Southeast Asia is a hyper-diverse and rapidly urbanizing region. However, the impacts of urbanization on the region's insect communities are still greatly understudied. In our recent publication in Biotropica's Special Issue: Urban Ecosystems, Ecology, and Evolution in the Tropics 2026, we investigated the impacts of urbanization on Singapore's dung beetle communities - an ecologically important and ideal bioindicator group. Deployed flight-interception trap and baited pitfal

Hello! I’m Gladys and I have recently completed my Final Year Project (FYP) on insect portrayals in children’s books in Singapore libraries. With recent research discoveries and reviews highlighting the alarming rate of global insect biodiversity decline, the portrayal of insects in media such as children’s books has become more crucial than ever to shape children’s perceptions of insects, raise awareness of its ecological importance, and encourage insect conservation. Thus,

We are proud to see TEE Lab's Dr Ong Xin Rui featured in Singapore's largest Chinese-language newspaper, 联合早报 Lianhe Zaobao! Lianhe Zaobao article. Published on 4 September 2026. In this recent 街访街坊 (Street Interview with Locals), Xin Rui reminisced about how she first ventured into the world of dung beetles after losing a game of rock-paper-scissors as an undergraduate. She also shared about our recent study "Using Metabarcoding Techniques to Map Multiple Dung Beetle-Vertebr

With climate change increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, El Niño events may have growing impacts on Singapore’s wildlife. CNA article "More mosquitoes, less birdsong: Increasingly extreme El Ninos may favour pests while other animals swelter" In a recent article by Channel News Asia, TEE Lab's Associate Professor Eleanor Slade spoke about the potential impacts of climate change and El Niño events on Singapore's ecosystems and insect communities. C

We are excited to have our recent study "Using Metabarcoding Techniques to Map Multiple Dung Beetle-Vertebrate iDNA Networks in a Southeast Asian Forest" being featured in The Straits Times! The Straits Times article. Published on 24 August 2026. We demonstrated how dung beetles can be used as sources of vertebrate DNA, where we detected up to 18 native vertebrate species from the forests of Singapore's Central Catchment Nature Reserve. Moving forward, we are exploring a more

I'm Charmaine Ng, a Year 1 student at ASE. From June to July 2026, I had the opportunity to join the TEE Lab and work on my project titled "Effects of Habitat Disturbance on Mammal Diversity and Community Composition in Sabah, Borneo". My project is about analysing mammal camera trap data to find out how mammal species richness, species diversity, and community composition differs across a disturbance gradient of Sabah forests. It is part of the Stability of Altered Forest Ec

Saproxylic insects, insects dependent on dying or dead wood for survival, are very important in performing various ecosystem functions and services. Saproxylic insects range from Stag Beetle larvae that feed on decaying deadwood, to social parasites that live with ants nesting in deadwood. Other than carrying out nutrient cycling as they decompose deadwood, some saproxylic insects are pollinators (e.g. flower chafers and some longhorn beetles), and some are important food sou

Hi, I’m Shannon, a Year 1 student studying Environmental Earth System Science at ASE. From June to July 2026, I had the opportunity to take part in the Summer Research programme, where I had my first foray into environmental science research. This is me with my friends at the TEE lab! My project was about investigating the composition of below-ground invertebrate communities in different plot types around Central Catchment Nature Reserve. Soil samples were extracted from diff

Species interact with each other through complex ecological networks. The structure of these networks can be altered by anthropogenic drivers, such as agricultural expansion and climate change, which may impact ecosystem functioning. Increasingly, molecular techniques are being used to monitor biodiversity and construct ecological networks, circumventing the constraints associated with using conventional means to document species interactions over time and space. Field survey

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

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,

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

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

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!

The Tropical Ecology & Entomology Lab (TEE Lab), Asian School of Environment (ASE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) recently had the privilege of participating in the official opening of the new Sustainability Gallery at Gardens by the Bay. We were honoured to showcase our work to distinguished guests, including President of the Republic of Singapore, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Kikkoman Corporation honorary CEO, chairman of board of directors Yuzaburo Mogi , and the dedi