From 3-5 June 2026, our research fellow, Dr Ong Xin Rui, participated in the 6th Conservation Asia Congress (CAC Nepal 2026) that was held in the bustling city of Kathmandau, Nepal. As part of the Asian chapter of the Society of Conservation Biology (SCB), this year's congress is considered a homecoming, where the first SCB Asia regional conference was held in the same venue more than two decades ago. Under the theme “Harmonising Biodiversity and Human Well-being in Asia,” th

Large mammalian herbivores are important keystone species that are increasingly threatened by hunting and global environmental change. Their loss can trigger cascading impacts on other organisms that rely on them, including dung beetles—ecologically important insects rely on the feces of larger animals for feeding and nesting. By processing and burying dung, dung beetles also contribute towards multiple ecosystem services, including nutrient recycling and seed dispersal. Scie

Recently, our PhD student Nethmi from the TEE Lab, NTU, had the opportunity to deliver a public talk to undergraduate students from the Department of Natural Resources, Faculty of Applied Sciences, at Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. This opportunity was kindly given by Prof. Enoka P. Kudavidange. During the session, she shared her research journey and introduced the fascinating world of dung beetles, highlighting their ecological importance, distribution patterns, and f

Insects are responding rapidly to global environmental change, yet understanding why insect populations change remains one of the greatest challenges in ecology and conservation. While monitoring efforts increasingly reveal shifts in insect abundance, diversity, biomass, and distributions, observed patterns are often shaped by multiple interacting drivers, biological mechanisms, and even the way insects are detected and measured. In our new paper, Predictive entomology: A c

On 6 May 2026, we conducted a focused mini workshop with local communities in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah to gather input on the Riparian Decision Tree (RiTREE), a planning tool designed to guide decisions on riparian buffer widths. This session marked an important step in ensuring that community perspectives are meaningfully integrated into the tool. Between 2016 and 2021, a series of meetings, multi-stakeholder workshops, and collaborative discussions brought together scientists,

From 28–30 April 2026, over 80 participants from various agencies gathered in Sabah for the Tropical Insect Workshop. Organised by the Sabah Forestry Department through its Forest Research Centre (FRC) in Sepilok, the workshop—titled “Small Wonders of the Rainforests: Understanding Tropical Insects” brought together researchers, practitioners, and government officers with a shared interest in tropical biodiversity. Top: Group photo with all the guests, speakers, and participa

We are super proud of our PhD student, Jasmine Ong, who has successfully passed her qualifying examinations recently! Jasmine is supervised by Associate Professor Kim Hie Lim and Associate Professor Eleanor Slade and is studying the climate resilience of tropical dung beetles. Jasmine with her PhD supervisors, Associate Professor Kim Hie Lim and Associate Professor Eleanor Slade. Photo: Shuna Maekawa, 2026. For her qualifying exam, she presented a phylogenetic study on Cathar

The Tropical Ecology & Entomology Lab ( TEE Lab ) from the Asian School of the Environment, College of Science, Nanyang Technological University, had the privilege of showcasing our research at the ArtScience Museum's exhibition Insects: Microsculptures Magnified . TEE Lab outing at Insects: Microsculptures Magnified. Photo 2026 Marx Yim. This exhibition features stunning portraits of insect specimens from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History captured by photogra

The Tropical Ecology and Entomology (TEE) Lab at the Asian School of the Environment, College of Science, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, was recently featured on Channel News Asia (CNA) for its work on the AMBER Project — AI and Automated Monitoring of Insects (AMI) — showcasing how artificial intelligence is being integrated into biodiversity monitoring in Singapore. Developed through a collaboration between the Alan Turing Institute , the UK Centre

Our recent study, Towards red listing understudied tropical insects: A case study of the dung beetles of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo , has been featured in East Malaysia's daily newspaper, The Borneo Post ! We thank Dr Arthur Chung and Datuk Frederick Kugan for the opportunity to contribute this article in collaboration with the Sabah Forestry Department. Check out the article and our publication in these links: Study puts Sabah’s dung beetles on the global con­ser­va­tion map To

We hosted Dr Thary Gazi Goh in February 2026 to investigate and describe a potential new species of dung beetle from Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia. It was a great opportunity for knowledge exchange and international collaboration in the region -- read more to find out what we actually did! :)

The Tropical Ecology and Entomology (TEE) Lab at the Asian School of the Environment, College of Science, Nanyang Technological University recently conducted fieldwork in the peat swamp forests of Brunei Darussalam—an ecosystem that is both ecologically unique and critically important for carbon storage and biodiversity conservation. Left: Retrieving the leaf-litter bag from the peat swamp forest; Right: Behind every dataset is a strong field team. Thankful for the dedicat

The IUCN Red List is the most authoritative source of the extinction risk of species and is widely used to inform conservation actions. However, tropical insects are very much under-represented in the Red List due to multiple reasons: limited data on species distributions and trends, difficulties in applying the Red List Criteria, lack of coordination between tropical entomologists and the IUCN structures responsible for publishing official assessments. In our latest publica

In January 2026, the TEE Lab spent an amazing and fruitful two weeks at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, Netherlands and the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN) in Paris, France. Marx, Xin Rui, Zann & Eleanor at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center and the MNHN. Photos 2026 Marx. The Naturalis Biodiversity Center is home to over 40 million specimens from all over the world, including many important specimens from Southeast Asia. Here, we were hosted by Dr

From 8 to 18 Dec 2025, Zann and Marx visited Kuala Lumpur to study Peninsular Malaysia’s dung beetles, supporting research on Singapore species. Exploring collections at Universiti Malaya and FRIM with Dr Thary Gazi Goh revealed new insights into taxonomy, ecology, and natural history. We are grateful for this opportunity to visit and look forward to future collaboration - terima kasih!

Hello everyone! We’re Dr Nanette Raczka and research assistant Sonia Lee from the TEE Lab. Nanette is an ecologist whose research focuses include plant nutrient acquisition processes and plant-microbial interactions, and Sonia is a research assistant who has an interest in entomology. Background A little background into our project – a great challenge lies in quantifying the change in belowground root carbon between land use types such as restored forests and secondary fore

On 10 December 2025, The Tropical Ecology and Entomology (TEE) lab from the Asian School of Environment (ASE), College of Science, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) conducted a presentation and hands-on workshop at Institute for Biodiversity and Environmental Research, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) focused on adapting the Forest Integrity Assessment (FIA) tool for peat swamp forest ecosystems. This event brought together researchers, students, and the staffs on g

During our second trip to Japan this year, the TEE Lab visited the collections at the National Museum of Nature and Science , which is situated in the Science City of Tsukuba. Hosted by Dr Showtaro Kakizoe, we spent two fulfilling days examining and imaging dung beetle specimens held in the museum's collections. Group photo with Dr Showtaro Kakizoe and Hiroshima University PhD student Aiman Aiman Luhkman. These important collections help us to verify species identifications a

The TEE Lab is welcomed our collaborators from Hiroshima University back to Singapore for the second time this year on 2-3 Nov 2025! Highlights included a GBIF data-sharing session by our Project Officer Marx Yim, a presentation by Aiman on his 10-day training in the lab, and of course, a feast of Indonesian food as a welcome dinner. A short but meaningful visit filled with learning, discussion, and collaboration. Looking forward to more in 2026!

In July 2025, PhD student Zann Teo represented the TEE Lab at the East Asia Dung Beetle Research Symposium in Nara, Japan! She shared updates on Singapore’s dung beetle species checklist and morphological key, and connected with dung beetle researchers from both across East Asia and around the world. 🌏 With inspiring talks on dung beetle research from different fields, a field trip to search for dung beetles at Nara Park, the symposium was packed with learning, discovery an