JEG Biodiversity Audit Training Program

Date: 8th December 2014 (Monday) and 9th December 2014 (Tuesday)
Time: 8:45am to 2:15pm (Monday), 8:20am to 12:10pm (Tuesday)
Venue: Jurong Eco Garden
JEG Biodiversity Audit Training Program is one of Jurong Eco-Garden Community Programs. It purports to provide training for student leaders in the identification of local biodiversity as well as to be a platform for participants to give back to the community. The recorded data from this biodiversity audit program will be highly useful for documentation and future references on the species found in JEG in particular.
The activity was held for two days in which the biodiversity training and mock-biodiversity survey were carried out on the first day followed by the actual biodiversity observation on the second day. The presentation highlighted important topics such as the local biodiversity of Singapore, bird identification, butterfly identification, dragonfly identification and survey techniques. Hand-out materials containing list of target species in JEG were also given to the participants for their resource reference during the audit activity.
The actual biodiversity audit was done early in the morning as most target species like birds, butterflies and dragonflies would be more active during this period of time. The participants were split into smaller groups of five and assigned to cover three various transects in different sequences. Different routes for each group were devised to prevent congestion and double counting in each transect. Each group would consist of writer, resource manager, time keeper and observer/photographer for efficient and effective data collection.
Participants found the program fruitful and engaging as they gained useful knowledge on the biodiversity identification and were able to practice it upon the audit program. They also enjoyed exploring beautiful nature features in the garden like birds, butterflies and dragonflies. In future, these participants are expected to be able to train other students in biodiversity audit program.