What is aquatic ecology ?

My drawing to explain about aquatic ecosystems to developers and designers back in 1997.

Aquatic ecology is a branch of the science of ecology which is concerned with the study of aquatic ecosystems. This field can be broken into two divisions: freshwater ecology and marine ecology. Given that most of the Earth is covered in water, understanding aquatic ecosystems is very important, especially since water is critical to the survival of all life on Earth.

Freshwater ecology involves rivers, lakes, streams, seasonal bodies of water, underground water deposits, and the surrounding areas, while marine ecology is concerned with the ocean. Estuaries, where freshwater meets saltwater, may be studied by ecologists from either field, and sometimes both, working cooperatively on projects which require the expertise of freshwater and marine ecologists.

Aquatic ecologists study natural populations of organisms in the water, learning about natural variations and the impact of influences like temperature, salinity, water depth, location, and season. Ecologists may be interested specifically in organisms of economic importance, or in the biology of an ecosystem as a whole.

Aquatic ecosystems are the communities of organisms, their surrounding watery environment, and the relationship between the two.

And that’s what we do at Ayermatahari and it’s a job.

wisegeek

Floods in Penang, Who to Blame ?

Greed, ignorance, poor visions and inconsideration are behind all these disasters of flooding. Nothing has to do with god of anger or natural disaster. The authorities have done their best but those pages of greed, ignorance, poor visions and inconsideration are there like rusty pages clipped between the hard work of others.

Flood can be prevented if developements seriously take into accounts the retained volume of water from heavy rains, less surface pavements for water infiltrations, effective drainage system and a holding lake as part recreational and flood control strategy in their masterplan.

But where are they ? and somehow the floods are here to stay for sure in Penang.

Of late, weather news all over the world providing reports fearful of coming disasters but we have none of these sort happened other than the tsunami came on Boxing Day which was not predicted or known until it came.

The biggest disasters to such floods are man-made from ignorance blinded by insatiable search for wealth and imbalance of developments between the need for the people and the balance of nature.

The Eco-ponds at Langkawi .

The Arrival Pond at The Four Seasons Langakwi with the eco-friendly NSM bio-filtration system.

For years, most garden ponds in popular resorts used the conventional swimming pool water filtration system with full application of chlorine as chemical to keep the water crisp clear. Chlorine is so toxic that it kills everything and thus making the water looks clear and ‘clean‘ !

The chlorinated water is surely clear as all things that survive and live in water are dead and removed with the physical sand filter. But over the years, when chlorine continue to be added to water, a weak acid called Hypochlorous acid was produced and over time, it eats away the mortar that hold the tiles in the pond. Eventually, tiles along the pond walls and bottom began to give ways and dropped off.

More damaging when chlorine is added to water, there are halogenated trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) which are two major classes of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) commonly found in waters disinfected with chlorine. These byproducts have been epidemiological evidences of close relationship between its exposure and adverse outcomes particularly the cancers of vital organs in human beings.

Late last year, we were appointed to install our non-chemical eco-friendly NSM bio-filtration system to turn these ponds into eco-ponds with plants and fishes as part of their habitat.

The ponds water is crisp clear and fishes like lampam (Java barbs) are swarming all around as you see in natural ponds. Colocasia sp plants are thriving well along with some lotus plants.

The photo above paints a thousand words. Be eco-friendly and save the aquatic environment and do away with toxic chemicals like chlorine.

SuanNamSai Studio in Bangkok.

Since 1998, I was travelling to and fro KL-Bangkok and still doing this today. Much have been done and learned.

I always enjoy Bangkok for its markets, food, a never ending shopping and of course, the art of the people. Of late, we completed a nice pond project with our NSM bio-filter system, cleaning up the pond the natural way without the application of toxic chemicals like chlorine.

SuanNamSai Studio or simply it’s ClearWaterGarden Studio is now opened in Bangkok. The team who has been associating with me since 1998 are still with me,…always happy, lucky and vibrant with life and forever mai pen rai….. with me. 

Year 2017 is the year I have been waiting for and trying to get out of 2016 soonest possible, and I did. With 2017, I am ready for new challenges and move on with works in SE Asia and possibly invoke the art from my life.

Sawatdee. 2017