WE LOVE PLANT: ~Pandanus tectorius~

GROUP MEMBERS :

MOHAMAD MARWAN B. MAZELAN (D20091034670)

NUR IZYEAN BT SOID (D20091034684)

SITI MARDHIAH BT MANSOR (D20091034603)

PUTERI DEWI BT ANUAR (D20091034709)

October 19^th 2011, 11am; our group has done an investigation on wetland at Tanjung Tuan, Port Dickson. Here are the results of the investigation.

1. Spot/site description

The method we have used is a selective quadrat. We have picked 5 random spots in our quadrat. Here is the map of our site.

Our group decide to take the name of this special plants as our group name and were observed to be the most abundance plants in the site of our studies.

~Pandanus tectorius~

2. Observation

A living thing that is growing :

i.Mango tree

ii. Beach hibiscus

iii.Thatch Screw pine

iv.Beach almond

v. Alexander laurel

vi. Sea apple

Something that once alive : - Hermit crab
Something that has undergone change :

i. Mango tree

ii. Beach hibiscus

iii.Thatch Screw pine

iv. Beach almond

v. Alexander laurel

vi. Sea apple

d. Something that is impossible to count:

i. Sea water

ii. Sand

iii.Plant stressed intensity

e. Something we can’t photograph

i. Wind

ii. light

iii. air

iv. Heat

f. A thing that does not form a necessary part of the ecosystem: Rubbish

g. Natural thing that can be used as a tools:

i. Thatch Screw pine

ii. Organic matter in soil

h. Thing that might be used as a food:

i. All floras found

ii. Green algae

i. Something that wouldn’t be here in 100 years:

i. Mango tree

ii. Crab hole

iii. Wetland area – global warming & rise of water level

3. Soil Characteristics

^Spots	¹	²	³	⁴	⁵
^{Depth of dry sand}	^{10.3 cm}	^{10.8 cm}	^{12.0 cm}	^{13.6 cm}	^{15.5 cm}
^{Temperature at a depth of 10cm}	^{29.9 °C}	^{29.7 °C}	^{29.4 °C}	^{29.6 °C}	^{29.8 °C}
^{Amount of organic material} ^{(mainly plant roots) at a depth of 10-15cm}	^{Organic material : -} ^{Humus : -} ^{Sand : 16 ml}	^{Organic material : 4 ml} ^{Humus : 4 ml} ^{Sand : 8 ml}	^{Organic material : 2 ml} ^{Humus : 4 ml} ^{Sand : 10 ml}	^Organic ^{material : 2 ml} ^{Humus : 4 ml} ^{Sand : 10 ml}	^{Organic material :-} ^{Humus : -} ^{Sand : 16 ml}

4. Micro-climates

Spots	1	2	3	4	5
Air temperature	25.7 °C	22.1 °C	23.2 °C	24.1 °C	28.5 °C
Relative humidity	71.1 %	58.2 %	63.2 %	68.8 %	78.1 %
Aspect & exposure to sun	Very exposed	Exposed	Shady	Exposed	Very exposed
Light intensity	2200 lux	1900 lux	1200 lux	1700 lux	3500 lux
Fauna & their position/ animal track	Baby crab & crab hole,ant and shrimp found	Ants found	Spider web and ants found	Ants found	None

5. Floral identification

Spots	1	2	3	4	5
Covered with plants	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
species	Sea almond@ Ketapang (Terminalia catappa)	Thatch Screwpine@ Mengkuang (Pandanus tectorius)	Sea apple @Jambu laut (Syzygium grande) Mango @Mangga (Mangifera indica)	Sea Hibiscus @Bunga raya laut (Hibiscus tiliaceus)	Alexander laurel@ Bintangor (Calophyllum)
Adaptation	Have waxy leaves Strong & branched stem Have tap root	Have Waxy leaves Have thorns along margin of leaves Have tap root	Have Waxy leaves Have tap root	Have strong & branched stem	Have waxy & thick leaves
Healthy/ stressed? If stressed why?	Healthy	Healthy	Health	Health	Health
List observation of human influence	Bottle	Polystyrene Rubbish	Rubbish	Polystyrene Rubbish	Bottle

6. Our creative Poem:

The Nature is In Our Hands.

The nature is in our hand,

Flora fauna is all about money,

Money...Money...Money...

Can you live without money??

No…no…no….

The nature is in our hand,

Why should I care??

Am I born to save the nature??

Isn’t it wasting time..

Enough… It was too much!!

I can’t stand it anymore,

Nature is MY LIFE...

How can we live without nature...?

The nature is in our hand,

We are too greed to have the nature,

I am walking along the seaside with full of shame,

Shame!! Shame!! Shame!!

For what I have done with my hand.

Nature inspiration by : Marwan, Dewi, Mar, Yan.
Tanjung Tuan, 20 November 2011.

A sweet escape into the nature...

7. Opinion/ Suggestion

In our point of view, we think that if the temperature and sea level rise, all of the flora that is situated at the wet land will undergo extreme adaptation toward the environment, maybe the leaves are adapted to be very thick to reduce transpiration, their roots dig deep into the soil to get support to avoid being washed away by the risen sea level and maybe their shoot grow extremely high to avoid sinking or maybe the lower trees or shrubs that are weak or are not able to adapt will die and extinct.

If the use of the adjacent area changes, all of the flora and fauna will undergo extinction because of there will be no space and habitat to grow and develop. Meanwhile, if the quality of the sea’s management increases, rubbish is not scattered all over the place and it will not contaminate the sea and the flora and fauna will grow healthy and develop well.

8. Discussion

1. Sand which is situated far from the beach has high dry sand compared to the sand that is near to the beach has low dry sand because sand near the beach always exposed to the sea tidal and always wet.

2. Temperature of the sand rise when it is situated near the beach because sand near the beach exposed to sunlight more than sand that is situated far from the beach because they are sheltered by trees. Same goes to the air temperature and light intensity, rise when the area located near beach because area are exposed to sunlight.

4. Amount of organic matter in sand increase as it is far from the beach because there are no trees grow near the beach area so, the are no decomposed matter in sand content situated near the beach compared to the sand far from the beach which are rich in organic matter and humus because there are a lot of trees grow and a lot of decomposed matter.

5. Most of the wetland trees have thick leaves covered with waxy layer, strong stem and strong deep tap root because those characteristics are how they adapt to the extreme environment as to reduce transpiration, avoid being washed away, reduce competition for their survival.

6. According to our observation, wetland trees shoot heading toward the beach and look bend because they are trying to get out of the plant bushes and reduce competition to get light source.

7. Pandanus tectorius trees situated at wetland produce fruits that is big and clearly seen while the one situated in the wood do not produce any fruit because the tree at wetland undergo physiological stress so, in order to continue their generation, they have to reproduce (produce fruits) in case they are not able to bear the stress condition and die.

8. The strange finding in our spot is Mango tree because, base on our knowledge mango is not suitable to grow at wetland and this is first time we see mango growing on beach area so, we think maybe their seed are carried by people passing by this area or by the beach water. And we think that maybe this mango will not survive normally or it will die because to grow here they need to undergo extreme adaptation.

9. Conclusion

Plant can grow in stress condition because they can adapt to the environment physiologically.