Hong Kong Wetland Park Report

8/3/2019 Hong Kong Wetland Park Report

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F.5A Janice Poon F.5B Teresa Lo, Kiki Yu F.5D Carol Hung, Sharon Pang, Colisa Tou

Report of the visit to Hong Kong Wetland Park

Introduction

Hong Kong Wetland Park is located at the northern part of Tin Shui Wai. The site of

the park was originally intended to be an ecological mitigation area. The government

then decided to develop the Wetland Park there as the development of the Wetland

Park can enhance the ecological function of the EMA to a world-class conservation,

education and tourism facility. The Hong Kong Wetland Park reveals the diversity of

the Hong Kong's wetland ecosystem and highlights the importance of conservation. It

also presents an opportunity to provide an education and recreation venue with a

theme on the functions and values of wetlands for use by local residents and overseasvisitors.

Method of study

We visited Wetland Park to take an observation of the abundance of dragonflies and

damselflies. With the assistance of binocular, we can take a close look of these

insects. After pure observation, we recorded their distinctive characteristics for further

identification. Meanwhile, we noted down the habitat and the number counted.

How to distinguish dragonfly and damselfly?

Dragonfly has two sets of wings lie horizontally, while damselflys two sets of wings

are held along and are parallel.

Damselfly Dragonfly


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Data Collection

Type of dragonflies Quantity Type of damselflies Quantity

Asian Pintail

(Acisoma panorpoides)

1 Blue Sprite

(Pseudagrionmicrocephalum)

1

Crimson Darter

( Crocothemis servilia)

2 / /

Pied Percher(Neurothemis tullia tulli)

3 / /

Pied Skimmer

(Pseudothemis zonat)

1 / /

Variegated Flutterer(Rhyothemis variegata)

4 / /

Crimson Dropwing

(Trithemis auror)1 / /

Scarlet Basker(Urothemis signata signata)

3 / /


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Asian Pintail

Crimson Darter


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Pied Percher

Pied Skimmer

Variegated Flutterer


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Crimson Dropwing

Scarlet Basker


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Blue Sprite

Data presentation

Number of dragonflies and

damselflies found in Wetland Pa

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

Type of dragonflies or damselflies

Quantity

General abundance and distribution of dragonflies and damselflies

There are 116 types of dragonflies and damselflies can be found worldwide which are

commonly named as Dragonfly. We saw eight types of them in the wetland, for

example Crimson Darter, Pied Percher, Scarlet Basker and Variegated Flutterer. In the


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visit, we mostly saw dragonflies near ponds and Variegated Flutterer was the most

common dragonfly we observed. This kind of dragonfly can be classified into male

and female. We can classify them by their appearances. The males pterostigma is

yellow and has black spots while the females pterostigma is transparent. Variegated

Flutterers are lived in ponds and marshes mostly. They have slender bodies with

attractive color. Moreover, they have acute eyesight of their compound eyes.

Adaptations of dragonflies and damselflies to the habitat

Dragonflies and damselflies mostly live in the ponds, marches and stream as they prey

insects for food and their naiads live in water. The odonates lay their eggs on water

surface, some on aquatic plants, and some hide their eggs in the stem of aquatic

plants. Their long abdomens help them to lay eggs. They mainly prey on the insects

such as mosquito, flies and aphids, the attractive color on their slender bodies helps

them to attract their preys in the habitat. Besides, their compound eyes have two

hundred and seventy degree field of vision which helps to detect the preys and

predators as far as forty meters away. They also have forewings and hindwings which

can beat out of phase so that the insects can fly on every sideways.

Roles of dragonflies and damselflies in the ecosystem

In the wetland ecosystem, the naiads of dragonflies and damselflies are active

predators. They feed on water flea, aquatic animals such as larvae of mosquito, and

other tiny aquatic creatures. The adults feed on small insects, such as mosquito and

flies. They catch their preys while flying. This is important for controlling the

mosquitoes which can be vector of diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. On theother hand, both of the naiads and adults of dragonflies and damselflies are the preys

of amphibians, birds and fishes. Besides, most of the dragonflies and damselflies can

only survive in water with fairly good water quality. Their survive rate is affected by

water temperature, oxygen level and concentration of pollutant. Therefore, they act as

important biological indicators of water quality and the conditions of wetlands.

Impact of poor water quality to dragonflies and damselflies

As mentioned above, the water quality is very important to dragonflies and

damselflies. They may lay eggs on the water surface and aquatic plants. They live in


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water when they are naiads. Some of their preys are lived in water. The poor water

quality reduces the survival rate of their eggs, naiads and their preys. As a result, the

number of dragonflies and damselflies will be decreased rapidly and even become

extinct.

Conclusion

In general, we have learnt that dragonflies and damselflies are capable to live in an

environment with wetland as they spawn on water. From our observation, there are

many different types of dragonflies and damselflies; they are mostly differing in their

appearances while they have similar surviving methods, which include reproductive

ways, movement, food sources, etc. Moreover, we have learnt that dragonflies and

damselflies play an important role in maintaining balance ecology, since they feed on

insects such as mosquitoes, which help controlling the population of mosquitoes and

other insects, thus prevent the outbreak of diseases by means of insects. And some of

the insects feed on crops and plants. Hence dragonflies and damselflies can protect

human and plants by feeding on the insects and maintaining balance of the ecology.

However, the pollution to the environment destroys their habitat where supports the

growth and reproduction of dragonflies and damselflies. Bad air and water quality do

serious harm to them. Climate change also brings disastrous impact on the ecology

and yet the dragonflies and damselflies, especially in long term. In a nutshell,

throughout the field trip, we have practically learnt the method of observing and

collecting data of certain kinds of creatures. We got the message of protecting theenvironment in order to maintain the balance of ecology.

Documents

Hong Kong Wetland Park Report