Karst Biodiversity Threatened

Vol. 3, Issue 3
The Quarterly Newsletter of the Malaysian Karst Society
Karst Biodiversity Threatened
Robert Percival
most diverse group of karst fauna. There
are also about 4,000 species of mollusks
found in karst environments. Fish found
underground in caves live in complete
darkness and have developed special
adaptation for survival. Most have reduced
vision, are blind or simply have no eyes at
all. Worldwide, there are over 70 species
known to exclusively inhabit underground
environments. Many species of bats,
rodents and snakes are also found in
limestone areas. With the destruction of
the limestone hills, many of these animals
will face extinction.
The Malaysian Trapdoor Spider
This is an extremely rare and unique
spider. Among the most primitive spiders
on earth, this creature still retains its
segmented abdomens! These colorful little
beasts may be slow with evolving, but they
are fast with everything else!
The sacrifice of our limestone hills to
quarrying and other human activities at the
expense of our beautiful caves and the
formations within them is a great tragedy.
It also causes untold loss of rare endemic
fauna and flora which live in and around
these hills.
Plants that grow on the limestone face
many limitations such as shallow soils with
high calcium and magnesium content, freedraining rock substrate, exposure to full
sunlight, severe water stress and high
temperatures during dry periods.
However, some plants have adapted to
these conditions and thrive nowhere else.
Plants such as the Cycads, Ficus and
Monophyllea have adapted well to these
conditions.
There are many groups of animals that
make karst their home. These are spiders,
insects,
scorpions, crabs, shrimps,
centipedes, millipedes and related
organisms. They are by far the largest and
July - Dec 2006
For members only
Inside this issue:
Animal-Rich Limestone 2
Towers Face Rocky
Future in Asia
RECENT TRIPS
Six-mile Tunnel
- access denied
3
Gunung Panjang Climb 4
Gua Ngea, G. Lanno
Cave Snakes for Sale
6
COMING TRIPS
6
Ipoh Sculpture
Symposium
8
This species, like other trapdoor spiders,
creates a cover for its burrow entrance,
known as the ‘trapdoor’. To help catch
prey, the spider spins triplines that extends
from its burrow. When a wandering insect
trips on the spider’s trap, it launches itself
out of its burrow and snares it. It then
drags its next meal into its lair before
consuming it.
KARST NEWS
NEEDS YOU!
The editorial is
constantly looking for
materials for KARST
NEWS, so send in
those articles, photos,
journals, etc.
Liphistius khantan & Liphistius tempurung
are only found in Gunung Khantan &
Gunung Tempurung respectively.
Karst News reserves the to
amend materials received.
Page 2
EU-Asia Pro Eco
Programme II project deferred
The Executive Committee
regrets to inform you that
the above project where
MKS has been a partner
with Perbadanan Kemajaun
Negeri Perak has been
deferred. The grant went
to a project in another
country of this region.
The Quarterly Newsletter of the Malaysian Karst Society
Apart from trying to convince state
governments to stop approving quarrying
and other development around our
limestone hills for reasons of aesthetics
and environmental pollution, there are a
few other mechanisms that can be used to
protect these sites.
The Convention Concerning the
Protection of the World Cultural and
Natural Heritage (World Heritage
Convention, 1975) can be very effectively
used to protect biodiversity of outstanding
universal value. The Convention is
applicable to biodiversity conservation in
most environments, including caves and
karst landscapes.
One of the interesting facets of karst
World Heritage Areas is that many have
been nominated for other than their karst
values, even though the karst component
may well be of outstanding significance and
will benefit from this protection.
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
(1971) is another mechanism to protect
the biodiversity of karst. The Ramsar
Bureau now recognizes subterranean
wetlands, and this provides a further
avenue for international recognition of
Karst environments in the interests of
conservation.
More research needs to be done to
document the biodiversity of the Karst
areas. With the research data, we will be
better able to push for the protection of
Karst environments to preserve their
unique biodiversity. The Malaysian Nature
Society is using scientific data gathered on
the flora and fauna in Belum-Temenggor to
push for its declaration as a National Park.
We should also do the same for our karst.
Animal-Rich Limestone Towers
Face Rocky Future in Asia
by James Owen for National Geographic News, September 2006
Spectacular limestone karsts in
Southeast Asia - havens for many unique
and endangered species - are being
destroyed by quarrying and other human
activities, a new study warns.
Rare bats, insects, mollusks, cave fish,
rodents, and other animals face the threat
of extinction if the region's limestone
karsts aren't granted better protection,
researchers say.
The number of endangered karst-dwelling
species has been seriously underestimated,
the study adds.
Cave-dwelling insectivorous
bat, Hipposideros diadema,
Sarawak
Among Southeast Asia's most recognizable
natural features, limestone karsts were
formed millions of years ago by calciumsecreting marine organisms such as corals.
Erosion has sculpted these formations into
rocky outcrops with cliffs, caves, and
underground rivers. The karsts rise from
tropical forests or from the sea as sheersided islands.
Writing in the latest issue of the journal
BioScience, a team of biologists from the
National University of Singapore describe
these habitats as "arks of biodiversity."
But growing demand for limestone for the
construction industry and other
development has imperiled karst wildlife
and led to extinctions, the researchers
warn.
They also highlight threats to karsts from
logging activity and land clearance for
agriculture and development.
"Many species extinctions have probably
gone unnoticed on karsts that were
destroyed before they could be sampled,"
the team writes.
Arial view of the Kinta Valley.
July - Dec 2006
Extinction Danger
Karsts in the Pahang and Sabah regions of
Malaysia have been completely leveled by
mining companies, says Reuben Clements,
lead author of the study.
"As a result, at least a couple of siteendemic snail species (species found
nowhere else in the world) are presumably
extinct," he said.
Given the pace of new species discoveries
from recent karst surveys, "it is likely that
several species on unexplored karsts
undergoing quarrying are disappearing right
under our noses," Clements added.
The world's smallest mammal, the
bumblebee bat, is found exclusively in a
small number of karst caves in Thailand.
Other rare mammals associated with the
limestone outcrops include Francois's leaf
monkey, the serow (a type of goat
antelope), and a newly found rodent from
Laos that represents the first new mammal
family to be discovered in 30 years.
The researchers say that 31 karst-living
species in Southeast Asia are currently
recognized as globally threatened by the
World Conservation Union (IUCN). But
the true figure is likely to be far higher.
Page 3
overlooked because they are uncharismatic
and difficult to study," Clements said.
"Such organisms are therefore considered
as 'data deficient' by the IUCN because
very little is known about their basic
biology, and it will be hard to make a case
for their conservation."
Researchers from Brigham Young
University in Provo, Utah, last year
reported that just three hours of sampling
in a well-known karst cave in Malaysia
turned up at least three invertebrate
species that are likely new to science.
Since 1988, 13 new fish species have been
discovered in karst caves in Southeast Asia,
including a blind loach that climbs onto
rocks using its fins.
Site-endemic prosobranch land
snail, Opisthostoma (Plectostoma)
obliquedentatum, from Sabah
Despite their wealth of unusual fauna,
karsts remain poorly studied generally,
Clements says.
"You will be hard-pressed to find
information on karst ecosystems in ecology
textbooks," he said. "Such general apathy,
coupled with the difficulty of performing
biodiversity studies on the rugged karst
terrain, make them unpopular study
systems in the scientific community."
Animals and plants found on karsts are
seriously underrepresented in lists of
endangered species, "in part as a result of
undersampling and data deficiency," the
team writes.
As a result, IUCN figures are geographically
skewed, Clements says.
"For example, 18 of the 20 threatened
karst-associated land snails occur from just
one country, Malaysia," he said.
"Given that other scientists have recorded
high levels of land snail endemism from
other countries such as Thailand and
Vietnam, I expect the current figures to be
severely underestimated."
Lack of Knowledge
Most cave-dwelling karst species, which
include bizarre forms of blind fish, crabs,
and crayfish, have not even been subjected
to any sort of threat analysis, the study
says.
"Cave-dwelling organisms are generally
Figure shows the distribution of karst in the South-East Asia Region
Page 4
The Quarterly Newsletter of the Malaysian Karst Society
Increasing Danger
regional karst biodiversity."
Pressure to mine karsts for limestone which is used to manufacture commercially
valuable products such as cement and
marble - is likely to increase, the study
warns.
"Isolated karsts around densely populated
areas with emerging construction
industries and reasonable infrastructure are
most susceptible," Clements added.
Using mineral statistics spanning 1999 to
2003, the research team estimated levels of
limestone quarrying in tropical regions including Africa, South America, and
Central America.
Southeast Asia showed the greatest annual
average increases in limestone quarrying 5.7 percent a year.
Site-endemic begonia, Begonia
amphioxus, from Sabah, Malaysia.
Such quarrying rates, the team says,
"suggest a bleak outlook for the future of
Quarrying should be confined to larger and
more extensive karst areas, the
researchers say. Small and isolated karsts
should not be mined, as they are more
likely to harbor unique plants and animals.
While about 13 percent of Southeast Asia's
karst area has some level of protected
status, protection is still absent or minimal
in countries such as Cambodia and
Myanmar, the researchers add.
RECENT TRIPS
Six-mile Tunnel - access denied
July 2006
A partially-man-made, 700-meter tunnel
located in Tambun, Ipoh, nicknamed Sixmile Tunnel, is an exciting karst feature
located in the Kinta Valley. To gain access
to this tunnel one has to wade across a
muddy lotus pond. Traversing the length
of the tunnel will bring you to a wang
(karst feature which means space enclosed
by limestone outcrops), continue upstream
and you end up at a small, discrete
waterfall.
theme park plans to promote this karst
feature commercially.
Wading across the muddy pond - File pic Dec 2005
Our excursion to Six-mile Tunnel in July
2006 was a disappointment as the tunnel
was flooded so much that it had become
inaccessible.
We professed that Ipoh
Sunway City’s development in the vicinity
might have caused this sudden change.
(Previously the tunnel was also flooded, but
only knee-deep.)
Staff from the Lost
World of Tambun Theme Park who
accompanied us at that time said that they
will look into resolving the matter.
Pencil Rock, a 10-storey high karst
feature, near Six-mile Tunnel, Ipoh
We were recently informed by the
concerned developer that water at the
tunnel has since receded to its previous
level. However, in the near future, access
to the tunnel will no longer be free, as the
MKS is organizing possibly our last trip to the
Six-mile Tunnel, check out the COMING TRIPS
section for details.
July - Dec 2006
Page 5
Gunung Panjang Climb
Register or
get fined!
August 2006
Twenty four climbers showed up for this
climb despite having been warned to
expect a tough one. Gunung Panjang is
also the hill where the famous Tambun
rock drawing is found.
Registration is crucial
for the safety of the
participants as sufficient
equipment needs to be
prepared for each trip;
it is also necessary to
restrict the number of
participants for some
trips for safety reasons.
The climb involved clutching on to roots,
sticking fingers in crevices etc, any way to
inch oneself up, typical of a karst hill climb.
Less experienced climbers were strapped
in harness and were hauled up. Every
safety precaution, although cumbersome
(and expensive), but absolutely necessary,
were taken.
Therefore, members
who fail to register
for trips will now be
fined RM20. The trip
leader also reserves the
right to refuse any
member, who fails to
register, participation.
As there were 24 of us, it was a slow and
laborious effort to strap harness on every
climber, Furthermore we only have six
sets of equipment with us. Often we were
just hanging around chatting while waiting
for our turns.
The real danger of climbing karst hills is the
occasional rockfall, usually inadvertently
caused by climbers above. When that
happens, we will yell ’rocks!’ to warn
climbers below to get out of the way.
Fortunately this climb was accident-free.
Registration can be
done thru email or by
calling the MKS office.
The view at the summit was not fantastic,
it over looked part of Tambun but was
shrouded by haze. But it was the journey
and experience that mattered.
Contact info is located
on the last page of this
newsletter.
Gua Ngea, G. Lanno
September 2006
These shots were taken by nature
photographer Mr. K.S. Cheang who came
with us on this trip. Check out the MKS
website for more of Cheang’s photos in color.
The Quarterly Newsletter of the Malaysian Karst Society
Page 6
Cave snakes for sale
Liz Price
I recently came across a local website that
advertises cave racer snakes for sale in his
Reptile Store. I am not adverse to people
selling snakes if the snakes are bred in
captivity, and if the stock is not taken from
the wild. But this particular website says,
on the information guide "Also bring along
your snake hook, torch lights, headlamps
and bags to place your catch.”
I don't like the way he suggests anyone
goes into the forest to collect whatever
they can find. This also suggests that the
animals sold in this Reptile Store are taken
from the wild. The sad thing is that cave
racers don't have any form of protection in
Malaysia, and are not subject to the 1972
wildlife protection act.
© Mongabay.com
A cave racer devouring its prey.
Cave dwelling snakes are rare. Rarely are
they seen more than 2 or 3 in a cave, and
not that many caves have snakes. So even
taking one specimen could wipe out the
breeding population in that particular cave.
And imagine if someone takes several
snakes for a shop, and doesn't sell them,
then the snakes are "wasted".
Another factor is that cave snakes are
thought to spend their entire life in the
cave in absolute darkness. Therefore they
have never been subject to daylight, so you
can imagine taking these snakes out of a
dark cave into sunlight is not going to be
good for its wellbeing.
The cave racers’ natural diet is bats and
swallows. If a cave racer is taken as a pet,
there is a chance it won't feed unless it is
given bats. Cave racers are known to be
fussy on their diet, even racers bred in
captivity and given mice from birth might
refuse to eat rats as they grow up.
So if anyone is aware of anyone who
captures snakes from caves, please share
this bit of information with them.
COMING TRIPS
Six-mile Tunnel, G. Datok
Sunday, 3rd Dec 2006
Don’t miss
this one!
Possibly the last
non-commercial
trip to the Tunnel.
Exclusively for
MKS members.
We will be revisiting Six-mile Tunnel, after being denied access in July. (read more on page
4, Trips Reported section).
This will likely be our last trip to this tunnel as the Lost World of Tambun Theme Park will
promote Six-mile Tunnel as tourist attraction, presumably entrance fee will be charged.
Children below 12 years of age are not allowed. Lifejacket is compulsory for all.
Tip: If you are bringing along a camera or other electronic gadgets, it is a good idea to
waterproof them. A rubber dinghy will also come in handy.
Meet at
Ipoh Garden Plaza, Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah
Time
9.00 a.m.
Duration
up to 5 hours
Challenge rating
Essential gear
Lifejacket, torch, ration, change of clothes
July - Dec 2006
Page 7
Gua Ta’Boleh, G. Merawan
7 January 2007, Sunday
This cave lies 1.6 m west of Gunong Lanno. The main passage passes thru a wang, a
hollow in the middle of the hill, which eventually leads to the another entrance (exit).
There is another passage where a stream runs thru NNW from the entrance. The
entrance to the upper level which leads to a chamber of beautiful flowstone formations lies
35 m above the main entrance. Bring mosquito repellent for this trip.
Meet at
Mamak shop (near Bata) opposite Simpang Pulai Police Station
Time
9.00 a.m.
Duration
2 hours
Formations in Gua Ta’Boleh.
Pic from “Expedition G. Lanno”.
Challenge rating
Gua Angin, G. Lanno
4 February 2007, Sunday
The entrance to this cave is just south of the Sri Siva Subramaniar cave temple at Keramat
Pulai. We have never explored this cave, so there is much to discover!
Meet at
Kwong Fok Ngam cave temple, next to Sri Siva Subramaniar
Time
9.00 a.m.
Duration
3 hours
Challenge rating
Kota Gelanggi + G. Senyum Caves, Pahang
10, 11, 12 March 2007, Fri/Sat/Sun (3 days + 2 night)
The Kota Gelanggi caves (not to be confused with the mythical ancient city a.k.a. Kota
Gelanngi believed to be hidden in the jungles of Johor) is an important archaeological site
where human remains of 1,500 years ago were found. There are many adventure caves,
entrance fee for the show cave is RM5 per adult.
We will be accommodated at the Tekam Plantation Resort, a short drive from Kota
Gelanggi. The air-conditioned chalets are equipped with tow single beds and a bathroom.
Meals and transportation not provided.
Kota Gelanggi
Registration
Participants shall register
by 1 March 2007.
Limited places, book early
to avoid disappointment.
Itinerary & other details
will be forwarded to
registered participants at a
later time.
Meet at
Tekam Plantation Resort, Jerantut, Pahang
Date & time
10 March 2007, 4 p.m.*
Estimated time from
KL 4 hrs / Ipoh 6 hrs / Penang 8 hrs
Cost
adult RM165*, child RM80* (inclusive of guide & accommodation)
* to be confirmed
Vol. 3, Issue 3
Ipoh Sculpture Symposium
Malaysian Karst Society
28 Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah
31400 Ipoh, Perak
Malaysia
Phone: +6(05) 549 8407
Fax: +6(05) 253 5507
Email: [email protected]
Office hours:
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Monday thru Friday
Ipoh Sculpture Symposium is essentially about sculptors gathering in
Ipoh and creating sculptures for the city. Art plays a monumental role in the
development of a people, and public artwork directly exposes society to art,
of which Ipoh is lacking. Malaysia in general has been in decline in this
respect for the last number of years, admitted Minister of Culture, Art &
Heritage, Dr. Rais Yatim.
In Ipoh, where limestone hills and marble is quarried in abundance, it is most
ironic not to find any marble sculptures publicly displayed!
In the previous issue of KARTS NEWS, we featured renowned sculptor, Pius
Chong and his endeavor to initiate a Sculpture Symposium in Ipoh.
Subsequent to a few rounds of discussion with various interested parties,
work is underway to realize the Ipoh Sculpture Symposium.
The reward attained from magnificent public art works cannot be measured
in monetary unit, its value lies in its power to inspire for generations to
come.
Such are the benefits of the Symposium:
See us online at
•
Compliments Visit Malaysia Year 2007
www.mykarst.org
•
Promotes the Visual Arts
•
Public artwork for the people of Ipoh
•
Demonstrate and encourage legitimate use of our karst resource, i.e.
not wasting limestone / marble on production of construction
aggregate.
Views and opinions expressed in this newsletter do
not necessarily reflect those of the Executive
Committee of the Society.
The Malaysian Karst Society supports this symposium.