Bidong Island

Bidong Island is a small island located in the South China Sea, and is about 14 km from mainland Peninsular Malaysia. The island and the Bidong archipelago boast of its richness in diversity of both terrestrial and marine organisms and its undeniably pristine and thriving ecosystem. In 1975–1990, Bidong Island was formerly a UNHCR refugee camp for a quarter of a million Vietnamese "Boat people" escaping the Vietnam War, and still holds great significance to many of its descendants. Due to its historical significance, the Terengganu State government plans to develop Bidong Island as a heritage tourism site and a new scuba diving destination.

This book highlights the uniqueness of Bidong Island and its archipelago, paying particular attention to the biological aspect (which includes marine and terrestrial organisms) and the pollution status surrounding the island. These mainly focus on organisms of the open water and benthic ecosystems such as plankton, fishes, corals reef communities, crustaceans and foraminifera. In addition, we discuss terrene related topics, which includes tree diversity, lichens and also herpetofauna surrounding the Bidong Island. Indisputably an important topic, we also address the pollution status surrounding Bidong Island, with emphasis on heavy metals and its impact.

Readers interested in the areas of environmental sciences should find this book appealing. This book can also be used by students and researchers when discussing about tropical environments on island ecosystems. We do hope that stakeholders that would partake in future interest of Bidong Island (particularly in tourism) are equally aware of the current health status of the island and would engage in conserving and sustaining the diversity and heritage of the archipelago for the benefit of the community.

Chapter 1 - General Geology of Bidong Island, Terengganu
Chapter 2 - Sustainable Economic Development of Bidong Island
Chapter 3 - Historic Vietnamese Settlement of Bidong Island
Chapter 4 - Species Richness of Plants in Bidong Island
Chapter 5 - Community Structure and Diversity of Trees in Coastal Forest of Bidong Island, Terengganu
Chapter 6 - Decapoda Crustaceans at the South China Sea Repository and Reference Centre in Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia
Chapter 7 - Checklist of Lichens From Bidong Island, Terengganu
Chapter 8 - Diversity of Birds in Bidong Island
Chapter 9 - Rapid Assessment of Terrestrial Fauna of Bidong Island, Malaysia
Chapter 10 - Impact of Tropical Storm Pabuk on Intertidal Gastropods in Bidong Island, Malaysia
Chapter 11 - Lunar Cycle Drives Migration of Zooplankton in Coral Reef of Bidong Island
Chapter 12 - Modern Benthic Foraminifera in the Coral Reefs of Bidong Island, Terengganu
Chapter 13 - Meiofauna from the Shipwrecks of Bidong Island, South China Sea
Chapter 14 - Fish Distribution in Tropical Bidong Island, South China Sea Under Influence from Nearshore Sea Acidification
Chapter 15 - Host Preferences and Colouration of Christmas Tree Worms, Spirobrancus corniculatus from Bidong Island
Chapter 16 - Cellular Stress Response of Scleractinian Coral Acropora robusta and Acropora florida in Bidong Island, Malaysia
Chapter 17 - Effects of pH on the Early Life Histories of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster Cf solaris) in Bidong Island, Terengganu, South China Sea
Chapter 18 - Metals Concentration in Coral Reef Fishes of Bidong Island During the 2017 to 2019 Marine Biology Fieldwork Course
Chapter 19 - Heavy Metals in Surficial Sediment from Bidong Island, Southern South China Sea