thinkshould be reintroduced (see the front page article). With somereluctance, since I am not an expert on any group ofvertebrates, I have done so below, for terrestrial birds andmammals only. To save space, scientific names are given onlywhere the common names are ambiguous. The suggestions aredivided into three groups. The Phase 1 species are regionallycommon species that are already in Hong Kong, in some form,and could be reintroduced now, without any additionalresearch, except into the practicalities of the reintroductionprocess itself. Phase 2 species all require some additionalecological information, which, in most cases, can probably beobtained from existing sources and the relevant experts. ThePhase 3 species are a mixed bag, including some that areprobably uncontroversial, others that may need larger forestareas than Hong Kong can currently provide, and some thatmay never be feasible.

Phase 1. Hong Kong’s forest and shrubland fauna includes anumber of species which, although probably part of theoriginal native fauna, became locally extinct at some point inthe last few hundred years, and have been recently re-established as a result of releases from captivity. These“casual reintroductions” are the best evidence that a formalreintroduction programme would work. Since most of them donot yet occupy all suitable habitats in Hong Kong they alsoprovide ideal candidate species for trying out reintroductiontechniques. I suggest that the introduction of the GreaterNecklaced Laughingthrush, Streak-breasted Scimitar Babblerand Rufous-capped Babbler to Lantau Island would be a goodway to start. The Vinous-throated Parrotbill could probably beadded to this list. If these reintroductions were made withstock from the nearest available source in southernGuangdong, it would ensure both that the correct race wasestablished (by no means certain for most of the casualreintroductions) and that the political, legal and logisticproblems of translocating animals from wild sources on themainland were overcome.

Three additional bird species could be included in the firstphase without any controversy. The Grey-cheeked Fulvetta isHong Kong’s most obvious “missing vertebrate” – the

MISCELLANY

17

commonest forest babbler in the region, but not currentlyestablished here, despite scattered releases and occasionalevidence of breeding. The Yellow-cheeked Tit is locallyestablished but probably in need of reinforcement, and theBlack-throated Tit has a similar status to the Grey-cheekedFulvetta.

We know our mammals far less well than we know our birds,but one species stands out as an obvious Phase 1 candidate,Pallas’s Squirrel, Callosciurus erythraeus, which is currentlyrepresented by two exotic subspecies: C. e. thai, which iswidespread on Hong Kong Island, and C. e. styani, which islocally established in parts of the New Territories. Theintroduction of the “correct” subspecies from southernGuangdong, initially to areas, such as Lantau Island, thatcurrently lack squirrels, would help right an historical error.

Phase 2. One bird species stands out as the most attractivePhase 2 reintroduction: the Silver Pheasant. This spectacularpheasant occupies almost all suitable habitats in Guangdong,including the nearest large forest areas to Hong Kong, andthere seems to be no reason why it should not thrive here. It isfairly easy to breed in captivity, so the direct translocation ofwild individuals would not be essential.

Additional mammalian candidates for early introductioninclude two twentieth-century extinctions, the Red Fox and theLarge Indian Civet, and two species that clearly ought to be inHong Kong but are currently represented by a very smallnumber of animals of unknown – possibly captive – origin,the Yellow-bellied Weasel and the Yellow-throated Marten. Ihave relegated these species to Phase 2 only because bothquarantine regulations and worries about their potential impacton other species make carnivore reintroductions moredifficult. For the Large Indian Civet, which would becomeHong Kong’s largest carnivore, there must also be doubtsabout whether the area of suitable habitat available issufficient. Other possible Phase 2 mammalian introductionsare the Maritime Striped Squirrel, Tamiops maritimus and oneof the two Guangdong species of Bamboo Rat.

Phase 3. At this stage, all the candidates for Phase 3 aretentative. My suggestions include the following: ChineseBamboo Partridge, Rickett’s Hill Partridge, Red-headedTrogon, Black-browed Barbet, Bay Woodpecker (and severalother woodpecker species), White-crowned Forktail, BrownDipper, Mountain Bulbul, Spot-breasted Scimitar Babbler,Brown-capped Fulvetta, Sambar Deer, Southern Serow,Raccoon Dog, Dhole, Hog Badger, Siberian Weasel, Hairy-footed Flying Squirrel, Giant Flying Squirrel (Petauristaphilippensis), and Edward’s Long-tailed Giant Rat(Leopoldamys edwardsi). There are many other possiblespecies for which good data currently are lacking. Inparticular, our forest rodent fauna is extremely impoverished,but detailed distributional information for Guangdong is notavailable for most potential Phase 3 species.

In the longer term – perhaps the next 50-100 years – I thinkthat the target should be the restoration of as much as possibleof the primeval plant and animal diversity of Hong Kong.Since there are neither historical descriptions of what was herein the past, nor an intact baseline community anywhere else inregion that can be used as a model, this is going to involvemore imaginative extrapolation than many conservationists arecurrently comfortable with. But can anyone suggest a betteralternative?

IUCN/SSC Re-introduction Specialist Group (SG)http://iucn.org/themes/ssc/programs/rsg.htmIUCN/SSC Invasive Species SG http://www.issg.org/

Valuing Nature

by Lisa Hopkinson and Rachel SternThe Civic Exchange lisah@civic-exchange.org

What is the dollar value of an ecosystem? In a recent report,Wild But Not Free: An Economic Valuation of the Benefits ofNature Conservation in Hong Kong, non-profit thinktankCivic Exchange estimates that the quantifiable economic valueof Hong Kong’s natural resources – its forests, country parks,wetlands and marine waters – is between HK$1.8 billion andHK$6.5 billion annually as an absolute minimum. At theupper end of this range, this is equivalent to a total value ofHK$162 billion in perpetuity. This compares favourably tothe one-off cost of buying ecologically valuable sites fromprivate land owners, recently estimated by the government ataround HK$70 billion.

These are striking figures, but what exactly do they mean?HK$6.5 billion does not come close to measuring the totalbenefits of conservation. It does not include the value of theview from Sharp Peak, the existence of Romer’s tree frog, nordoes it include many of the services that nature provides forThe author

with a largeIndian Civet

18

free, such as pollination, pest control or the value ofbiodiversity itself.

Rather, these sums are a part of an important intellectualexercise to make the value of nature more tangible and explicitto decision makers. Porcupine readers may need littleconvincing of the need to conserve Hong Kong’s naturalareas, but for those in charge of Hong Kong’s purse strings, itis important to stress that conservation has a real economicvalue.

We tend to value nature at zero dollars, forgetting the servicesand revenue nature provides. The market does not typicallyassign dollar values to environmental resources, so it requiresnew methods to estimate their economic value. The economicvalue of nature can be sub-divided into direct use values,indirect use values and non-use values.

Fishing, ecotourism, recreation in country parks, and pleasureboating in eastern waters are all direct use values, defined asthe economic benefit of consuming, trading or using productsfrom nature. To take one example, Wild But Not Freeestimates that ecotourism could annually generate anadditional HK$4 billion in receipts if 11% of tourists (thepercentage indicating interest in ecotourism) stayed anadditional 1.9 days (the additional time tourists would like tostay on average) because of green attractions.

The recreation value of Hong Kong’s Country Parks is furtherestimated at HK$310 million based on an established methodthat measures the cost of travel and the cost of travel time.However, this clearly underestimates the total value of countryparks, since 10.6 million visitors visit Country Parks each yearand many would pay more than the cost of a bus fare to enjoythem.

Indirect use values refer to ecosystem services or “thosefunctions of the environment which provide direct value to thewell-being of humans through the maintenance of a healthynatural environment.” 1 This includes the role trees play inpollution absorption, the way in which wetlands help mitigatefloods, and the watershed protection value of forests.

For example, Hong Kong reservoir catchments provide theequivalent of HK$880 million of raw water that wouldotherwise need to be imported from the Dongjiang inGuangdong Province. This HK$880 million, however, fails totake into account the value of water security or thecontribution of a forested watershed towards local climateregulation. Through water recycling by plants, forestedwatersheds keep areas cooler and wetter. Wild But Not Freealso estimates that Hong Kong’s forests are worth HK$35million per year as absorbers of air pollution, and itsmangroves are worth HK$3 million as absorbers of nitratepollution.

Non-use values are even more difficult to quantify. Theseinclude existence values, the amount people are willing to payto ensure the continued existence of a species or ecosystem,even if they never intend to use or see them. How much is aBlack Faced Spoonbill worth to people who may never visitMai Po? Such values can only be estimated through carefullydesigned surveys, none of which have been done in HongKong. Surveys done elsewhere in the world, including Asia,show that existence values can dwarf other types of value.

As far as we know, Wild But Not Free is the first paper toapply environmental economics to Hong Kong. As apioneering attempt, Wild But Not Free highlights the lack ofdata in this area and points to a need for primary, localresearch to fill in data gaps. For example, the extent to whichwetlands help mitigate floods and offset the need for costly(and damaging) drainage works has never been quantitativelyassessed in Hong Kong. Neither has the degree to which thequality of the natural environment affects quality of life andwillingness to live and invest in Hong Kong.

While the true value of Hong Kong’s natural resources ismuch higher than HK$162 billion, even this dollar valuemakes clear that ecosystem services are critical, from aneconomic perspective as well as an ecological one. Accordingto estimates which appeared in the journal Nature a few yearsago, global ecosystem services are worth US$33 trillionannually, nearly twice the global GNP of US$18 trillion peryear. These dollar values are tools to help us realize theimportance of nature conservation. Human life and economicactivity depend on the biosphere, not the other way around.

Full copies of the report in English and Chinese can be foundat http://www.civic-exchange.org under publications.

1 Edward Barbier in Handbook of Incentive Measures for Biodiversity Designand Implementation (OECD: 1999), pp. 29-30.

Table : Economic breakdown of benefit estimates 2

This paper estimates that the quantifiable conservation valueof Hong Kong’s natural resources is between HK$1.8 billionand 6.5 billion annually 3

Conservation benefit Method Estimatedcurrentvalue(HK$ mill)

Estimatedfuturepotentialvalue(HK$ mill)

DIRECT USEMarine ecosystem

-status quo-restored

Marketvalue

+150+180

Ecotourism-potential increase in revenue-travel costs of hikers

Revenue

Travel cost

+4001

+260

19

Education-visits to outdoor education centers

Travel cost +40

Scientific/Medicinal --Amenity/Recreation-hiking in country parks-outdoor conservation facilities-marine leisure-wilderness courses-mountain biking-SCUBA diving-rock climbing-property landscape views

Travel cost

Travel cost

RevenueRevenueRevenueRevenueRevenueHedonic pricing

+310

+10

+580+20+100+10+10--

INDIRECT USEWatershed protection Substitute

cost+880

Pollution absorption-mangroves &nutrients-trees & air pollution-vegetation & carbon sequestration-potential carbon sequestration

Substitutecostmethodfor all

+3

+40+20

+390

Flood prevention --Pollination --Pest control --FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT 4

--

NON-USE VALUESExistence values --COSTS OFCONSERVATION

AFCDbudget

-390

TOTALS 1,800 6,500

2 All numbers have been rounded to the nearest HK$10 million.

3 This is an annual value. At a discount rate of 4% (the same discount rateused for the Disney theme park), nature conservation has a total value ofHK$45 billion-$162 billion in perpetuity.

4 Some fraction of US$64 billion.

Two short notes on statistics

by Jackie Yip1. Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) – PC-ORD or PRIMER?

With advances in computer technology the ordinationtechnique NMDS has become popular among communityecologists. NMDS was seldom used in the past because ittakes too much computation time (it still does! Ask AlanLeung). Clarke & Warwick (1994) recommended NMDS asone of the best ordination techniques available, for it makes noassumption about the normality or type of response, andallows greater flexibility in the definition and conversion ofdissimilarity measures. There are drawbacks, of course, but Iam not going to discuss them here.

A quick survey in the Department reveals that the terrestrialecologists use PC-ORD for NMDS, and the marine ecologistsprefer PRIMER. PC-ORD was developed by Bruce McCune,who is a bryologist, and PRIMER by Clarke & Warwick, whoare marine biologists. Besides both providing NMDS options,the two packages provide different multivariate proceduresthat do more or less the same things in different ways (e.g.MRPP vs ANOSIM, Correlation to second matrix vs BIO-ENV). This is fine, but it puzzled me when I tried to comparethe results obtained from NMDS with both packages. I wasdoing this just out of curiosity, and it turned out to be anightmare.

Using the same data on PC-ORD4 and PRIMER5, I got a verydifferent configuration of ordination and very different stressvalues: 0.36 by the former and 0.13 by the latter. The dataset Iused was a matrix of 323 morphospecies of Coleoptera in 118sites, which had lots of zeros and ties (i.e. very similar ordissimilar sites). I used an untransformed Sorensen measureand 20 runs/restarts to find 2-dimensional solutions in bothtrials. Bruce McCune, answering my queries, said it wasdifficult to compare between packages because stoppingcriteria or measures of stress values may not be the same.From the manuals I found that both packages measured stressvalues using Kruskal’s stress formula 1 (Kruskal, 1964).There might be errors in the calculation, but I would neverknow it because the calculation for NMDS is so complicated.So the mystery remains.

Another possible reason for the discrepancy is the presence ofa large number of ties, which creates randomness in theordination process. In fact, Legendre & Legendre (1998,p.447) said that ‘computer programs may differ in the waythey handle ties. This may cause major discrepancies betweenreported stress values corresponding to the final solutions,although the final configurations of points are usually very

20

similar from program to program, except when differentprograms identify distinct final solutions having very similarstress values’.

I posted this question on the list server ORDNEWS. ChrisHowden and Hugh Jones responded, and they suggesteddifferent starting configurations and measures of stress valuesbeing the possible reasons. I later got the confirmation fromBob Clarke that PRIMER follows strictly Kruskal’s stressformula 1 in the calculation of stress values.

Clarke (1993) proposed a rule of thumb for interpreting stressvalues using PRIMER. Given that different packages producedifferent stress values, I was wondering whether the ruleapplies for PC-ORD. Bruce McCune said that the rules werereasonable but too cautious. He considered the best way tointerpret an ordination was to use external criteria forevaluation, such as correlations with environmental variablesof known importance.

This was intended to be a short note, I assure you. But just asmy casual exploration turned out to be a long wade throughmuddy water, it has taken up one whole page without giving asatisfactory result. I can make no conclusion here, other thanto remind you again that the two packages may give youdifferent answers on running NMDS.

2. Avoiding the Pitfalls of Multiple Testing

We sometimes need to test several hypotheses using datacollected during an experiment or a survey. In testing anysingle hypothesis, we normally specify an acceptablemaximum probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when itis true (i.e. Type I error), but when many hypotheses aretested, the probability of committing at least some Type Ierrors increases. This may result in spurious ‘significant’relationships that are explained by chance only.

The reduction in the power of significance testing can beavoided by replacing multiple tests with other procedures,such as multiple comparisons of differences by SNK testsinstead of multiple t-tests. In situations where multiple testsare not avoidable, Bonferroni correction is usually applied toavoid committing Type I errors in the experiment. You do nothave to feel intimidated by the mathematics that follows – it isnot as complicated as it seems.

If a specific hypothesis Hj is rejected when Pj ≤ α /n, then theBonferroni inequality,

αα ≤

≤=U

n

i

i nPpr1

/( (0 ≤ α ≤ 1),

ensures that the probability of rejecting at least one hypothesiswhen all are true is no greater than α, the multiple level ofsignificance (i.e. experiment-wise probability of Type I error),

with n being the number of tests. The Bonferroni-correctedmaximum error for a single test is found by simply dividingthe α value by n.

A criticism of the classic Bonferroni test procedure is that it istoo conservative for highly correlated test statistics, henceresulting in a high probability of Type II errors, i.e. failure toreject false null hypotheses. Holm (1979) improved theprocedure by ranking the P-values in ascending order, andrejecting the hypotheses one at a time, with the level ofsignificance gradually decreased. Many methods have beenproposed (e.g. Simes, 1986; Hommel, 1988) to improve thepower of the Bonferroni test procedure, but there is, as yet, noconsensus on the best method (Shaffer, 1995).

As for the value of α, Miller (1981) proposed a flexible αvalue as a viable method of maintaining power in adjustmentsfor multiple tests. Chandler (1995) suggested that α values of10-15% are appropriate, especially for large numbers of tests.

Ecologists do not seem to be as cautious about the pitfalls ofmultiple tests as do the clinical and medical scientists, whohave been using Bonferroni corrections for decades. Lauranceet al. (1999) provides one of the few examples in the ecologyliterature. If you are going to make multiple tests in yourexperiments this is something to watch out for.

Bibliography

Chandler, R.C. (1995). Practical considerations in the use of simultaneousinference for multiple tests. Animal Behaviour 49: 524-527.

Clarke, K.R. (1993). Non-parametric multivariate analyses of changes incommunity structure. Australian Journal of Ecology 18: 117-143.

Clarke, K.R. & Warwick, R.M. (1994). Changes in Marine Communities: AnApproach to Statistical Analysis and Interpretation. Plymouth, PlymouthMarine Laboratory.

Holm, S. (1979). A simple sequentially rejective multiple test procedure.Scandinavian Journal of Statistics 6: 65-70.

Hommel, G. (1988). A stagewise rejective multiple test procedure based on amodified Bonferroni test. Biometrika 75: 383-386.

Kruskal, J.B. (1964). Nonmetric multidimensional scaling: A numericalmethod. Psychometrika 29: 115-129.

Laurance, W.F., Fearnside, P.M., Laurance, S.G., Delamonica, P., Lovejoy,T.E., Rankin-de Merona, J.M., Chambers J.Q. & Gascon, C. (1999).Relationship between soils and Amazon forest biomass: a landscape-scalestudy. Forest Ecology and Management 118: 127-138.

Legendre, P. & Legendre, L. (1998). Numerical Ecology. Amsterdam,Elsevier Science B.V.

Miller, R.G. (1981). Simultaneous Statistical Inference. New York, Springer.

Shaffer, J.P. (1995). Multiple hypothesis testing. Annual Review ofPsychology 46: 561-584.

Simes, R.J. (1986). An improved Bonferroni procedure for multiple tests ofsignificance. Biometrika 73: 751-754.

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Biomonitoring ecotoxicity ofheavy metal using a newbacterium

by Joseph, K.H. CheungOwing to the rapid growth of the global human populationcoupled with an increase in living standards, various of theagricultural and industrial pollutants generated each year haveincreased significantly since the industrial revolution. As aresult, pollution has become a major concern as it adverselyaffects the well-being of natural flora and fauna, and impairsecosystem balance. A proper monitoring system is the first-step to safeguard our environment because precise informationon the source, place and severity of pollution is essential for usto design and implement conservation programmes, or todecide what remedial measure(s) has(have) to be carried out.

Conventional chemical analyses give information that has verylittle relevance to the ecological impact of pollutants.Chemical methods provide information on the quantity ofpollutants in samples from a specific environment, whilebiomonitoring attempts to establish the relationship betweenthe presence of a pollutant at a certain concentration and thenegative effect(s) it exerts on living organisms. Ecologicalmonitoring has been given increasing attention because of thepotential establishment of a correlation between the chemicalnature of the pollutant and its biological effects. Organismsincluding plants, animals, protozoa and microorganisms havebeen adopted in biomonitoring programmes. There is notmuch difference between using ‘macro-organisms’ andmicroorganisms, and the majority of bioassays are based onpresence-absence (P-A) or on physiological, behavioural orgenotypic expression of certain (or groups of) indicatororganisms. For instance, Astragalus spp. are regarded asselenium (Se, a highly toxic metalloid) indicator plantsbecause they are exceptionally resistant to, and have ability toaccumulate high levels of selenium, while most other livingorganisms will die even under very low concentrations ofselenium. Thus the presence of Astragalus spp. implies thatthe area is selenium-laden (Rosenfeld & Beath, 1964).Similarly, coliform, which is a group of rod-shape bacteria, isanother well-known bioindicator for pollution where theabundance of coliform bacteria (common species likeEscherichia coli) indicates the extent of faecal contamination.In addition, a number of commercially available toxicitytesting kits, like the Microtox® test, are making use of thealtered physiological and biochemical responses of bacteria(like Vibrio fischeri) under stressful environmental conditionsto reflect the severity of pollution level.

Recently, a bacterium (Vogesella indigofera, Fig. 1) wasisolated from a drinking water filter cartridge containing

activated-carbon, and found to respond to heavy metalquantitatively (Gu & Cheung, 2001). Under conditionswithout pollution by metals, this bacterium produces a bluepigmentation, whether in liquid culture (Fig. 2) or as colonieson an agar plate, so distinctive that any morphological changemight easily be detected visually and assessed. In the presenceof hexavalent chromium (Cr6+, a toxic and carcinogenic heavymetal), their pigment production will be obstructed, and therelationship between chromium concentrations (both in liquidculture and on agar plate) and blue-pigment production by thebacterium are negatively correlated (r2 = -0.877). Bycomparing against standards the intensity of the blue-colour ofthe liquid culture or percentage of blue colonies growing on anagar plate, the concentration of chromium in samplessuspected to be contaminated with chromium can beestimated. The philosophy for this test is actually similar to theMicrotox® test which measures the intensity of light emittedby the bioluminescent bacteria with a photometer; instead,intensity of blue-colour is being assessed here with lesssophisticated instruments and without tedious proceduresrequired. It is an easy, simple and cost-effective way tomonitor chromium with this bacterium, and the feasibility ofusing this bacterium to quantify other heavy metals is worthinvestigating in the future.

Bibliography

Gu, J.D. & Cheung, K.H. (2001). Phenotypic expression of Vogesellaindigofera upon exposure to hexavalent chromium, Cr6+. World J. Microbiol.Biotechnol. 17: 475-480.

Rosenfeld, I. & Beath, O.A. (1964). Selenium: Geobotany, Biochemistry,Toxicity, and Nutrition. Academic Press Inc., New York.

Fig. 1.A scanningelectronmicrograph ofV. indigofera(Bar = 1 µm).

Fig. 2. Liquidculture of V.indigofera. Thedark blue culture(for left) was thecontrol withoutCr6+, while thelight yellow one(for right) wasamended with100 ppm Cr6+.

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Cyanobacteria culturecollection: a unique resource forecology and biotechnologyresearch

by Sanjay NagarkarCyanobacteria are photo-autotrophic gram negativeprokaryotes, also known as blue-green algae. They are thesimplest known photo-autotrophic organisms havingcharacteristics of both bacteria and algae and are one of theoldest life forms on earth dating back 3.5 billion years. Theygrow in a wide variety of habitats and > 2000 species arerecorded with many new species still being discovered.Cyanobacteria exhibit three morphological forms, i.e.,coccoid, unbranched filamentous and branched filamentous;and two functional groups, i.e., heterocyst bearing, nitrogenfixing, filamentous forms and non-heterocystous, non nitrogenfixing filaments. Although this description is generally true,many non-heterocystous species are known to fix atmosphericnitrogen.

In aquatic habitats, cyanobacteria are regarded as harmful dueto their association with environmental problems – foulingwater bodies, blocking water supplies, unpleasant appearanceand stinking odours, causing diseases and toxaemia etc. Dueto this image, and a lack of sophisticated techniques to aidtheir study, scientists have overlooked the more positiveattributes of cyanobacteria and branded them as 'nuisancescum'. Initial research focused on their harmful significance,but much of this recently has been re-evaluated to show thepositive economic utilization of cyanobacteria. Thisturnaround is thanks to Spirulina (a non heterocystousfilamentous genus of cyanobacteria), which first drew theattention of biotechnologist towards the beneficial aspects ofcyanobacteria. Today Spirulina is considered to be 'the richestgreen food on earth' due to its high nutritional quality. Withtechnological advances and the recent realization ofcyanobacteria's immense applied biotechnological potentialand suitability for gene manipulation, they have becomeorganisms of choice for research and development. Today weknow that cyanobacteria produce a variety of remarkablecompound that have shown potential application in majordisease management, such as cancer, asthma, arthritis,diabetes, HIV etc (Skulberg, 2000). The application ofcyanobacteria is not only restricted to the medical field butthey have also showed immense potential in wastewater andindustrial effluent treatment, bioremediation of aquatic andterrestrial habitats, chemical industries, biofertilizers, food,feed and fuel, cosmetics, etc (Fatma, 1999). The fundamentalprerequisite for exploring the biotechnological potential of

cyanobacteria is to screen as many species as possible and thiscan only be achieved through culture collections.

Quite independently of biotechnologists, and unaware of thebiotechnological potential of cyanobacteria, ecologists startedto realize the importance of cyanobacteria as importantprimary producers in freshwater ecosystems. The ecologicalsignificance of marine cyanobacteria, however, wasoverlooked until the early 1990s despite their dominance inmarine ecosystems, primarily due to difficulties associatedwith their identification and quantitative analysis. In marineplankton research, scientists often use large size (>10 µm)plankton nets, which obviously miss most planktoniccyanobacteria which range from 2-6 µm, and this led to themisconception that cyanobacteria are an unimportantcomponent of marine phytoplankton.

The story of intertidal rocky shores is a bit different.Cyanobacteria are visually conspicuous on rocky shores in theform of biofilms and their ecological significance as a primaryproducer has long been recognized although comprehensivestudies were restricted mainly due to technical difficulties.The first comprehensive study on such biofilms wasconducted on Hong Kong rocky shores, which described thespecies richness, spatial and temporal distribution, primaryand secondary succession and interactions with physical andbiological factors (Nagarkar & Williams, 1997, 1999;Williams et al., 2000).

To better understand the patterns and processes of intertidalcommunity structure, we need to understand thecharacteristics of individual species and their interaction withvarious physical and biological factors. This is not possible inthe field due to the co-existence of many species in thebiofilm. Unialgal or pure cyanobacterial laboratory cultures,therefore, are a prerequisite for conducting such studies and itwas towards this goal that I combined my laboratory-basedmicrobiology background and field-based ecological trainingto embark on an RGC-funded project with Gray Williams(DEB) and Geoff Brown (Chemistry Department) on "Theecological significance and biotechnological potential of HongKong marine cyanobacteria". Our main objective was toestablish a marine cyanobacteria culture collection.

In collaboration with the National Facility for MarineCyanobacteria (NFMC), Bharathidasan University, Trichii,India, we have isolated and purified a large number of marineepilithic cyanobacteria from Hong Kong rocky shores.Isolation of cyanobacteria was achieved by streak plate, spreadplate and pour plate methods. Based on initial laboratorystudies, a modified cyanobacteria growth medium (modifiedMN medium) was developed along with light intensity andday night cycle protocols for slow growth of cyanobacteria inthe laboratory. With such protocols, the first cyanobacteriaculture collection was established in NFMC in June 1999.The second was established in the Department of Ecology &

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Biodiversity (DEB), The University of Hong Kong in July2000 with the help of Sushanta Saha from NFMC and WallisChan and Kelly Lau at DEB. Both culture collectionsmaintain the same strains with similar growth protocols andare collectively known as Bharathidasan & Hong KongUniversity Culture Collection (BDHKUCC). The NFMCBDHKUCC now contains 168 strains belonging to 72 speciesof cyanobacteria whereas DEB BDHKUCC contains 110strains of 48 species. The remaining 58 strains of 24 specieswill be deposited in the DEB culture collection soon. Thestrains in BDHKUCC reflect a wide spectrum ofmorphological and functional forms and belong to all the fivemajor Orders of cyanobacteria; the unicellular strains mainlybelong to the genera Chroococcus, Gloeocapsa, Aphanocapsa,Synechocystis and Synechococcus, filamentous strains toSpirulina, Lyngbya, Phormidium, Oscillatoria andPlectonema, and heterocystous strains to Calothrix,Scytonema, Tolypothrix, Nostoc and Dichothrix. Themaximum number of strains belong to the generaAphanocapsa, Chroococcus, Gloeocapsa, Phormidium andOscillatoria. Strains of the same species are morphologicallyidentical but vary in their colour and habitats (e.g. eutrophic,oceanic or eutrophic waters).

We have prepared a database for this culture collection and anelectronic database for general use will be available soon. Forconvenience, we have assigned a traditional genus and speciesnames under the botanical code system to each strain followedby a culture collection number. As we progress, on the basisof biochemical and genetic characterization, we may changethe name of the species but the BDHKUCC number willremain the same. Since a change of name will give more thanone name to the strain, we will use P.K.A. (previously knownas = old species name) for the new named strain. The culturesare listed alphabetically and multiple strains of the samespecies are listed in ascending numerical order. Theinformation attributed to each BDHKUCC strain is organizedas follows: BDHKUCC accession number, species name &authority, name of growth medium, cell mass colour,collection site (name place and country), date of collection,habitat from where the sample was collected, growth type, i.e.,planktonic or epilithic/benthic based on their growth mode inlaboratory culture, culture type which describes the stockculture maintenance method, i.e., agar slant or liquid cultures

and notes that describe important features related tomorphology as developed in the culture.

All the cultures are maintained in photo-autotrophic growthconditions in modified MN medium and are assumed to beaxenic. Nitrogen sources have been omitted from the mediumto support the growth of nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria. Formaintenance, we keep incubation temperature constant at25°C and light intensity between 20-15-26.87 µE m-2 sec-1

with 12/12 hours Light Day cycle. Culture maintenanceprotocols are set to minimize growth rates, so as to minimizespace, materials and work-load.

BDHKUCC is the largest marine epilithic cyanobacteriaculture collection in the world and provides an opportunity formarine ecologists and biotechnologists to perform relativelynew studies in their respective fields. Postgraduate andundergraduate students of The University of Hong Kong andBharadhidasan University are currently using cyanobacteriastrains from BDHKUCC for their research projects. A varietyof projects are underway using BDHKUCC such ascharacterization of cyanobacteria for optimum growth,nitrogen fixation, presence of UV-absorbing pigments, photo-pigment compositions, heat and desiccation stress, influenceof rock type on growth, nutritional quality of cyanobacteriaand its influence on grazers, screening of secondarymetabolites and novel compounds, anti-microbial activities,bioremediation of aquatic habitats and industrial effluent andwastewater treatment.

This is a highly valuable collection of global significance thatpossesses strains not available in any other collections. Manyhands are involved in the success of this collection: Mr.Sushanta Saha, Dr. N. Thajuddin and Prof. G. Subramanianfrom NFMC and Dr. Gray A. Williams, Ms. Wallis Chan,Kelly Lau and Cecily Law from DEB, HKU. The facility isadministered by Dr. Williams and maintained by Ms. Law.Please don’t hesitate to call Dr. Williams if you want to workin this exciting field and would like to use the facility.

Bibliography

Fatma, T. (1999). Cyanobacterial and algal metabolism and environmentalbiotechnology. Nora Publishing House, New Delhi. pp. 272.

Nagarkar, S. & Williams, G.A. (1997). Comparative techniques to quantifycyanobacteria dominated epilithic biofilms on tropical rocky shores. Mar.Ecol. Prog. Ser. 154: 281-291.

Nagarkar, S. & Williams, G.A. (1999). Spatial and temporal variation ofcyanobacteria-dominated epilithic communities on a tropical shore in HongKong. Phycologia 38: 385-393.

Skulberg, O.M. (2000). Microalgae as a source of bioactive molecules-experience from cyanophyte research. J. Appl. Phycol. 12: 341-348.

Williams, G.A., Davies M. & Nagarkar, S. (2000). Primary succession on aseasonal tropical rocky shore: the relative roles of spatial heterogeneity andherbivory. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 203: 81-94.

Pure strain of Oscillatoria Cyanobacteria culture collection

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BOOK REVIEW:Hong Kong Macaquesby Wong Che-lok

This colourful booklet is a welcome addition to the HongKong natural history library, and an affordable one at HK$38.It is amply illustrated with high-quality and variedphotographs and figures, and contains an impressive amountof detail on the macaques of Kowloon Hills, with 64 pagesincluding English and Chinese. Never has it been easier for thepublic to appreciate our fellow Hong Kong primates.

The 11 chapters include those on the history, speciescomposition, distribution, social organization, range andforaging, life cycle and ecological importance of macaques.Each combines the author’s observations, those of the HongKong monkey feeders, and the findings of other studies. Oneconsequence is that the source of generalizations is not alwaysclear, and some are surprising – that male dominance dependson size and strength (most studies find tenure more important),and that most macaques sleep on the ground (most took to thetrees in my own observations), among other examples. A moreclear-cut error is the photograph of “aggressive behaviour” (p.50, top left), actually depicting a teeth-baring appeasementgesture akin to the human grin.

The social dynamics are brought to life with accounts andpictures of the alpha males of the different groups in the earlyto mid-1990s (apparently more recent developments have notbeen studied). Clearly, feeders’ tales have had a stronginfluence, most explicitly in the “love story” explaining onedominant male’s emigration, which might displease someanthropologists. But it’s pitched more at arousing the empathyof the general reader, and since we tell stories about fellowhumans, why not about monkeys too?

The booklet concludes with guidelines on how to safelybehave around monkeys – happily this, like much else, makesgood use of the WWF Hong Kong study in the early 1990s(though there is no sign of a panda logo in acknowledgement).There are also supplements, such as more specificencouragement of observations on natural behaviour. Overallthe author is to be congratulated on a creative blend of colourand information. It is unfortunate though that the English hasnot been edited – one might expect a better supportmechanism from a Government Department.

John Fellowes

Any sightings of civets, mongooses, ferret badgers, leopard cats,barking deer, pangolins and porcupines – live or dead – shouldbe reported. Rare birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, or unusualbehaviour by common species, are also of interest, as are rare orinteresting invertebrates and plants. If you think it is interesting,our readers probably will! Please give dates, times and localitiesas accurately as possible

MMAAMMMMAALLSSCharles Frew caught a species of Bamboo Shark during afisheries survey on 3 Dec 2001, in the East Lamma Channel. Themale shark was approximately 55 cm long and was released backinto the water. The species has yet to be confirmed.

Kwok Hon Kai saw an Indian Muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak) anda squirrel in Tai Po Kau on 22 Dec 2001.

Jackie Yip saw 5 Rhesus Macaques(Macaca mulatta), including twojuveniles, near Chek Keng villageon 13 Jan 2002. A male adult wasattacking the passers-by. Accordingto Fellowes (1992), the Chek Kengpopulation was likely to have beenof migrating males from theestablished populations in KowloonReservoir and central New Territories.On 16 Mar 2002, Jackie Yip saw an adgrabbing a plastic bag from the hand oKeng.

Angel Au and Richard Corlett found brachyura) droppings near the NatureApril 2002. They seemed to consist ent

Captain Wong found Civet scats withfootpath between Hok Tau Reservoir a2002. The dominant habitat was tall sof secondary forest.

Fresh porcupine dropping Cro

WILD CORNER

ult male Rhesus Macaquef a passing hiker in Chek

fresh Porcupine (Hystrix Trail at Tai Po Kau on 3irely of wood fibres.

many seeds inside on and Sha Lo Tung on 14 Febhrubland with small areas

ss section of dropping

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Captain Wong saw a villagedog with two Porcupinequills on the chest, at Kuk Po,Starling Inlet on 10 Mar 2002. Itsuggests that this dog, probablywith other dogs in the village,attacks porcupines in the nearbyareas. A villager also revealedthat dogs with porcupine quillswere regularly seen.

Captain Wong found a quill of a Porcupine on thefootpath near Kau Tam Tso, Wu Kau Tang on 16 Feb2002.

A male Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) weighing 70 kg wasfound dead entangled in ropes, in Cheung Hang Tsuen(KK054747) near Kowloon Reception Reservoir on 24Feb 2002. The cause of death was suspected to besuffocation, as it got entangled in the ropes when it triedto escape from a dog chase. (Reported by Ming Paohttp://full.mingpaonews.com/20020225/__gnd1.htm.)

Two Wild Boars (Sus scrofa) were sighted in Tai PoKau by Sukh Mantel. A juvenile (about 60 cm long)was seen on 7 Dec 2001 around 9:30 am and an adult(about a metre long) was rushing across the blue trail ataround 6:00 pm on 13 Dec 2001.

Kevin Caley made the following observations during anight walk on Hatton Road on 3 Mar 2002. One FerretBadger (Melogale moschata) was seen foraging on theright among the bamboo (below the path) at the 500 mmarker at 8.40 pm. One ferret badger was seen feedingon the left (above the path) at the 1200 m marker, at10.05 pm. It was attracted by the torchlight to within 1m, where it fed in the leaf litter searching for prey. Itwas surprisingly tame. It then disappeared down adrainage channel connecting the upper slopes with thelower ones. The observations lasted for 1 minute and 5minutes, respectively.

Bosco Chan and Lee Kwok Shing saw footprints of theOtter in Mai Po on 7 February 2001. Tracks were seenalong the newly-constructed boardwalk as well as theboardwalk outside the border-fence.

The Spinner dolphin, Stenella longirostris, aconservation-dependent species (IUCN 2000), isuncommon in Hong Kong and was recorded at ClearWater Bay in June 1996 (L.J. Porter, personalcommunication). One S. longirostris was observedswimming over shallow area about 10 m deep waterapproximately 200 m off Ko Lau Wan along thenortheastern coast of Sai Kung Peninsula on 28 April2001 by Cheung Ming Hong (Swire Institute of MarineScience, HKU ) It measured about 2 m in

total length and is considered to have reached adult stage(Jefferson et al., 1993). Similar to what Mohan (1990)observed, it was bow diving the vessel, making acrobaticacts and followed the vessel for 30 minutes before it left. Itis quite unusual that the dolphin is active during its normalmorning-midday rest period (Norris et al., 1980; Jeffersonet al., 1993). (Acknowledgements : I thank Dr Lindsay J.Porter for dolphin species identification. See Porcupine!website for photo.)

BBIIRRDDSSA Brown Breasted Flycatcher (Muscicapa muttui) wasrecorded and photographed by AFCD warden Wong ChoiOn in Tai Po Kau on 7 Nov 2001. This is the first recordof this species in Hong Kong. (Reported by Ming Paohttp://full.mingpaonews.com/20020310/__gma1h.htm)

Kwok Hon Kai also saw the Brown Breasted Flycatcherin Tai Po Kau between November 2001 and January 2002.The bird was also seen by many local birdwatchers.

Kwok Hon Kai sawTwelve Grey - headedLapwings (Vanelluscinereus) on an exposedmudflat in a floodcontrol channel in KamTin on 20 Dec 2001.

Kwok Hon Kai saw five Mountain Bulbuls (Hypsipetes mcclellandii) feeding on nectar of Rhodoleia championii in Tai Po Kau on 12 Jan 2002. They were guarding the Rhodoleia championii flowers, and chased awayany approaching White-eyes and Phylloscopus warblers.These five birds were probably the same that flocked withChestnut Bulbuls (Hypsipetes castanonotus) in December2001, and were no longer seen with Chestnut Bulbuls thistime.

Kwok Hon Kai saw two flocks (15 and 30 birds) ofStriated Yuhinas (Yuhina castaniceps) in Tai Po Kau on22 Dec 2001.

Kwok Hon Kai saw Orange-bellied Leafbirds(Chloropsis hardwidkii) feeding on the nectar of Stiffbottle-brush (Callistemon rigidus) in Tai Po Kau on 16Mar 2002.

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A Ruddy-breasted Crake (Porzana fusca) was seenfeeding along the drained channel in Gei Wai 14 in MaiPo Nature Reserve in the afternoon of 24 Jan 2002, byVivien Wong and Ellen Shek, together with 40 primarystudents on the new boardwalk. It was seen at the samelocation again the following week.

Captain Wong saw about 10 Little Buntings (Emberizapusilla) feeding on the ground covered by fallen flowersof Machilus near Orchid Haven, KFBG on 15 Mar 2002.Apparently, the birds did not take the whole ripeflowers. They probably preyed upon insects attracted bythese flowers on the ground, or small parts of theflowers.

Captain Wong saw about 10 Greater NecklacedLaughing Thrushes (Garrulax pectoralis) visiting theflowers on the top of two Cotton Trees (Gossampinusmalabarica) at KARC on 18 Mar 2002. These plantedtrees are about 12-15 m height and are in closeproximity to tall shrubland.

AAMMPPHHIIBBIIAANNSS// RREEPPTTIILLEESSA male Water Monitor (Varanus salvator) was caughtin Mak Bin Tsuen, Sai Kung (KK202792) on 14 Feb2002. The Water Monitor, with a total length of over 6feet and weighing over 10kg, was in poor condition.(Reported by Ming Paohttp://full.mingpaonews.com/20020215/__gcc1.htm).

Jackie Yip and friends sawa Checkered Keelback(Xenochrophis piscator) inMai Po, along the main pathleading to the EducationCentre on 3 Mar 2002. Thesnake was 50 – 60 cm long,and in very poor condition.It stayed still while being photographed.

A slightly decomposed dead body of Chinese SoftshellTurtle (Pelodiscus sinensis) was found by Cheung SzeMan on the shore of Dong Ping Chau on 16 Feb 2002. Anatural breeding population of the species has beenrecorded only from northwestern New Territories(Karsen et al.; 1998, personal observation). The naturalenvironment of the island is not suitable for this lowlandaquatic turtle species as there are no longer extensivepermanent freshwater sources. The specimen sightedwas probably an escapee from softshell smuggling boatstravelling near the island as suggested by boatmenfrequently visiting Dong Ping Chau.

A 15 feet long Python was captured in Liu Pok, SheungShui, by local villagers. (Reported by Apple Daily,

http://appledaily.atnext.com/template/apple/art_main.cfm?sec_id=4104&showdate=20020416&art_id=2546270.)

IINNSSEECCTTSSOn 3 Mar 2002, at 2 pm, Richard Corlett noticed Cicadascalling loudly in the Wu Kau Tang feng shui wood. Thiswas three weeks earlier than the usual appearance of thefirst cicadas of the year, Gaena maculata, and they did notsound like this species. No cicadas were heard at otherforest sites in Hong Kong until near the end of March.

Richard Corlett, Anita Tsang and Ng Sai-chit saw manyworker Bumblebees (Bombus eximius) visiting flowers ofOrmosia semicastrata (Leguminosae) at Ma On Shan on 5April 2002. This area seems to be the main stronghold forbumblebees in Hong Kong, but we have no summerrecords. What happens to them then?

PPLLAANNTTSSFive men were convicted of illegally entering Hong Kongand attempting to cut a Buddhist pine Podocarpusmacrophyllus in Yin Tsz Ngam, Sai Kung on January2002. The tree is a nationally protected and locallyrestricted species. The illegal immigrants were hired to cutand smuggle the trees to China. Police record showed thatat least 50 trees have been stolen since January 2002.(Reported by Ming Pao http://full.mingpaonews.com/20020310/__gbb1h.htm)

Wild Corner Bibliography

Fellowes, J. R. (1992). Hong Kong Macaques. World-wide Fund forNature, Hong Kong, 164 pp.

IUCN.2000. IUCN (2000). Red List of Threatened Species. Web version:www.redlist.org

Jefferson, T.A., Leatherwood, S. & Webber, M.A. (1993). Marinemammals of the World. United Nations Environment Programme, Rome.pp.160.

Karsen, S. J., M. W. N. Lau & A. Bogadek (1998). Hong KongAmphibians and Reptiles. Urban Council. Hong Kong. 186 pp.

Mohan, R.S.L. (1990). Observations on a large school of spinnerdolphins, Stenella longirostris off southwest coast of India with note onits behaviour. In K.J. Matthew (ed.), Proceedings of the First Workshopon Scientific Results of Forvsagar Sampada, pp. 415-416. Cochin IndiaCentral Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Cochin.

Norris, K.S. & Dohl, T.P. (1980). Behavior of the Hawaiian spinnerdolphin, Stenella longirostris. Fisheries Bulletin 77(4): 821-849.

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Recent Publications Books, Monographs, CDs etc.

AFCD (2002) Agriculture, Fisheries and ConservationDepartment Annual Report 2001-2002. GovernmentInformation Centre, Hong Kong.

Dudgeon, D. & Corlett, R.T. (2002) Biodiversity Survey(Version 3.0). CD-ROM and Report. Department of Ecology& Biodiversity, HKU, Hong Kong.

Fellowes, J.R., Hau, B.C.H., & Chan, B.P.L. (2002) Report ofrapid biodiversity assessment at Chunxiu Headwater ForestNature Reserve, Southwest Guangxi, China. KFBG, HongKong.

Fellowes, J.R., Hau, B.C.H., Lau, M.W.N., Ng, S.C., & Chan,B.P.L. (2002) Report of rapid biodiversity assessment atYangchun Baiyong Nature Reserve, Southwest Guangdong, 3May 1998. KFBG, Hong Kong.

Fellowes, J.R., Lau, M.W.N., Hau, B.C.H., Ng, S.C., & Chan,B.P.L. (2002) Report of rapid biodiversity assessment atHeweishan Forest Farm, Southwest Guangdong, 4 to 5 May1998. KFBG, Hong Kong.

Fellowes, J.R., Lau, M.W.N., Hau, B.C.H., S.C., N., & Chan,B.P.L. (2002) Report of rapid biodiversity assessments atQixingkeng Nature Reserve, Southwest Guangdong, 29 Aprilto 1 May and 24 November to 1 December, 1998. KFBG,Hong Kong.

Fellowes, J.R., Lau, M.W.-N., Hau, B.C.H., Ng, S.C., & Chan,B.P.L. (2002) Report of rapid biodiversity assessments atDinghushan Biosphere Reserve, Western Guangdong, China1998 and 2000 KFBG, Hong Kong.

Fellowes, J.R., Lau, M.W.-N., Hau, B.C.H., Ng, S.C., & Chan,B.P.L. (2002) Report of rapid biodiversity assessments atNonggang National Nature Reserve, Southwest Guangxi,China, 19 to 27 May 1998. KFBG, Hong Kong.

Hill, R.D. (2002) Southeast Asia: people, land and economy.Allen & Unwin, Australia.

Hodgkiss, I.J. (2002) Challenges of nature conservation in theface of development pressure. Proceedings of the 2001 IUCNWorld Commission on Protected Areas, East Asia Conference,June 2001 in Hong Kong. AFCD, Hong Kong.

Hopkinson, L. & Stern, R. (2002) Wild but not free: aneconomic valuation of the benefits of nature conservation inHong Kong. Civic Exchange, Hong Kong.

Owen, B. & Shaw, R. (2001) Hong Kong landscapes: alongthe MacLehose Trail. Geotrails Society, Hong Kong.

SCIB & AFCD (2002) Hong Kong plant checklist [inChinese]. AFCD, Hong Kong.

Wan, J. & Telesetsky, A. (2002) Creating opportunities:saving Hong Kong's natural heritage. Civic Exchange, HongKong.

Wang, H. (1999) Wildlife conservation in rural southeasternChina: wildlife harvest and the ecology of sympatriccarnivores. [PhD thesis]. UMI, University of Massachusetts.

Wong, C.L. (2001) Hong Kong macaques. AFCD, HongKong.

Journal articles, book chapters and other published papers

Aptroot, A. & Sipman, H.J.M. (2001) New Hong Konglichens, ascomycetes and lichenicolous fungi. Journal of theHattori Botanical Laboratory 91: 317-343.

Au, D.W.T. & Wu, R.S.S. (2001) A field study on ERODactivity and quantitative hepatocytological changes in animmature demersal fish. Environmental Pollution 115: 23-32.

Blackmore, G. & Morton, B. (2001) The interpretation ofbody trace metal concentrations in neogastropods from HongKong. Marine Pollution Bulletin 42: 1161-1168.

Bussaban, B., Lumyong, S., Lumyong, P., Hyde, K.D., &McKenzie, E.H.C. (2001) Two new species of endophytes(ascomycetes) from Zingiberaceae sporulating in culture.Nova Hedwigia 73: 487-493.

Bussaban, B., Lumyong, S., Lumyong, P., McKenzie, E.H.C.,& Hyde, K.D. (2001) A synopsis of the genus Berkleasmiumwith two new species and new records of Canalisporiumcaribense from Zingiberaceae in Thailand. Fungal Diversity 8:73-85.

Cai, L.Z., Li, H.M., Liu, J.J., & Lin, P. (2001) Distribution andpolluting effects on Capitella capitata, Nephtys oligobranchia,Tharyx sp. on the intertidal mudflats in Shenzhen Estuary.Acta Ecologica Sinica 21: 1648-1653.

Cai, L.Z., Lin, J.D., & Li, H.M. (2001) Macroinfaunacommunities in an organic-rich mudflat at Shenzhen and HongKong, China. Bulletin of Marine Science 69: 1129-1138.

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Chan, G.Y.S. & Chiu, S.T. (2002) Woodland establishmenttrials on bare mountain tops in Hong Kong: a case study inGrassy Hill, Shing Mun Country Park. In Challenges of natureconservation in the face of development pressure Challengesof nature conservation in the face of development pressure.(ed. I.J. Hodgkiss), pp. 181-185. AFCD, Hong Kong.

Chelazzi, G., DePirro, M., & Williams, G.A. (2001) Cardiacresponses to abiotic factors in two tropical limpets, occurringat different levels of the shore. Marine Biology 139: 1079-1085.

Cheung, J.Y.M., Yong, L., & Williams, G.A. (2002) Peopleand protected areas - conservation of the fishponds in andaround the Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay Ramsar Site. InChallenges of nature conservation in the face of developmentpressure. (ed. I.J. Hodgkiss), pp. 159-164. AFCD, HongKong.

Cheung, S.G. & Wong, W.H. (2001) Effect of foodavailability on the energetics of the intertidal scavenginggastropod Nassarius festivus. Vie et Milieu-Life andEnvironment 51: 181-188.

Connell, D.W., Wong, B.S.F., Lam, P.K.S., Poon, K.F., Lam,M.H.W., Wu, R.S.S., Richardson, B.J., & Yen, Y.F. (2002)Risk to breeding success of ardeids by contaminants in HongKong: Evidence from trace metals in feathers. Ecotoxicology11: 49-59.

Corlett, R.T. (2002) Reintroduction of "missing" vertebrates toHong Kong: benefits, problems and prospects. In Challengesof nature conservation in the face of development pressure.(ed. I.J. Hodgkiss), pp. 175-180. AFCD, Hong Kong.

Corlett, R.T. (2002) Frugivory and seed dispersal in degradedtropical East Asian landscapes. In Seed dispersal andfrugivory: ecology, evolution and conservation. (eds D.J.Levey, W.R. Silva & M. Galetti), pp. 451-465. CABIPublishing, Wallingford, Oxfordshire.

Daley, P.A. (2002) Country Parks - their forestry foundations.In Challenges of nature conservation in the face ofdevelopment pressure. (ed. I.J. Hodgkiss), pp. 5-9. AFCD,Hong Kong.

Ding, X., Zheng, D., Chen, Y., Chao, J., & Li, Z. (2001) Sealevel change in Hong Kong from tide gauge measurements of1954-1999. Journal of Geodesy 74: 683-689.

Dudgeon, D. (2001) What constrains the conservation ofriverine biodiversity in Asia? In International symposium onBiodiversity Management on Sustainable Development in theLancang-Mekong River Basin. (eds M. Cao, H. Hu & L. Li),pp. 15-21. Chinese Academy of Sciences, XishuangbannaTropical Botanical Gardens.

Dudgeon, D. (2002) Protected areas for endangeredecosystems: conservation of riverine biodiversity in Asia. InChallenges of nature conservation in the face of developmentpressure. (ed. I.J. Hodgkiss), pp. 237-242. AFCD, HongKong.

Dudgeon, D. (2002) Fisheries: pollution and habitatdegradation in tropical Asian rivers. In Encyclopaedia ofglobal environmental change. (ed I. Douglas), Vol. 3, pp. 316-323. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.

Dulymamode, R., Cannon, P.F., Hyde, K.D., & Peerally, A.(2001) Four new ascomycete species from endemic Pandanusof Mauritius. Fungal Diversity 8: 87-96.

Dyer, W.G. & Poly, W.J. (2002) Trimusculotrema schwartzin. sp (Monogenea : Capsalidae) from the skin of the stingrayDasyatis zugei (Elasmobranchii : Dasyatidae) off Hong Kong,China. Systematic Parasitology 51: 217-225.

Fan, K.W., Vrijmoed, L.L.P., & Jones, E.B.G. (2002)Physiological studies of subtropical mangrovethraustochytrids. Botanica Marina 45: 50-57.

Gaiger, P. (2002) Does Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA) help marine conservation? - some Hong Kongexperience. In Challenges of nature conservation in the face ofdevelopment pressure. (ed. I.J. Hodgkiss), pp. 125-130.AFCD, Hong Kong.

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Ho, W.H., Hyde, K.D., Hodgkiss, I.J., & Yanna (2001) Fungalcommunities on submerged wood from streams in Brunei,Hong Kong, and Malaysia. Mycological Research 105: 1492-1501.

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Huhndorf, S.M., Fernandez, F.A., Taylor, J.E., & Hyde, K.D.(2001) Two pantropical Ascomycetes: Chaetosphaeriacylindrospora sp nov and Rimaconus, a new genus forLasiosphaeria jamaicensis. Mycologia 93: 1072-1080.

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Hyde, K.D. (2001) Where are the missing fungi? MycologicalResearch 105: 1409-1410.

Irving, J.A. (2002) Selecting and designating Country Parks.In Challenges of nature conservation in the face ofdevelopment pressure. (ed. I.J. Hodgkiss), pp. 17-21. AFCD,Hong Kong.

Jia, F.L., Liang, G.Q., Chen, Z.Y., Pang, H., Xie, W.C., Chen,L.E., & Ye, G.D. (2000) Species diversity of beetles of Mt.Wutongshan. Chinese Biodiversity 8: 169-171.

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Johnston, E.L., Keough, M.J., & Qian, P.Y. (2002)Maintenance of species dominance through pulse disturbancesto a sessile marine invertebrate assemblage in Port Shelter,Hong Kong. Marine Ecology-Progress Series 226: 103-114.

Lai, P.C.C. (2000) Effect of seed orientation on thegermination and growth of Thick Leaved OakCyclobalanopsis edithae (Skan) Schott. (Fagaceae). EcologicScience 19: 35-38.

Lam, H.Y.I. & Hodgkiss, I.J. (2001) Application of atelemetry system to studying microalgal dynamics and redtides in Hong Kong. In Algae and their biotechnologicalpotential. (eds F. Chen & Y. Jiang), pp. 279-299. KluwerAcademic Publishers, Dordrecht.

Lau, S.C.K., Mak, K.K.W., Chen, F., & Qian, P.Y. (2002)Bioactivity of bacterial strains isolated from marine biofilmsin Hong Kong waters for the induction of larval settlement inthe marine polychaete Hydroides elegans. Marine EcologyProgress Series 226: 301-310.

Lee, O.H.K., Williams, G.A., & Hyde, K.D. (2001) The dietsof Littoraria ardouiniana and L. melanostoma in Hong Kongmangroves. Journal of the Marine Biological Association ofthe United Kingdom 81: 967-973.

Leung, K.M.Y. & Furness, R.W. (2001) Survival, growth,metallothionein and glycogen levels of Nucella lapillus (L.)exposed to subchronic cadmium stress: the influence ofnutritional state and prey type. Marine EnvironmentalResearch 52: 173-194.

Leung, K.M.Y. & Furness, R.W. (2001) Metallothioneininduction and condition index of dogwhelks Nucella lapillus(L.) exposed to cadmium and hydrogen peroxide.Chemosphere 44: 321-325.

Leung, K.M.Y., Morgan, I.J., Wu, R.S.S., Lau, T.C.,Svavarsson, J., & Furness, R.W. (2001) Growth rate as afactor confounding the use of the dogwhelk Nucella lapillus asbiomonitor of heavy metal contamination. Marine Ecology-Progress Series 221: 145-159.

Leung, K.M.Y., Morritt, D., Wheeler, J.R., Whitehouse, P.,Sorokin, N., Toy, R., Holt, M., & Crane, M. (2001) Cansaltwater toxicity be predicted from freshwater data? MarinePollution Bulletin 42: 1007-1013.

Leung, K.M.Y., Wheeler, J.R., Morritt, D., & Crane, M.(2001) Endocrine disruption in fishes and invertebrates: issuesfor saltwater ecological risk assessment. In Coastal andEstuarine Risk Assessment. (eds M.C. Newman, M.H. Roberts& R.C. Hale), pp. 189-216. Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton.

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Leung, P.C. & Pointing, S.B. (2002) Effect of different carbonand nitrogen regimes on Poly R decolorization by white-rotfungi. Mycological Research 106: 86-92.

Liang, Y.B. & Wang, B. (2001) Alien marine species and theirimpact in China. Biodiversity Science 9: 458-465.

Lin, W., Lai, L.P., & Tang, Y.J. (2001) Species diversity ofmollusc in intertidal zone, Daya Bay. Biodiversity Science 9:247-253.

Lock, N.Y. (2002) Nest box survey in Hong Kong CountryParks. In Challenges of nature conservation in the face ofdevelopment pressure. (ed. I.J. Hodgkiss), pp. 187-191.AFCD, Hong Kong.

Luo, Y.L., Chen, H.C., Wu, G.X., & Sun, X.J. (2001) Recordsof natural fire and climate history during the last three glacial-interglacial cycles around the South China Sea - Charcoalrecord from the ODP 1144. Science in China Series D-EarthSciences 44: 897-904.

Morton, B. (2001) The evolution of eyes in the Bivalvia.Oceanography and Marine Biology 39: 165-205.

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Ng, S.C. & Corlett, R.T. (2002) The bad biodiversity: alienspecies in Hong Kong. Biodiversity Science 10: 109-118.

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Photita, W., Lumyong, S., Lumyong, P., & Hyde, K.D. (2001)Endophytic fungi of wild banana (Musa acuminata) at Doi

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Qian, H.L., Liang, S., & Qi, Y.Z. (2000) Study of thecharacteristics and the causes of formation on the red tides incoastal Guangdong sea. Ecologic Science 19: 8-16.

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Yin, K.D., Qian, P.Y., Wu, M.C.S., Chen, J.C., Huang, L.M.,Song, X.Y., & Jian, W.J. (2001) Shift from P to N limitationof phyoplankton growth across the Pearl River estuarineplume during summer. Marine Ecology Progress Series 221:17-28.

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Zhang, Y.X. & Xing, F.W. (2001) Rare and endangered plantsin Shenzhen. Journal of Tropical and Subtropical Botany 9:315-321.

Zhao, B. & Qian, P.Y. (2002) Larval settlement andmetamorphosis in the slipper limpet Crepidula onyx(Sowerby) in response to conspecific cues and the cues frombiofilm. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology269: 39-51.

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2001 Postgraduate degrees from DEBChan King. (PhD) The Ecology of the Scavenger Nassarius

festivus (Gastropoda: Nassariidae) in Hong Kong.Cheung Wai Lung. (MPhil) Changes in Hong Kong’s Capture

Fisheries during the 20th Century and Reconstruction ofthe Marine Ecosystem of Local Inshore Waters in the1950s.

Huang Richard. (PhD) Spatial Variation in Cellana grataPopulations: The Interplay of Population Dynamics andFood Availability.

Lee Hoi Ki. (PhD) The Feeding Ecology of Littoraria Speciesin Hong Kong Mangroves.

Lu Songhui. (PhD) Ecological Studies of Phytoplankton andHarmful Algal Blooms in Junk Bay, Hong Kong.

Tong Xiaoli. (PhD) The Mayflies (Insecta: Ephemeroptera) ofHong Kong.

Weerasooriya Aruna Dharmapriya. (PhD) Systematics,Phylogeny and Reproductive Biology of Mitrephora(Annonaceae).

Yanna. (PhD) Biodiversity, Ecology and Taxonomy ofSaprobic Fungi on Palm Fronds.

Zhang Li. (PhD) Diversity and Conservation of Hong KongBryophytes.

Zhou Hong. (PhD) Meiofaunal Community Structure andDynamics in a Hong Kong Mangrove.

Bibliography (From front page article)

Carey, G. J., Chalmers, M. L., Diskin, D. A., Kennerley, P. R., Leader, P. J.,Leven, M. R., Lewthwaite, R. W., Melville, D. S., Turnbull, M. & Young, L.(2001) The Avifauna of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Bird Watching Society,Hong Kong.

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Porcupine! No. 25May 2002

ISSN 1025-6946

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Assistant Editors: Rachel Wong Laura Wong

Wild Corner: Sukhmani Mantel Jackie Yip

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