GARCIA, Ana Angelica D.

BA Communication 2

15Nov2014
Ecol1A (9:30-10:30)

STATE OF PHILIPPINES BIODIVERSITY

The Philippines is a treasure trove of biodiversity or the variety of life on earth. It is
believed to
harbor more diversity of life than any other country on earth on a per hectare basis.
It is in fact one of
the 17 megadiverse countries which host 70-80% of the worlds biodiversity. Yet,
Philippine
biodiversity is alarmingly endangered, making it a biodiversity hotspot as well.
As a paradise of biodiversity, the countrys terrestrial ecosystems are home to many
of the best
and rarest wildlife species. It has more than 52,177 described species, half of which
are endemic or
found nowhere else on earth. There are more than 1,130 terrestrial wildlife species
recorded for the
Philippines (49 percent or half are endemic); 157 are threatened (128 are
threatened endemic).
Floral diversity is just as extraordinary, with between 10,000 and 14,000 species of
vascular
and non-vascular plants, more than half of which are endemic to the Philippines.
Altogether, the
country is host to some 5 percent of the worlds species of flora and is ranked 5th in
the world in terms
of number of plant species.
The archipelago is also now recognized as one of the most important centers of
amphibian and
reptile diversity in Southeast Asia. An estimated total of 359 species of amphibians
(101 species) and
reptiles (258 species) are now known in the country. Of the 359 species, 246 are
endemic currently
the highest known percentage endemism among vertebrates. It is home to 576
species of birds (195 are endemic). This record makes the Philippines the 4th
country in the world terms of bird endemism. About 45 species are either extinct in
the wild, critical, or
endangered.
With 174 mammalian species (111 are endemic), the archipelago has the greatest
concentration
of terrestrial mammalian diversity in the world and the greatest concentration of
endemic mammals in
the world on a per unit basis. In the last 15 years, field researchers, mostly at high
elevation areas, have
found new species, in particular of murid rodents, in Luzon, Mindanao, and Mindoro.
Several new
species have been discovered in small islands such as Sibuyan (five new species)
and Camiguin (two

GARCIA, Ana Angelica D.

BA Communication 2

15Nov2014
Ecol1A (9:30-10:30)

new species), catapulting these islands to a new status as centers of mammal

endemism. These recent
discoveries demonstrate why it cannot be assumed that all centers of endemism in
the Philippines have
been documented. Unfortunately, the mammal assemblage in the Philippines is the
8th most threatened
in the world, with 50 threatened species.
The Philippines archipelagic character, along with its Ice Age history, had significant
impact
on the distribution of animals in the country. The distribution of land mammals
illustrates that each
island that existed in the Philippines during the latest Ice Age period is a unique
center of biodiversity.
Smaller islands that remained isolated during the Ice Age, although small, are also
considered unique
centers of biodiversity. One example is Sibuyan Island (463 km2
), which hosts four species of endemic
non-flying mammals (plus one bat), a total exceeding that of any country in Europe.
Lastly, the varied
habitat of the country, such as the lowland forest, montane forest, and mossy
forests, which occurs
along the elevation gradient of every large mountain has influenced the pattern of
biodiversity.
These facts highlight the global significance of conserving the Philippines
biodiversity. The
abundance, distribution and degree of threat to which these resources are exposed
calls for a rapid and
effective response to accelerate the coverage of conservation efforts in the country.

STATE OF SOUTHEAST ASIA BIODIVERSITY

Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 14 Science
Drive
4, Singapore 117543, Republic of Singapore
Barry W. Brook School for Environmental Research, Charles Darwin University,
Darwin, Northern Territory 0909, Australia. Southeast Asia was almost entirely
covered by humid forests 8 000 years ago, but today this extremely biodiverse
region has the highest global rate of rain forest loss, with deforestation rates more
than double those of other tropical areas (Laurance 1999; Achard et al. 2002). Just a
few areas (e.g. Borneo and Sulawesi) in Southeast Asia retain large tracts of intact
primary forests (Laurance 1999) and some countries (e.g. Singapore) have been
almost entirely denuded of forest, providing a bleak window into the regions future
(Brook et al. 2003). Using the United Nations Food and
Agricultural Organizations (FAO) data on forest cover change in 1980s, Laurance
(1999) estimated that an average of 1.2% of existing tropical forests are degraded
or destroyed every year by direct human activities. In terms of absolute loss of area,

GARCIA, Ana Angelica D.

BA Communication 2

15Nov2014
Ecol1A (9:30-10:30)

forest conversion is the highest in Neotropics (10 million ha/year) followed by Asia
(6 million ha/year) and Africa (5 million ha/year). However, if we consider forest
conversion relative to the existing forest cover in the region, Asia, only a quarter the
area of the Amazon forest, easily tops the list (Laurance 1999), with 1.5 million ha
of forest removed each year from
the four main Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo),
Sulawesi and Irian Jaya (Indonesian New Guinea) alone (DeFries et al. 2002).
However, the FAO values fail to include catastrophic events such as the vast 199798 forest fires in Indonesia (see below), and perhaps erroneously include plantations
as forest cover (Matthews 2001; Achard et al. 2002). Using satellite imagery, Achard
et al. (2002) reported that tropical forest loss in 1990s may be as high as 5.8 million
ha/year. Nevertheless, despite the quite different methodology used, Achard et al.
(2002) also found, as reported earlier by Laurance (1999), that rates of
deforestation and forest 2degradation are among the highest in Southeast Asia.
Worryingly, even the so-called protected forests of Southeast Asia are shrinking
and fragmenting (Curran et al. 2004; DeFries et al. 2005).
The main culprit driving this devastating reduction in pristine forest in Southeast
Asia is expansion for (mainly swidden) agriculture, with more than 1 million ha of
forest converted annually by this activity (Achard et al. 2002). A particularly
disturbing trend is that although native forest loss seems to be decelerating with
time in tropical Latin America, it continues to accelerate in tropical Asia (Matthews
2001). The direct causes of deforestation in rain forests (and loss of other habitats)
are numerous, including selective logging, urbanization and agriculture. These
drivers can act singly, but most commonly work in concert, especially at the broad
scale. The ultimate underpinnings of these causes of deforestation are complex,
however, involving both socio-political and economic imperatives (Sodhi et al.
2005). Devastating losses are not restricted to the rain forest other habitat types
in Southeast Asia such as mangroves, swamp forests and dry forests face similar
predicaments (Sodhi and Brook 2006). Habitat loss not only harms biodiversity, but
also human well-being via the damaged delivery of key ecosystem services
(Balmford et al. 2002).