The big role of small insects
Published on: Friday, January 19, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: Insects are generally disregarded as big animals get the lop-sided attention. Singapore-hailed and world renowned colorectal surgeon Professor Francis Seow-Choen said the small stature of insects had unfortunately fooled people at large to conclude they are unimportant. He said this is a central reason why he choose to study small insets like stick insects at Thursday's launch of his book "A Taxonomic Guide To The Stick Insects of Borneo" Volume 2, at the Kinabalu Hyatt Regency.
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"Small insects are actually very important to the ecosystems," Prof Francis told the packed Kemabong Room. Guest of Honour and Chief Conservator of Forests Sabah Datuk Sam Mannan who launched the book said he agreed: "Small insects are vital to the ecosystems because everything starts here," Mannan noted, citing how hilarious cow-dung beetles play 'football' with cow dung in its instinctive role among the legions of tiny recyclers to return nutrients to the food chain that eventually nourish all the big guys. However, Mannan said the latest book on the 'small guys' exposed "how much we do not know about our surroundings' rather than how much people know about these "bizarre walking sticks and walking leaves (Leaf insects) inhabiting Sabah's old world tropical rainforests, citing Seow's repeated rafts of discoveries of new species – 52 new ones featured in Volume 1 and now 37 new species added to Volume 2 – totalling 373 known species from 92 genera in all.
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As a tribute, Mannan said Prof Francis personifies the spirit of Singapore which documents everything in quest of knowledge as he scoured the 2,600m Mt Trusmadi at the unseemly hour of 2am in a mission to get to the bottom of Borneo's wealth of stick insects.
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"Sunbears could have attacked him or get hit by falling branches," noted Mannan who said inhabitants of small Singapore are not likely to feel the pain of the demise of dugongs.Therefore the only distant reason to care for people like Prof Francis is "moral" which points the burden of responsibility on the authority in power on the imperative to do all it takes "to document, protect and manage" the rich biodiversity for the sake of future generations. "At one time, we thought we could do it alone and in the process I myself was nearly killed. So we have learnt that doing it alone doesn't work, we must rally everybody together to accomplish that vision because we also know we don't have a monopoly of good ideas." The Heart of Borneo Initiative is an example of a "three countries –one vision responsibility' which straddles the borders of Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Indonesia Kalimantan covering an area of 220,000 sq km, while the State Government through the Forestry Department chips in 39.000sqkm of important inland and highland forest ecosystems such as Trusmadi and Crocker Range as art of that vision and mission, Mannan said. As a result of a decade of futuristic pursuit since 2007, 26pc of Sabah's land mass or 1.87 million hectares are now gazetted as Totally Protected Areas (TPAs), he said."This figure represents the largest network of TPAs in Malaysia," Mannan asserted. Publisher Datuk CL Chan of Natural History Publications (Borneo) said the 468-page first volume published in May 2016 documented 15 new genera and 52 news species.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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