SINGAPORE \u2013 Battered by storms, Singapore\u2019s older forests have been losing their larger trees over the past three decades, a national research programme has revealed.<\/p>\n
Under the tropical forest ecology research programme, a first-of-its-kind survey of flying insects in forests here has also uncovered DNA belonging to roughly more than 100,000 species, of which about 10 per cent are known to science.<\/p>\n
These findings were released on June 6 to kick off the Festival of Biodiversity 2026<\/span><\/a>. The annual celebration of Singapore\u2019s natural heritage is held by the National Parks Board (NParks) and the Biodiversity Roundtable, a network of more than 20 non-governmental organisations.<\/p>\n The net loss of large trees in Singapore\u2019s green core, the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, has prompted NParks to accelerate efforts to protect its mature \u201cmother trees\u201d.<\/p>\n According to the study, which tracked the trees in the reserve between 1992 and 2022, the number of trees measuring 30cm or larger in diameter in older forests dropped from 121 per hectare to 87.<\/p>\n The NParks researchers attributed this decline mainly to damage from storms, which can fell trees.<\/p>\n \u201cMother trees\u201d are mature trees that play a key role in the ecosystem, producing the majority of the fruits and seeds that feed local wildlife and propagate the next generation of forests, said NParks\u2019 deputy director for forest ecology Chong Kwek Yan, who led the research project.<\/p>\n With adverse weather conditions expected to intensify owing to climate change<\/span><\/a>, the loss of these trees is likely to become a challenge, he added, citing projections by Singapore\u2019s third National Climate Change Study.<\/p>\n