The food web

Botanic Island One - view from mid-hill footpath looking south

 In the tropical rainforest, there is a complex web of food chain.  Like today I noticed one carpenter bee that got trapped in the spider web.  It was slowly being devoured by the spider. The leaves in a forest capture solar energy and they contribute to the supply of food to various insects and caterpillars. As  herbivores,  caterpillars and grasshoppers are in turn eaten by carnivores like spiders and other birds.  These carnivores in turn die and decay providing food for earthworms and all other life in the soil.  The process of decay includes decomposition work by bacteria.  Fungi invade a fallen dead tree from the outside .  Some of these fungi are edible.  The 'Kulat Perut Manok' or Clitocybe fragrans is a popular fungi that is taken by many people in Sarawak.  It is my wish the the park retain as much of this complexity in order to sustain a better future for the wildlife and nature in this tiny spot on planet Earth.

Carpenter bee devoured by a spider.

Dragonfly feeds on mosquito larvae

Edible mushroom locally known as 'Kulat Perut Manok' (Clitocybe fragrans) harvested from a fallen dead tree.

Kulat Perut Manok (Iban) - Clitocybe fragrans growing on a dead ficus trunk.

Insect watch album - Carpenter Bees

They have made the park their home.  In dead trees they make burrows and like any normal bees are busy buzzing away making more tunnels inside.  There is a small colony of them making these nests at Botanic Island One.  They look menacingly beautiful with colourful metallic wings and a face resembling Darth Vader from the from 'Star Wars'.  I noticed they collect nectar from the flowers of the 'Sebduduk' that grow wild and abundantly at the park. 

Carpenter Bee

Collecting nectar from flowers of the 'Senduduk' (Melastoma malabathricum)

Metallic colour wings

The nests are built facing west.

Burrows in a dead tree at Botanic Island One.