Abstract
The forest patches of Marilog District, Davao are the remnants of various anthropogenic activities including logging, conversion of land for agriculture, ecotourism and human settlements. Floristic study was carried out in 2018–2019 from 100 established plots measuring 20 x 20 m, with repeated transect walks and opportunistic sampling along forest trails. One-hundred-and-four species of understory flowering plants were identified from 102 genera and 40 families. Species diversity mean values across study sites using Simpson’s (D) and Shannon-Wiener index (H’) were 0.97 and 3.9, respectively. Species diversity was highest in sites 2 and 4 (D = 0.98; H’ = 4.0 each) and lowest in site 5 (D = 0.96; H’ = 3.7). At family level, the most abundant taxa include Zingiberaceae (26 species) (15%), Orchidaceae (19 species) (11%), Gesneriaceae (14 species) (8%), and Rubiaceae and Arecaceae (13 species each) (7%). Conservation status assessment using International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) revealed 10 threatened species, while listing from the Philippines’ administrative order has categorized 13 threatened species. A total of 54 species (ca. 1.14% of the total Philippine endemic vascular flora) of understory flowering plants were Philippine endemics. Findings of this study were used as additional data for the proclamation of Mt. Malambo as Local Conservation Area, which was formalized through a barangay resolution.
Highlights
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) - Region XI.The Philippine vascular flora has at least 10,158 species which are distributed to 1,942 genera in 279 families
It is home to numerous vascular flora with at least two plant species recently recorded in this country for the first time; humans are altering the composition of biological communities through a variety of activities, which endanger some of the plant species in the area
Species richness and composition across study sites The study documented a total of 174 species of understory flowering plants, which belong to 102 genera and 40 families
Summary
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) - Region XI.The Philippine vascular flora has at least 10,158 species which are distributed to 1,942 genera in 279 families. It is home to numerous vascular flora with at least two plant species recently recorded in this country for the first time (see Amoroso et al 2018a; Acma et al 2019); humans are altering the composition of biological communities through a variety of activities, which endanger some of the plant species in the area. Some of these anthropogenic activities include plant trading and over-collection from the wild, and conversion of the forests into rest houses, restaurants, mountain resorts and farmlands. These scenarios prompted the authors to conduct an inventory and assessment of understory plants in the forest patches of Marilog District, the understory flowering plants which were not yet documented
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