A Scientific Expedition to Ma Chau
Where?
Ma Chau! It is an remote island under the southern part of Lantau, and is one of the satellite island of Soko Island Group.
Why we choose this island as our first destination of of expedition? There are a few reasons.
- It's not a big island, approximately m2, it's a manageable size for our team
- It is the island in the farest west part of Hong Kong, it's can be a landmark for studying biogeography
- It is part of the Soko Island group, so we can study the relationship between these islands.
Our Missions
As a group:
- Survey of waste found on island
- Pick up trash and bring them back
For individuals:
- Survey insects and host plants biodiversity using iNaturalist [Gert + Reynald]
- Collect specimens (insects, host plants etc.) [Gert + Reynald]
- Collect soil samples to study the microbes community [Maria]
- Collect rockpool water samples [Mike]
- Documentary filming the process [Maria]
Expedition Day
We took a dinghi from Tong Fuk Beach to get on our sailboat to sail to Ma Chau.
Look! There is Ma Chau!
Our sailboat cannot get too close to the island, so we need to take the dinghi to land on Ma Chau. The first thiings we saw was A LOT OF TRASH! :(
We tried to clean the beach on Ma Chau. We filled up 5 bags with trash in just 30 min.
Insects around us!
Collecting trash together
Interesting plant found on the island.
We are contributing to the Ma Chau Wiki page
Plants founded on Ma Chau
海灘牽牛 鱟藤 厚藤 Ipomoea pes-caprae
一點紅 Emilia sonchifolia
雞眼藤 Morinda parvifolia
Thatch Screwpine Pandanus tectorius
Insects founded on Ma Chau
Mictis (DNA barcoding in progress)
Team
Research Team:
- Li Lok Yee (Maria)
- Gert Grobler
- Reynald De Guzman
- Mike Yuen
Our generous and supportive sailboat crew:
- Cameron Dueck
- Fiona Ching
Our friends:
- Sam
- Eva
- Mr. Tam