Continuing Research and Monitoring

The Singapore freshwater crab is a significant species in the ecosystem which performs important services such as nutrient recycling. Therefore, ongoing ecological research and monitoring into its demographics, genetics, distributions, habitat conditions, diets and ecology are some of the important areas which has been continually studied in hope to sustain and expand the population of the Singapore freshwater crabs in Singapore.

Continuous research and monitoring is an important and necessary conservation effort. It supports the regular monitoring of the species, analysis and evaluation of the habitats and recommendations to prevent population decline or recognise suitable locations for population growth. Additionally, findings from continuous research help to identify and analyse potential threats specific to the localities of the Singapore freshwater crabs. As these threats vary seasonally and is dependent on many different environmental sources, both ongoing research and monitoring ensures active research and alert against signs which threatens its population growth.

This dimension of conservation effort has been one of the earliest priorities in the conservation of the Singapore freshwater crabs. An example is an initial 2-year research, jointly collaborated between NParks and the National University of Singapore.